Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard

Fragrant Nimbus/Whea Yo Ghost At

2012-01-11T08:35:00.000Z

As promised, two brand new TOADs, fresh for 2012...full sleevenotes to follow in the mailing. The metadata should be good but just in case, tracklistings are below.

Fragrant Nimbus

(download)

1. Korô Dia (à Mamaye Dramé L'inoubliable) - Na Hawa Doumbia

2. All the Sun That Shines - Peaking Lights

3. Mindkilla - Gang Gang Dance

4. Faults - Seefeel

5. Cheerleader - St. Vincent

6. Stillness is the Move - Dirty Projectors

7. The American in Me - the Avengers

8. Pony Dress - the Flesh Eaters

9. Fragrant Nimbus - the Skull Defekts

10. DDB - the Psychic Paramount

11. Hell's Winter - Earth

12. Til I Get Satisfied - Bill Orcutt

Whea Yo Ghost At

(download)

1. Whea Yo Ghost At, Whea Yo Dead Man - DJ Elmoe

2. Rep Yo Clique (remix) - DJ Diamond

3. Wut - Girl Unit

4. Mirrorage - Glasser

5. Natalia's Song - Zomby

6. North to South - Andy Stott

7. Transparent Radiation - Surgeon

8. Hour Logic - Laurel Halo

9. Immolare - Function

10. Flutter - Autechre

11. Foiled - Yellow Swans

12. Hatred of Music I - Tim Hecker

Xmas 2011: Frosty

2011-12-19T22:56:00.005Z

Bit dusty round these parts isn't it – or is that just some seasonal sprinklings from Santa's dandruff? Either way, it's time for an Xmas collection. Download the two files below for 32 tracks of extreme yule terror and assorted xmas loveliness from some of pop's most interesting people, ancient and modern. And some wacky interludes. And a printable cover for those of you still stuck on archiving formats you can bite. Now there's a thought. Happy holidays, pop pickers.

Part One (111 Mb) | Part Two (111 Mb)

Xmas 2010: Christmas Is Cancelled

2010-12-15T14:46:00.003Z

I'm thoroughly delighted to announce that - due to the almost otherwise entirely unwelcome predations of two weeks off work with Real Flu - I have had time to compile an Xmas collection this year. Thirty tracks of festive fun and frightfulness, from the modern noise stylings of Jesu and Wooden Shjips to all manner of cheesy ghastliness from yesteryear.

It comes in two .Zip archives, stuffed full of MP3s for you and yours to enjoy, or just burn on a fire.

Part One | Part Two

Re:cent 0810: In his heart, the wolf was planning mischief

2010-09-07T22:33:00.008+01:00

Being a selection of top pop from my world to yours. See Frank's #118 for more waffle about all of these.

BTW, I found some YouTube links for some of the tracks (* or another track by the band in question) so you don't even have to download the two archives if you don't wanna.

01. CHRISTIAN PROMMER'S DRUMLESSON Trans Europa Express

02. MAJOR LAZER feat MR LEXX & SANTIGOLD Hold the Line

03. SALEM King Night

04. BEST COAST I Want To

05. SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS Babelonia

06. SOFT MOON Parallels

07. SHOGUN KUNITOKI Vinonaamakasio *

08. EL JEFE AND THE EXECUTIVE LOOK The Fountain *

09. YOKO ONO Why?

10. THE SAINTS This Perfect Day

11. ZINJA HLUNGWANI N'wa Gezani My Love

12. HARMONIA & ENO Sometime in Autumn (Shackleton remix)

13. KEITH HUDSON Hunting *

14. BALAM ACAB Regret Making Mistakes

15. TRUTH Revelation

16. HOLGER CZUKAY & CONNY PLANK Biomutanten

17. DEMDIKE STARE Caged in Stammheim *

18. VOLCANO CHOIR Seeplymouth

19. MICACHU & THE SHAPES Vulture

20. BEAK> Iron Acton

21. BELL ORCHESTRE As Seen Through Windows

22. EMERALDS Living Room *

Plus a couple of crappy bonus trax and an inlay card. You love it.

D/L mp3s: Part 1 (105 mb) • Part 2 (115 mb)

The Beat-Beat-Beat of the Tom-Tom

2010-01-02T21:55:00.004Z

And here it is....

1. 'Ego Death' - A Place To Bury Strangers

2. 'Ostia' - Zu

3. 'Gladiator' - Jesus Lizard

4. 'Halloween' - Mudhoney

5. Dere Geliyor Dere - the Ex & Tom Cora

6. 'Lola' - The Raincoats

7. 'Launderette' - Vivien Goldman

8. 'We Are Time' - the Pop Group

9. 'The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness' - the Feelies

10. 'Aidy's Girl's A Computer' - Darkstar

11. 'Meltdown' - King Midas Sound

12. 'Pithecanthropus Erectus' - Charles Mingus

13. 'Cotton Tail' - Duke Ellington

14. 'Night And Day' - Ella Fitzgerald

Download

Full liner notes in Frank's Apa #114. Now, back to Henry Cow....

Buckfast of Champignons - Not Can

2009-09-12T23:46:00.004+01:00

A colleague of mine has recently heard Can for the first time. I envy him having the opportunity to listen to that great music with fresh ears! I thought I'd help him on his way by making a Can compilation for him. In doing so I re-discovered a playlist I'd put together as a potential TOAD some time ago, titled Buckfast of Champignons. I was intending it for use at Sunday brunch, you see. But now I have re-jigged it and expanded into what I think is a reasonable selection of music you might like if you also like Can. And which if us does not like Can? I have also re-named it:

Not Can

Much of this will be familiar to most of the regulars visitors to this blog. I hope you all enjoy nonetheless.

1. She is a Rainbow in Curved Air - Acid Mothers Temple

2. Ali's Here - Ali Farka Toure

3. You don't Pull no Punches, but you don't Push the River - Van Morrison

4. Spiders (Kidsmoke) - Wilco

5. Rolling Thunder - Steffan Basho-Junghans

6. Fur Immer - Neu!

7. Wished I Was in Heaven Sitting Down - Mississippi Fred McDowell

8. Spem in Alium - King's College Choir & Stephen Cleobury / Thomas Tallis

9. SHIRIN: Chaharmezrab-e bidad - Behnam Manahedji

10. Chaminuka We - Hakurotwi Mude, Cosmas Magaya, Luken Pasipamire, Ephat Mujuru

11. Kabacha Meflayey - Tsehaytu Beraki

12. E-Musik - Neu!

13. Can I Sleep In Your Arms? - Willie Nelson

14. Galactic Joke (B) - Cosmic Jokers

15. Barnowl - Caribou

16. Hallogallo - Neu!

17. A Raga Called Pat, part 4 - John Fahey

18. Homesickness - Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou

Rory.

TOAD: Two movies

2009-09-10T12:18:00.004+01:00

These are the 2 movies I originally intended to distribute on a DVD, via the post.
If you need or want that, it can be arranged. Let me know.

Otherwise, start your download engines...

Kill your idols

A thrilling, comprehensive guide to New York’s buzzing downtown underground post-punk scene. Director Scott Crary kicks things off with the birth of No Wave in the late 1970’s, providing an angular rush with a priceless collection of live performances from Suicide, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, the Theoretical Girls and DNA. From this initial explosion of artistic energy, the film moves through the 1980’s, passing the torch to Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth and Michael Gira of Swans, before crashlanding in the noisy Now! of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Black Dice, Liars, A.R.E. Weapons and the Gypsy stylings of Gogol Bordello. Interviews connect the threads between the past and the present, an ever-fertile scene is defined, celebrated and trashed with equal amounts of enthusiasm, and the creators of some of the most challenging rock music of all-time get to explain what they do, why they do it and where it’s all heading.

Downtown 81

Starring the legendary artist Jean Michel Basquiat, Downtown 81 vividly depicts the explosive downtown New York art and music scene of 1980-81.

A young artist needs money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into. He finally manages to sell his painting but he’s paid by check. He spends the evening wandering from club to club, looking for a beautiful girl he had met earlier, so he’ll have a place to spend the night.

The cast includes Deborah Harry, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, James White and the Blacks, DNA, Tuxedo Moon, the Plastics, and Walter Steding and the Dragon People. Also on the soundtrack are Melle Mel, John Lurie, Lydia Lunch, Suicide, Vincent Gallo, Kenny Burrell and Basquiat’s own band, Gray.

Rory.

TOAD: Re:cent 0509 - "Lonely Planet Nothing Left"

2009-06-13T13:21:00.010+01:00

Twenty more mind-expanding pieces of modern music for you, plus a bonus. Starts quietly, then heads for the back of your skull with all the subtlety of a lame new Hollywood remake of Driller Killer.

Titled, BTW, after the A & B side of a recent dubstep single by Randomer. The two titles seemed to run together nicely as a kind of concentrated SF poem. Can the world be as sad as it seems?

01. Teitur - The Singer
02. Gala Drop - Ital
03. Working for a Nuclear Free City - The 224th Day / Troubled Son
04. Fever Ray - When I Grow Up
05. Grails - Reincarnation Blues
06. Farflung - Endless Drifting Wreck
07. The Bug w/Flowdan - Warning
08. Van Shipley - Jan Pahechan Ho
09. The Sight Below - Dour
10. Anthony Newley & Delia Derbyshire - Moogie Bloogies
11. Franz Auffray - Sweet Popcorn part 2
12. Lacrymosa - Welscher Tanz "Wascha Mesa"
13. Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women
14. Savant - Sensible Music
15. Distance - No Sunshine
16. Amesoeurs - Gas in Veins
17. Sideshow w/Samar - French Model in Dub
18. Mikey Dread - Mikey Dread in Action
19. Virgin Prunes - Moments 'n' Mine
20. Raccoo-oo-oon - Untitled I
+ a bonus track that's about three weeks past its listen-by date

Download here [new MU link] or here [ShBee] [141 Mb].

Xmas 2008: Slush

2008-12-18T15:40:00.007Z

So this is Xmas and... what have you DONE?

01. The Free Design - The Now Sound of Xmas
02. Mojochronic - Yuletide Zeppelin
03. Fleshtones - Super Rock Santa
04. Dean Martin - Jingle Bells (Dan the Automator remix)
05. Ween - We're All Snowflakes
06. Wormburner - Bells of St Ignatius
07. Thurston Lava Tube - Sleigh Ride
08. Dies Irae - Silent Night
09. Arcanta - Carol of the Bells
10. Molly Bee - Where Did My Snowman Go?
11. Mr Bob Francis - That Swingin' Manger
12. Neil Innes - Dear Father Xmas
13. Bad Tattoo - Are You Going to Stop the White Xmas
14. The Fab Four - Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
15. Bob Rivers & Twisted Radio - I am Santa Claus
16. Killwhitneydead - Holiday Medley
17. The Candy Store - Little Drummer Boy
18. Lee Scratch Perry & Sandra Robinson - Merry Xmas, Happy New Year
19. Divide & Kreate - Velvet Santa
20. Sam Flanagan - Frosty DMC
21. Kirsten & Heather Mayne - Silver Bells
22. Vic Mulkey & the Blue Veins - Ain't Got Time for Christmas
23. Lycia/The Unquiet Void - We Three Kings
24. Twice as Much & Vashti Bunyan - The Coldest Night of the Year
25. The Three Little Dwarfs - Hardrock, Coco & Joe
26. Toots & the Maytals - Christmas Feeling Ska
27. Girls Aloud - Not Tonight Santa
28. Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - This Christmas
29. Kekal - God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
30. Glasvegas - Fuck You, It's Over
31. Evangelicals - The Last Xmas on Earth

... plus the usual raft of merry hangers-on and inappropriate festive interruptions. HFXmo! -- marco & crew

Download (MP3 plus cover, 139 Mb)

TOAD 4U

2008-11-20T09:52:00.003Z

I know, rush rush rush. Anyway, the URL given in the APA is wrong... because, well, let's just say someone objected to one of the tracks on this. But here's an unedited repost, so D/L these two sections (they are separate parts of the archive so you don't need both... though you do need them):

Part 1 | Part 2

An Eclectic Collection of Memorabilia

2008-11-01T17:30:00.002Z

OK, here is the third of the three disks. This one is more conventionally jazzy than the others.

Download it here (94MB)

Vassilis Tsabropoulos, Arild Andersen & John Marshall – The Spell (Achirana, 2000)
John Surman – Figfoot (Adventure Playground, 1992)
Anouar Brahem – Kashf (Thimar, 1998)
Eberhard Weber – Maurizius (Later That Evening, 1982)
Jan Garbarek – I Took Up The Runes (I Took Up The Runes, 1990)
Tord Gustavsen Trio – Being There (The Ground, 2004)
Ketil Bjørnstad, Terje Rypdal – The Sea IX (Life in Leipzig, 2008)
John Surman Quartet – Promising Horizons (Stranger Than Fiction, 1994)
Doran, Studer, Burri, Magnenat – SCD (Musik für zwei Kontrabässe, Gitarre & Schlagzeug, 1991)
Christy Doran, Fredy Studer, Stephan Wittwer – Canon Cannon (Red Twist & Tuned Arrow, 1987)

Exquisite Choral Moments

2008-10-28T22:27:00.004Z

Hi,

This, the second of three ECM TOADs, groups various pieces that involve song or classical music. The Hilliard Ensemble feature on several of these. A couple of the pieces are rather long - Evening Prayers is about 15 minutes and it is still the shortest piece from that album.

You can download it here (100MB).

John Dowland – Weep You No More, Sad Fountains (In Darkness Let Me Dwell, 1999)
Jan Garbarek & The Hilliard Ensemble – Quechua Song (Mnemosyne, 1999)
Paul Giger – Organum (Ignis, 2000)
Hilliard Ensemble – Introitus (Lassus, 1998)
Giya Kancheli – Caris Mere (Caris Mere, 1997)
John Surman – You Never Know (The Spaces in Between, 2007)
John Adams – Negative Love (Harmonium, 1984)
Giya Kancheli – Evening Prayers (Abii ne Viderem, 1995)
John Dowland – Flow My Tears (In Darkness Let Me Dwell, 1999)

The Echo of Contrapuntal Melodies

2008-10-24T22:45:00.002+01:00

I've uploaded the first of three ECM TOADS on rapidshare. There are also shiny disks of all three TOADS in the post to Mark, Robin, Ian&Irene, Scott, Mark and Dave. I intend to upload the next two installments over the next week or so, and to include full details of the TOADS in the next mailing.

This first disk features almost 25 years of John Surman, particularly his solo or duet work, plus some similar tracks from Jan Garbarek and Eberhard Weber. My title is probably wildly inaccurate, as I doubt that there is any actual counterpoint going on, but it seemed appropriate in an impressionistic (i.e. wrong) sort of way.

Download it here (85MB).

John Surman – Portrait of a Romantic (Private City, 1988)
John Surman – Trethevy Quoit (Road to St Ives, 1990)
John Surman, Jack DeJohnette – Fair Trade (Invisible Nature, 2002)
Jan Garbarek – The Arrow (Visible World, 1996)
John Surman – Druid’s Circle (A Biography of The Rev. Absalom Dawe, 1995)
Eberhard Weber – Street Scenes (Pendulum, 1993)
John Surman – Debased Line (Free and Equal, 2003)
John Surman – For the Moment (Coruscating, 2000)
John Surman – Edge of Illusion (Upon Reflection, 1979)
John Surman – Fide et Amore (The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon, 1981)

TOAD : Après UP! : Le Rebel Accidentel

2008-09-12T09:30:00.005+01:00

This TOAD came about by accident - 7 of the songs here grouped themselves together via the magic of iTunes alphabetics.

It was completed by design - this is intended as music to listen to when you get home from the Rebel Up Soundclash, the monthly party that Seb runs in Amsterdam.

Don't worry if you don't live near enough to ever go to Rebel Up.
You will still enjoy this, I'm sure.

Best listened to between the hours of 00:00 and 12:00.

Après UP! : Le Rebel Accidentel

1/Radicalfashion ~ Shousetsu
2/Ensemble Modern ~ Pulses
3/Burial ~ Shell Of Light
4/Flower Travellin' Band and Terumasa Hino Quartet ~ Doob
5/Hurdy Gurdy ~ Luder Anders/ Skuren
6/Radio Malanga ~ Barceloneta
7/Ragunath Seth ~ Shuddh Sarang
8/Rahsaan Roland Kirk ~ Haunted Feelings
9/Sorcha Ni Ghuairim ~ Mainistir Na Buille
10/Rahul Sharma ~ Mela
11/Rail Band ~ Rail Band
12/John Lee Hooker ~ Bumblebee, Bumblebee
13/Margaret Barry ~ She Moved Through The Fair
14/Rita Abatzi ~ Gazeli Neva Sabah
15/Stubbs, Surman, Homburger, Guy ~ In Darkness Let Me Dwell
16/Various Madang Artists ~ Gomkail. Bak. Borai.
17/Damon And Naomi With Michio Kurihara ~ Tanka
18/The Raincoats ~ Don't Be Mean

Download (Rapidshare, 69mb)

TOAD: Re:cent 0608 – "Keep Your Teeth Clean"

2008-07-11T22:01:00.013+01:00

In the recent June and July - I had my church camp. It is supposed to be my break. As in rest before other commitments falls in. BUT I haven't rest just yet. I guess. It will only commences after 12 July. I guess I'll plan for a week away by myself. hehe..
Wondering why the pictures with human are strangely taken? Haha... Joy took them. Since she is only 4 this year, I think is very nice! So I decided put it on.

1. The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - "Sofahead" (Top Gear Session, BBC Radio 1, 1969)
2. Té - "That It Makes Nonexistent Intelligence Even Although It Calls It With a Powerful Mind and Power How to 'None' Equal" (Sore Wa, Narihibiku Sekai Kara Ganjitsutekina Oto Wo Uta Outo Suru 2007)
3. Extra Life - "Blackmail Blues" (Secular Works 2008)
4. The Homosexuals - "Astral Glamour" (The Homosexuals LP 1978)
5. Fuck Buttons - "Bright Tomorrow" (Street Horrrsing 2008)
6. The Scarlets - "Stampede" (Lost & Found: Rockabilly & Jump Blues 2007)
7. Skream - "2-D" (Skreamizm Vol.4 2008)
8. Peter Broderick - "Broken Patterns" (Float 2008)
9. Collections of Colonies of Bees - "Flock IV" (Birds 2007)
10. Paul St Hilaire & Rene Lowe - "Faith (Vox)" (12" 2003)
11. Transmitters - "The Ugly Man" (Searching for the Ugly Man EP 1979)
12. Truckers of Husk - "This Odd Modern" (2008)
13. Ulaan Khol - "Untitled II" (I 2008)
14. The Misunderstood - "Find a Hidden Door" (Before the Dream Faded 1969)
15. Blackfilm - "Come and See" (Blackfilm 2008)
16. Yeasayer - "Sunrise" (All Hour Cymbals 2008)
17. Paavoharju - "Kevätrumpu" (Laulu Laakson Kukista 2008)
18. Popol Vuh - "Nachts: Schnee (Mika Vainio remix)" (Mego Remixes 2007)
19. Pete Atkin - "The Wristwatch for a Drummer" (A King at Nightfall 1973)
20. Armour - "Iron Man" (Armour vs Hijack EP 2006)
21. Fovea Hex - "Don't These Windows Open?" (Neither Speak Nor Stay Silent 2008)
22. Box - "Untitled 9" (Studio 1 2008)

Two hours of recent listening. Do as you will. Variable or 192kbps MP3s, across two files, with slightly naff assemble-it-yourself cover. Love ya.
> Part one (103 Mb)
> Part two (105 Mb)

TOAD: Young Virgins Call For Mutiny (Deluxe Expanded Double Disc Edition)

2008-05-04T21:36:00.014+01:00

Back in 1994, some of the Frankies really enjoyed this collection of the sounds of what we ended up agreeing we'd call, erm, dreampop and beyond. So, since I have had a little time on my hands recently, here's a new rip. One substitution and a new cover, but otherwise just how you oldarses remember it... or just how you young shavers will come to remember it. See Frank's #104 for more mithering about each track.

1. Butterfly Child - A Breath of Fresh Air
2. Moonshake - Two Trains
3. Seefeel - Industrious
4. Insides - Darling Effect
5. Flying Saucer Attack - Wish
6. Medicine - Aruca
7. Medicine - Something Goes Wrong
8. KK Null/James Plotkin - Sawtooth Swirl
9. Cul de Sac - Death Kit Train
10. Bark Psychosis - Manman/Blood Rush
11. Main - Rail
12. Papa Sprain - U Swell
13. The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa - Surfing on Steam
14. Thieves - Unworthy
15. Bark Psychosis - A Street Scene

> NEW LINK: Young Virgins Call For Mutiny (125 Mb, cover & mp3s in zip file)

At the time, there were several bands I either forgot about (hello, A R Kane - doh!) or ran out of space to include (come on down, Labradford). After the time, there were further bands I came across and realised they should have been rounded too. So now, just like some tawdry major label reissue, chock full of useless live tracks and latterday b-sides, I collected a second set for you. Again, see the APA for more.

1. A R Kane - Lollita
2. My Bloody Valentine - Instrumental II
3. Disco Inferno - In Sharky Water
4. No-Man - Sweetheart Raw
5. Earwig - Every Day Shines
6. Experimental Audio Research - DMT Symphony (Overture to an Inhabited Zone)
7. Laika - Sugar Daddy
8. Slowdive/Brian Eno - Sing
9. Pieter Nooten/Michael Brook - Searching
10. Lull - Time
11. His Name Is Alive - Lemon Ocean
12. Labradford - Experience the Gated Oscillator
13. Orang - Orang
14. Circle - Meronia
15. A R Kane - Baby Milk Snatcher

> NEW LINK: Nymphs Sing the Blues (128 Mb, cover & mp3s in zip file)

Re:ups - Re:cent 1106 / Re:cent 0907

2008-04-25T14:21:00.016+01:00

Back up, as more permanent files, are a pair of Re:cent collections from the last couple of years. Sorry about using the somewhat unfriendly Megaupload service, but at least I can ensure that these hefty files can stay up for as long as I want them to.

Re:cent 1106 :: More Things
Barry Adamson / AR & the Machines / Associates / Atrium Musicae di Madrid / Blut aus Nord / Burial / The Can / Coheed & Cambria / Tore Elgaroy / Brian Eno / Espers / Fujiya & Miyagi / The Grey Daturas / High on Fire / Infantjoy / Jonathan Kane / Kill Whitney Dead / Morgen / Serena-Maneesh / Six Organs of Admittance / The Slits / Chas Smith / Susanna & the Magical Orchestra
Download (144 Mb, mp3 files plus inlay)

Re:cent 0907 :: Blind Children at Hide & Seek
Aluk Todolo / Belong / Eel / Faust & Nurse With Wound / 5ive / Ben Frost / Girl Talk / Grails / Minsk / Parts & Labor / A Place to Bury Strangers / Rameses III / Trentemoeller / Yeti
Download (194 Mb, mp3 files plus inlay)

Warning - more on the way, including new rips of some very old TOAD tapes. Coming next ~ Young Virgins Call for Mutiny.

TOAD: Re:cent 010208

2008-02-10T14:22:00.000Z

Oh goodie goodie, more new music scraped off the audio tarmac with a spade and dropped into the capacious baggie that literally is Re:cent 010208. Some of it's so new it won't be in your stores for a few months. Several other selections are wearing very well for middle aged. One piece, it has to be said, is a crime against humanity. Sowotjagot?

1. THE FOCUS GROUP "Dancing Horse (Logotone) / Look Hear Now" (We Are All Pan's People 2007)
2. JEFFREY LEWIS "End Result" (12 Crass Songs 2007)
3. WOODEN SHJIPS "We Ask You to Ride" (Wooden Shjips 2007)
4. BLOC PARTY "Where is Home (Burial Remix)" (12" single 2007)
5. HANNE HUCKELBERG "Cheater's Armoury" (Rejkstrasse 68 2007)
6. HOLY FUCK "Solar Inuit (live)" (Holy Fuck 2007)
7. JULIANNA BARWICK "unt1" (Sanguine 2006)
8. ELECTRIC WIZARD "Torquemada 71" (Witchcult Today 2007)
9. MAX RICHTER "Shadow Journal" (The Blue Notebooks 2004)
10. WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM "Vastness & Sorrow" (Two Hunters 2007)
11. EXPO ’70 "Entering the Night on a Highway of Astral Projection" (Animism 2007)
12. DISRUPT "Tubby Rom Module" (Foundation Bit 2006)
13. BIRUSHANAH "Iyodo" (Akai Yami 2007)
14. BORIS "Message" (Smile 2008)
15. HAIZEA "Argizagi Ederra" (Hontz Gaua 1976)
16. JAPANCAKES "I Only Said" (Loveless 2007)
17. BURNING STAR CORE "The Universe is Designed to Break Your Mind" (Blood Lightning 2007)
18. CLOUDLAND CANYON "Silver Tongued Sisyphus" (Silver Tongued Sisyphus 2007)
19. THE FOCUS GROUP "Salty Sun Tales" (We Are All Pan's People 2007)
20. SUSAN CHRISTIE "I Love Onions" (7" single 1971)
21. bonus mystery track

Download part one and cover [RS 99mb]
Download part two [RS 89mb]

Xmas 2007: Batman Smells

2007-12-24T10:18:00.000Z

The latest incarnation of my ever-less-legendary Xmas compilations is now online for your downloading pleasure or otherwise. Just drag your butt over to this downloadable archive (140 MB, 40 MP3 files)

More details just in:

BATMAN SMELLS
Vol.22: Xmas 2007

- KILLWHITNEYDEAD Merry Axemas
- ASOBI SEKSU Merry Xmas I Don't Want to Fight Tonight
- HOMER & JETHRO Santa Claus, the Original Hippie
- INSANE CLOWN POSSE Santa's a Fat Bitch
- THE MERRY MACS Christmas Cha Cha
- ASPMA Rocking Disco Santa
- THE SOULFUL STRINGS The Little Drummer Boy
- V - THE PRODUCTION LIBRARY The Season to be Quirky
- JOSH ROUSE Christmas with Jesus
- ERASURE Silent Night/Erasure Christmas
- ANNA RUSSELL with JIMMY CAROLL & HIS MISERABLE FIVE Please Santa Claus
- NICO Winter Song
- BOBBY HELMS Captain Santa Claus and His Reindeer Space Patrol
- CHUCK BERRY Run Rudolph Run
- COLOSSUS Charlie Brown Cut Up
- KITT THE CAR OF THE FUTURE A Knight Rider Christmas
- MEL BLANC I Tan't Wait Til Quithmuth Day
- SAINT ETIENNE I Don't Intend To Spend Christmas Without You
- TOOTS & THE MAYTALS Christmas Feeling Ska
- SY MANN Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- COLD CHILLIN' JUICE CREW Cold Chillin' Christmas
- JOE WARD Christmas Questions
- MANIC STREET PREACHERS Christmas Ghost
- SINGING SAMMY MARSHALL Jingle Mint Twist
- BOB RICH Christmas in my Pants
- THE VIPERS Christmas I'll Be Home
- MARCEL God Rest ye Merry, Gentlemen
- AL & THE VIBRATORS Merry Merry Xmas
- YO LA TENGO Rock N'Roll Santa
- FRED LOWERY Silent Night
- BILLY WARD & THE DOMINOES Christmas in Heaven
- TONY SCHWARTZ Christmas in New York City
... plus the usual interruptions and endorsements.

FEAR US!

2007-10-11T23:25:00.001+01:00

APA#100 covers for Ian

2007-09-26T21:08:00.000+01:00

Ronseal time. All four Frank's #100 covers, each less than 200k.

Musik Tankstelle, kein wurst dabei.

2007-09-13T21:37:00.000+01:00

Hi-dee-ho Apaites.

Hereby the TOAD I self-assembled in Vienna at the museumquartier. At a digital library you could compile your own selection of independent Austrian music for a tenner.
I kind wrote a Vienna report some Apa's ago (in the*officially you need to pay me back* zine). For the newcomers, a part of it is copied and pasted below:

"In Vienna I compiled a redbook cd with Austrian mp3’s of old jazz, 80’s wave, schlagers and new electronic music. I’m gonna put this one up on the APA blog soon, as a Vienna TOAD cos it’s a quicky selection that most of you will be eager to discover."

I'm betting that Ian, Irene and Winkle will have a field day with the faux-pas new wave and krauty electrofunk songs. It's like reliving the days of Falko and Numan, confessed and blessed.

right so. krautwaveschlagerelectrofunkbigbandtronicasoundscapes from Vienna, yay!

1. Blümchen Blau - Heimatlos

2. Bobby Hammer - Papa Was a Rolling Stone

3. Chuzpe - Tausend Takte Tanz

4. Chuzpe - Marilyn

5. Heinz Conrads - Guat Schau Ma Aus

6. Drahdiwaberl - Killen Killen Killen

7. Fatty George Jazzband - Come Back to Sorrento

8. Fatty George Jazzband - Zoot

9. Fatty George Jazzband - Sensation Rag

10. Gustav - One Hand Mona

11. Martin Siewert - Attraktor

12. Sluta Leta - Kära Sjukskörterska

ps, sorry for the yousendit links. I haven't figured out the handier mediafire ways yet.
I will refresh these links after the meet up. But at least you have 7 days though.
enjoyyyyy and see most of you very soon!

Blind Children at Hide & Seek

2007-09-13T00:31:00.000+01:00

A TOAD for Frank's APA #100.

1. "Take Me Into Your Skin" - Trentemoeller (The Last Resort)
2. "Lass Mich" - Faust & Nurse With Wound (Disconnected)
3. "Once Again" - Girl Talk (Night Ripper)
4. "Theory of Machines" - Ben Frost (Theory of Machines)
5. "Cusp of Something" - Yeti (Volume, Obliteration, Transcendance)
6. "Soft Temple" - Grails (Burning Off Impurities)
7. "Symbol #2" - Aluk Todolo (Symbol 7")
8. "Missing You" - A Place to Bury Strangers (A Place to Bury Strangers)
9. "Fractured Skies" - Parts and Labor (Mapmaker)
10. "Embers" - Minsk (The Ritual Fires of Abandonment)
11. "Little Prince" - Eel (Little Prince)
12. "Ashes" - Rameses III (Matanuska)
13. "I Never Lose. Never Really." - Belong (October Language)
14. "The Hemophiliac's Dream pt.1" - 5ive (The Hemophiliac's Dream)

Some brand-new noises for you all. Nasty over-designed cover included in the package.

Download part one (91MB)
Download part two and cover (86MB)
and that missing track five (Yeti) (16MB)

Enjoy!

I Wanna Know If It's Good To You?

2007-09-01T19:49:00.000+01:00

A TOAD for Frank's 100.

1. "Kankan Diarabe" - African Virtuoses
2. "Armee Guineenne" - Bembeya Jazz National
3. "I Wanna Know If It's Good To You?" - Funkadelic
4. "Hard Times" - Baby Huey & The Babysitters
5. "If You Want Me To Stay" - Sly & The Family Stone
6. "Final Request" - Josef K
7. "Arabian Knights" - Siouxsie & The Banshees
8. "23" - Blonde Redhead
9. "Wamp Wamp (Whut It Do)" - Clipse
10. "Atlas" - Battles
11. "People Person" - Pissed Jeans
12. "A History Of Bad Men" - Melvins
13. "Everybody Daylight" - Brightblack Morning Light
14. "Sum'bulala" - Brenda Fassie

Download Part 1 (56MB)
Download Part 2 (81MB)

Full sleeve notes in the mailing.

Frank's #100 - The Big List

2007-07-18T11:41:00.001+01:00

The 100th mailing of Frank's Apa is approaching rapidly - if any former members should happen to see this and have an interest in making a one-off contribution to F-Apa 100, or rejoining on an ongoing basis, then please contact crumpw at vista hyphen express dot com. The deadline for contributions will be the first Friday in September.

Below I am posting a list of all members, past and present. Current members - if you can contact any of the ex-members on the list, post the names below as a comment and we can start marking off the people who have been contacted. Which I am doing by marking them in bold until I come up with a better solution.

Bill K'tepi
Kealan Horan
William Crump
Trish Byrne
Eoghan Barry
Mark Winkelmann
Dave Berry
Paul Baynes
Marc Gascoigne
Scott Watkins
David A. Simpson
Dave Howarth
Seb Bassleer
Ian Moore
Irene O'Dowd
Wood
Rory Carr
Nessa Johnston
Andrew Shillito
Anna Holloway
Thom Allott
Lorraine Glendenning
Nick Drage
Dermot Sreenan
John Waring
DJ Krossphader (IM)
Brian Haunton (DB)
Rooshin Vadgama
Jonathan Skinner
Andrew Farrell (IM)
Chris Taylor (IM)
Aline Lemos (IM)
Mark Wilsher (IM)
Paul Watts (IM)
Ady Foley
Steve Hewitt (IM)
Sara Kojaku
Adrian Barber (IM/DB)
Brian Duguid (BD)
Scott Rogers
Pete Strover (IM/DB)
Paul Mason (DB)
Maurice Thomas (IM/DB)
Ed Morgan
Tom Ewing (IM)
Steve Wilsher
Mary Savege (BD)
Diann Thome (IM)
Trish Halligan
James Wallis (MG)
Eunice Pearson
Sean Haugh (IM)
Eamonn Maher (IM)
Alex Thomson (IM)
Vicki
Te-Bo Steele
Dave Castle
Conor Kostick (IM)
KFR Inc (IM)
Steve Albini
Anne l'Henoret (IM)
Emma Ridley
Caroline Whyte (IM)
Mysterious Batlike Figure
Lisa Donnelly
Heloise McCarthy
Declan Kelly
Steve Freitag (DH)
John Breakwell
Gavin Kostick (IM)
Bob Carey
Jim Burgess (IM)
Alison Coad
Mike Jarvis (IM)
Damian Edwardson
Robin ap-Cynan (IM)
Georg Patterson
Ben Goodale
Malc Arnold
Ian Marsh (IM)
Nigel Fletcher (DH)
Ross Cowin (DH)
Paul Crowley (DB)
Zoe Price
Alex Zbyslaw (DB)
Kay Dekker (DB)
Sylvia Shepperson (DH)
Sue Bamford
Sarah Ovenall

Oh No! Not The Beast Day

2007-07-08T21:47:00.000+01:00

(cough, cough) Christ, it's kind of dusty in here.

By way of apology for the inadequacies of my zine for Franks 99B, here is the long-heralded upload of Mark's TOAD. Two .zip files, 320kbps mp3s.

Part One

Part Two

Krautrock #21: Code III - Planet of Man (1974)

2007-04-18T22:11:00.000+01:00

Those charming Freeman Bros had this to say about this most mysterious of records (more sound effect collage than riffing): "The sleeve of Planet Of Man showed the visual message impressed in gold and sent with the Voyager satellite on its journey into deep space. Yep, this is a real sci-fi concept album! In fact, so conceptual that there is no real division into single tracks, rather a continuous flow of musical themes. The makers of it all were Manfred Schunke and the mysterious Ed Key, surely a pseudonym?! Klaus Schulze was also involved, offering a helping hand with the artificial head stereo mix and even some drumming! Fans of Schulze's early, cosmic music will love this album for sure! The album was released in a fold-out cover on Delta Acustic, a short-lived, minor label releasing productions made with the freshly developed artificial head stereo system, offering a unique stereo effect when listening to the music via headphones. The Code 3 album is now very rare and seldom seen offered for sale."

I couldn't make my mind up about any representative tracks, so I chucked up a rip of the entire, impossible-to-find album, acquired courtesy of the might 8 Days in April [no URL; he keeps it hidden these days]:
01. Formations/The Genesis
02. Dawn of an Era
03. Countdown/Phoenix Rising
(mp3, 79.8 mb)

Krautrock #20: Cluster - Cluster II

2007-03-18T14:57:00.000Z

This is all of side one of the album and the last track is the first piece of Cluster music I heard back in ’78 or so crammed at the end of one side of a Brain Records sampler (£2.99 though over the years that damn record must have cost me hundreds of squiddlies). Things have developed from the ’71 album but we’re still a long way from the pastoral sounds of the mid-late ‘70’s.
Plas sounds like the music is a 3-D entity, a plastic form that is hovering in the air being moulded by the laboratory technicians tweaking the tone generators. Yes it’s all gone a bit Jon Pertwee around here. Im Süden changes things by having a loop of an insistent guitar phrase that nags at you while more machines hum in the background. Bizarrely enough another machine is making cicada type noises, is this the island of Dr. Moreau?
Fur Dïe Katz I won’t say anything more about other than its lovely and at 3 minutes makes my idea of a perfect pop song.
Plas
Im Süden
Fur Dïe Katz
Mega 320 powerissimo
djh

Krautrock #19: Cluster - Cluster '71

2007-03-18T14:28:00.000Z

15:33 Yup that’s the track name. If I said that Cluster (and the earlier Kluster to be found later in the list) pre-dated Industrial Music buy a goodly number of years- I hope I’m not putting people off. You might also mention mad Mr. L. Russolo and his “intonarumori “ noise making machines. Although the guitars can occasionally be heard in the mix it’s the fog of electronic noise a disorientating swirl that really grabs you. It’s not in anyway threatening like alpha-male posturing of far too much industrial music.
This is the more Kosmiche musik side of the Krautrock Coin (the other is more prog meets R ‘n’ B) and is where I got on the bus and where I’m happiest most of the time. Makes sense if my point of entry was Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Klaus Schulze.
15:33
feel the everlovin' power of the mighty 320
djh

Krautrock #18: Can - Unlimited Edition

2007-03-18T13:30:00.000Z

Why put an odds and sods compilation, even if it is a re-issued expanded odds and sods compilation in a must have top 100? Well we’re talking about Can here. Legendarily right from the outset having their own recording studio meant that they could tape everything (though I’m sure I read that much tape was re-used, i.e. recorded over). In any event it’s left hundreds of hours of music that includes much that is first rate if not exactly what was needed for whatever project was currently on the boil.
In a sense I’m cheating here as I first came across Can in 1981 with a Virgin compilation called Incandescence. Gomorrha, Empress.. and Mother Upduff all feature there. It was a wonderful comp of latter day material albeit including early material re-worked. Coming as it did many years before the re-issue boom it was a complete eye opener. I guess though that I was one of only 6 people who bought it.
Gomorrha, from December ’73 making it from either the same sessions as Future Days or immediately afterwards, it continues that wonderful drifting / floating feeling I mentioned in the previous post. Is that a touch of Hawaiian guitar? The piano lends it a more Satie-esque nocturnal fee. Gorgeous.
E.F.S. no 7 Well we had to have at least one example of the groups famous Ethnological Forgery Series on here. It’s an idea copped by those Sun City Girls, see even their stealing isn’t original, never mind we love them anyhow. I chose this short example as I love the sound of a keyboard imitating a saz or similar.
The Empress and the Ukraine King It’s a song! It’s early Can with this and the next track featuring Malcolm Mooney on vocals (and why does his English have such a strong German accent, given he was an ex-US serviceman based in West Germany?) Slightly more sprightly and featuring Jaki Liebezeit on an unknown reed instrument.
What should I say about Mother Upduff? Can in Can telling Urban Legend stories shocker. Long time readers of my zine splurges could easily have guessed that this crazy tale was going to turn up. I’m still not sure how the octopus killed the old lady. Enjoy! It’s been pointed out elsewhere that absurdist humour, frequently Zappa inspired, is a mainstay of so-called Krautrock... well here’s The Can, as they were probably known at the time, sticking their big toe in the water.
Cutaway is another track added at the last minute, far and away the longest on this collection at nearly 19 minutes. Again I thought that to include it was a bit of a piss-take but I enjoyed the tune so much when I was trying to select what to put up. Off-kilter rhythms and a melodica making an appearance, everything sounds de-tuned maybe they're playing in some eastern scale I what not of. Oh and Cutaway because the track is made of fragments originating from some very different improvisions, bits of studio chat etc. You even get the sound of someone fooling around inside a piano and if that doesn’t make your gravy lumpy I don’t know what will. It’s another piece from ’69, so we get a nice balance with the late sixties, early seventies and mid seventies. Can may have used the same blueprint through these years but the sound they achieved has grown markedly in the different periods. Of course there’s nothing from the later period on this comp which is a damn shame (see Can Anthology for that), but if we get through this project I’m thinking of a cunning plan to sort out all manner of lost classics that didn’t make the 100 cut
Transcendental Express - Reasons for inclusion is that perhaps only Can would dare to have a banjo substituting for a balalaika, makes it all sound very Morricone in a weird fashion. I think it was a fairly regular thing to let Michael Karoli stretch himself a bit on different instruments, he was after all a hell of a player who (thankfully) didn’t get the chance to solo, Can being Can. Anyway this ’75 track is here as a reminder that the ethnic influences grew more pronounced in later years. Obviously something they’d always been interested in, it put 'ahem' a bit of extra spice in the stew to keep things fresh.
One last point about all the Can tracks, just after I’d finished these notes I came across a web piece by Simon Reynolds that notes that Can’s working method is exactly that employed by Miles Davis and Teo Macero. It’s included in a history of Krautrock page that also includes a bit of Lester Bangs. No in depth insight but a good read. Find it here:

Gomorrha
E.F.S. #7
The Empress & The Ukraine King
Mother Upduff
Cutaway
Transcendental Express
ripped @ 320 you know you love it
djh

Krautrock #17: Can - Future Days

2007-03-18T12:37:00.000Z

I was going to be a total meany here and only offer the title track; it takes up half of what would have been side one of the lp. For me it’s one of the groups finest moments. In contrast the end of the side Spray and Moonshake feel like codas. The monster track which almost didn’t make the cut is the twenty minute Bel Air which is more a suite of numbers, though it flows together in that unique Can style. Although the drumming is still propelling things along with some urgency, echoed by Karoli’s high guitar notes it still feels as if its grounded in some pastoral stasis. Maybe even floating in a lagoon. It approaches beauty for me in a way that surprises every time I listen. Anyway as long as you lot promise to buy the album I’m sure we can get away with a little more research material.
Two years on from Tago Mago and the sound has changed. I think this was the groups first use of a sixteen track studio (previously wonder-kid Czukay had had made do with only two tracks). The sound is consequently fuller without being slick. It could be down to a sheen of string synth type keyboards from Irmin Schmit, anyway it adds atmosphere without being intrusive
I’d say that this was a fully integrated album, the quintet are working as a cohesive unit and Damo has started singing actual English phrases, even if they still don’t mean anything.
Future Days was Suzuki’s last outing which hasn’t stopped him from trading on his reputation for the last 34 years, not bad for a vocalist (and more successfully than the only other similar singer that comes to mind Arthur Brown). If you like this album (and you’d better) then I’d point you to the mighty Vernal Equinox, two albums down the line on Landed - as being something of a lost masterpiece.
Future Days
Bel Air
ripped at 320 feel the force
djh

Krautrock #16: Can - Tago Mago

2007-03-18T11:50:00.000Z

Well what do you say about one of the most cited albums of all time? I guess Tago Mago rates up there with Trout Mask Replica as being the most famous work of a group and also one of the most difficult. Certainly I recall MW saying what a mind fuck he found Aumgn compared with the rest of the album. It’s certainly the “darker” side of Can and for that reason I nearly chose the track; however there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s Halleluhwah that most often gets cited and seeing as it’s also the longest track…
Then again I chose the one / two punch of Paperhouse and Mushroom that start the album off. On vinyl or cd there is a deliberately clunky 0 second edit between the two tracks, to my mind it foreshadows the edits you get today on digital players when you select no gap between tracks when one continuous piece of music has been arbitrarily split. Always makes me think of a dj lining up the a and b side of a single but the drums don’t quite match up. For me these relatively compact tracks are a sort of distilled essence of the band at this time and to me show that it was the rhythm section of Jaki Liebezeit’s drumming and Damo Suzuki’s vocals that are at the centre of things driving the improv / freak out along. That’s right I’m putting Damo in the rhythm section here. Give it a spin and think about it. There’s more to vocals than rhyming moon / June and fire / desire! The set is more or less live in the studio and I’m guessing Holger Czukay spent more time editing for length and getting the interesting bits than actually polishing up the sound.
There’s a somewhat enthusiastic review on AMG here
Paperhouse
Mushroom
Halleluhwah
Ripped at 320 feel the force!
djh

Krautrock #15: Brave New World - Impressions on Reading Aldous Huxley

2007-03-15T08:32:00.000Z

As one digs deeper beyond your usual Can/Faust/Neu/TD starting points, there's a whole new layer of little musical gems to be found and this is one of the best, from a short-lived Hamburg group. Mix of crunchy rock jamming with serious prog overtones -- mostly those duelling flutes... always very prog, a flute -- but also some more medieval touches and a genuinely groovy Stylophone-through-fuzzbox interlude. We've had a few side-long tracks recently so I eschewed posting "The End" from side two, but if you like all three of these imagine them all being played at once.

Sample tracks (one download):
02. Alpha Beta Gamma Delta
03. Lenina
04. Soma
(mp3, 31.6 mb)

As always, more background at Crack in the Cosmic Egg and Gnosis has a good piece on this particular record.

Krautrock #14: Between - And the Waters Opened

2007-03-13T08:21:00.000Z

Always mentioned in the same breath as the Third Ear Band, Between were a less dark but equally intriguing mix of sometimes magical arrangements and traditional instruments flung together in new combinations. This is their second and most acclaimed record; later discs got very bland, but here the tense pull between (arf) the four elements works quiet wonders. Robert Eliscu's oboe, often the lead, makes for an unusual tonal palette; he also gave great value on some early/mid Popol Vuh discs.

Sample tracks (one download):
01. And the Waters Opened
03. Syn
04. Devotion
(mp3, 28.4 mb)

Crack in the Cosmic Egg has a little more on the band, and also on the increasingly austere and aescetic further works of sole surviving band member Peter Michael Hamel (no relation to Peter Hammill, of course).

Krautrock No. 13: Ash Ra Tempel - Join Inn

2007-03-12T22:33:00.000Z

Bit of a tricky decision, here, especially given that I've had this album for two or three years now and never particularly liked it. The influence of the untrammeled ambient magnificence of Agitation Frei's "Looping IV" pushes me towards the "cosmic drifting Schulze synthesizer-dominated" b-side of the lp, even though Schulze's Timewind is another platter that never did much for me over the years. More drifting than kosmiche says this jury.

Ash Ra Tempel - "Jenseits"

The Jimmy Cake in Dub

2007-03-09T21:54:00.000Z

Here's a pair of dubby miniatures I stumbled across in my Jimmy Cake remix files...

Jim Cake Dub

Hey, have you seen the Red Planet mp3s posted a few days ago on the other Frank's blog ?

The Jimmy Cake Meet the Gagaku Rockers Uptown

2007-03-07T18:18:00.000Z

This ain't Krautrock...

...it's something I've been toying with for the past year, on and off...

...a remix fusing two Jimmy Cake tracks (the Opposite of Addiction and This Used to be the Future) with one from the Japanese Imperial Household Performers in the Gagaku style, named Etenraku.

The Jimmy Cake Meet the Gagaku Rockers Uptown

Thanks to Scott for providing the Etenraku part!

Enjoy,
Rory.

Krautrock #12: Ash Ra Tempel - Schwingungen

2007-03-04T22:46:00.000Z

A year later and Schulze is gone, but now there are vocals, courtesy of a totally wird gent known as John L. A distinctly acquired taste, he sounds in parts on side one's "Darkness & Light" like he's paving the way for the ultimate acid freak vocals on Brainticket's Cottonwoodhill. As is becoming traditional, the comedown on the other side is far more sedate, with "Suche & Liebe" sounding distinctly like "Echeos"-era Pink Floyd, all floaty synths and stretched out Gilmour guitar. But before that, this thunders out...

2. Darkness: Flowers Must Die

EDIT TO INCLUDE LINK TO THE RIGHT BLOODY FILE: Download here (mp3, 11.1 mb)
(Well, it is called Div Share for a reason.)

Manuel Göttsching's website remains useful, but again our friends at Progweed have some things to say, as does the somewhat intense fellow whose fansite is extraordinarily exhaustive.

Krautrock #11: Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel

2007-03-04T22:25:00.000Z

Ah, Manuel Göttsching. Yes, all the groovy fuckers know him for his early 80s solo trance epic, E2-E4, much beloved of ealy 90s Italian house producers and that Carl Craig chap. Back at the start, though, he was another longhair with his power trio, originally called the Steeple Chase Bluesband (mm, catchy) and also featuring a gent called Klaus Schulze on, erm, drums. Klaus, late of the first line-up of Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese and Conrad Schnitzler, and soon to pioneer classic German trip-out synth stuff. Here, though, the freak flag flies high on two side-long workouts housed in another wacky cover, this time a central fold-out thing. The flip's "Traummaschine" is trancey and pacey but this rocks like a good 'un.

1. Amboss

Download here (mp3, 18.3 mb)

Manuel Göttsching's website focuses more on current work solo and as part of the shortened Ashra, but again our friends at Progweed have some things to say.

Krautrock #10: Annexus Quam - Osmose

2007-02-28T08:50:00.000Z

This is the stuff. From its insane cover (the flaps fold up to form a pyramid) to its seriously hairy mix of hippy mysticism and twisted jazz-rock meditation music, its probably the most deserving secret gem in the whole list. If you can bear the references, this is Ash Ra Tempel plays the Third Ear Band. Gloriously trippy, and well worth a listen.

1. Osmose I
2. Osmose II
3. Osmose III

Download here (mp3s, 24.6 mb)

More on Annexus Quam can be found in the online version of the Freeman Bros essential Crack in the Cosmic Egg.

Krautrock #9: Amon Duul II - Tanz der Lemminge

2007-02-28T08:08:00.000Z

This one, unlike its two solid gold predecessors, excites a lot of debate. Two sidelong collages of songs and fragments, a drone experiment and three briefer meanders around old themes. Lord Cope attests it was a disaster and hops straight on to its folkier succesor, Carnival in Babylon. Others, including those wacky Freeman Bros, linger longer over its melange of tunes and noises, and the entrancing (but not very representative) sidelong ritual drone of "The Marilyn Monroe Memorial Church". I'm in two minds. After this they pulled together to apply some rigour for Wolf City and the rocking Live in London but progressively got more song-based, and most of the frenzy went, which wouldn't be the first time a wild band ended up making ordinary songs, but still... See what you think.

1. SYNTELMAN'S MARCH OF THE ROARING SEVENTIES
(In the Glassgarden/Pull Down Your Mask/Prayer to the Silence/Telephonecomplex)

Download here (mp3, 15 mb)

More general reading on ADII can be found in the online version of the Freeman Bros essential Crack in the Cosmic Egg.

Krautrock #8: Amon Duul II - Yeti

2007-02-27T13:28:00.000Z

I am confident that even if you've never heard this record, you'll be familiar with its fabulous cover image of brutish roadie/bongo player Shrat as Death personified, swinging his scythe. But even that cover does not prepare you for the raging psych rock that prowls within. Yes, it tails off into a trio of meandering improvisations, but straight out the cage it's a beast. First track here is like the title track of Phallus Dei fading back in, only ten times as pissed off. And its little friend, well, from its crunchy riff to its emminenly sampleable drum break (aka "the Kraut break", crate diggers apparently call it) it's a cracker. The vocals, ah... I find they are like a pungent cheese - your tastebuds rebel the first few times, but you can't get the thought of them out of your head and eventually they start calling to you. This is definitely in the top five of the all-time favourite Kraut records.

1. Soap Shop Rock
3. Archangel's Thunderbird

Download here (mp3s, 16 mb)

Our chums at Progweed have more reading on this monster.

Krautrock #7: Amon Duul II - Phallus Dei

2007-02-20T08:21:00.000Z

A messy delight from 1969, this record is the Kraut record, for me, not least because it was the first I ever bought, from a cheapie pile back at the height of punk when I was already looking for something further out there. All my punk mates hated it, could barely comprehend its demented but bracing stew of riffing and shrieking. For me, things were never the same again, and hard on its heels came Faust and the Residents. Even now the mangled Deutsche vocals, both male and female, take some getting used to -- and on that note do brace yoruselves for Renate Knaup's racket "Archangel's Thunderbird" on the next one -- but I love the fact that these guys take all their ramshackle elements, fling them together and somehow rock.

1. Kanaan
3. Luzifer's Ghilom

Download here (mp3s, 11.7 mb)

Progweed has more details of an album where "Guitar and organ freakouts become coated with choir like backing vocals courtesy of Renate Knaup, before resuming their unrelenting fury. This album simply rules."

Krautrock No. 90: Tomorrow's Gift - Tomorrow's Gift

2007-02-17T17:46:00.000Z

Well, I hate to break up the flow, but I also hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, and some kindly stranger who prefers to remain anonymous has uploaded (complete) one of the missing dozen for your listening pleasure:

Tomorrow's Gift - Tomorrow's Gift

It's a .rar file which means you'll need WinRAR or UnRarX or similar to uncompress it. I imagine Dave Howarth can explain it all if you need assistance. And the uncompressed files are .wma which is not so hot for iTunes users, so if anyone comes across an mp3 version, let me know. In the meantime, there's always Quicktime.

Krautrock #6: Amon Duul - Collapsing (Singvogel Ruckwarts & Co.)

2007-02-16T22:14:00.000Z

So here's the second chunk of prime 1969 Deutsche freakery. Strangely, I prefer this one's more straightforward psych guitar hacking and bongo trippery, but even here it's plain these have been swept up from the floor of the session, and there were still three more records of detritus to follow.

1. Booster

4. Singvögel Ruckwärts

Download here (mp3s, 6.2 mb)

Apologies, meanwhile, for the crackly vinyl, but I guess this one is kinda old.

Krautrock #5: Amon Duul - Psychedelic Underground

2007-02-16T21:49:00.000Z

Should really post this with the next in line, as pretty much everything the original Amon Düül released was recorded in one long monster jam session in early 1969, around the time the more musical members of the family sodded off to become the Hawkwind-from-Hell #2 AD version who soon made Phallus Dei and many more fab freakouts. But anyways, these are selections from Psychedelic Underground. The album's most notable for the sidelong opening jam, which is mostly what you get when seventy or so unwashaed layabouts bang pots and pans in yr garden. But later they do add a tad more rigour -- or at least whoever mashed up the tapes in the studio later does so. Julian Cope said in his Unsung review of the record that it sounded like the cast of Gilligan's Island freaking on the Velvet Underground and I sort of see what he meant.

2. Kaskados Minnelied

6. Bitterlings Verwandlung

Download here (mp3s, 7.3 mb)

Krautrock #4: Alcatraz - Vampire State Building

2007-02-16T14:55:00.000Z

Fresh from the postal system just yesterday after I'd re-established contact with the famous Brothers Freeman
Two tracks here. Secondly the title track, 'cause I'm that obvious (and it's the longest track) but firstly Simple Headphone Mind because as we all know it's been used by NWW.

http://rapidshare.com/files/16744265/01_Simple_Headphone_Mind.mp3.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/16747783/04_Vampire_State_Building.mp3.html

Let's keep this rolling, unless it's just four obsessives eh?
djh

Krautrock Three - Agitation Free - Last

2007-02-10T16:27:00.000Z

So a test post after some strife alleviated by E & M Here's my first upload.
Looping IV was originally the b-side of AG's er, last album and was recommended to me personally in the slightly sweaty flesh by the Brothers Freeman (whom I must visit sometime soon, lovely people really).
It starts pretty tripped out and full of echo...

http://rapidshare.com/files/15869045/03_Looping_IV.wma.html

For those who knoweth not the delights of Windows Media Audio lossless, here a link to a 320 mp3 rip

http://rapidshare.com/files/15965069/03_Looping_IV.mp3.html

Here's what Marco's friends @ Prog Archives say:
--------------
It only features 3 pieces, but what pieces!The first one, “Soundpool”, features a long psychedelico-cosmic introduction followed by the beautiful lyrical guitar solo from Malesh’s last piece “Rücksturz”.The second piece is a major piece from the “2nd” album, “Laïla II”. The introduction is simply mind blowing; it brings the listener straight into another galaxy…The “cosmic” adjective takes its full dimension here. Then the piece evolves with stunning space rock developments lead by fantastic guitar. An absolute masterpiece! The third piece, the long one -unreleased-, is a cyclical repetitive suite; the same theme is repeated with variations and progression, in a way somehow reminiscent of TD mid period’s albums such as “Phaedra”, but in a more captivating way. It evokes a shamanic psychedelic trance.Sound is quite hazy but curiously, it fits well the music. It doesn’t sound like a live album as public’s presence is never heard. This album is a major german prog album and a gem of space psychedelico-cosmic genre.
----
I was all set to say that the TD comparison is bollocks before I realised I was listening to the more boogie/psych riffing tracks on side A. This one is a moody cosmic chill-out classic. How they got away with this live I don't know. It's all de-tuned, mellow and about 100,000 years through the Magellan's Cloud.
[crap photo here:http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_060110.html ]
This is a fair review from the same site:

AGITATION FREE — LastReview by Cesar Inca (César Inca Mendoza Loyola) SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Prog Specialist
This is my fave Agitation Free album from their first era. Actually, this is a selection of recordings that the band had already planned for release, but the release only took place many months after the band’s demise, due to some French label’s initiative. This circumstance helped the album to become a cult classic of krautrock. Anyway, IMHO, the three tracks in “Last” comprise the most proficient performances accomplished by the five musicians; they also contain the most confident labour of texture and jamming ever conceived by the band during this first era. While being more stylish and refined than “Second” and much more cohesive than their debut recording “Malesch”, “Last” continues to capture the band’s unique energy perfectly. The band’s inherent sonic power of the band is still there, irradiating its peculiar light across their increasingly polished sonic landscapes. Jörg Schwenke is back in the band, while drummer/percussionist Burghard Rausch was gradually leaving AF: in one of the tracks he is replaced by Dietmar Burmeister. It seems that the band’s internal turmoil didn’t affect the level of consistency of their new material. Once again, the Ash Ra Tempel influence is quite noticeable (more evident, in fact), specially when it comes to the fluid transition from the cosmic layers to the more jam-oriented sections. Track 1 starts with a very laid-back hypnotic sonic landscape that feels distant, as if drifting through space (it kind of reminds me of early Pink Floyd); eventually, a not too long jam reprising a slight variation of the main motif of ‘Rucksturz’ (“Malesch” closing number) fills the room and gives the track a more definite shape. Then comes the very long ‘Laila II’, which retakes one of the basic subdued themes of “Laila” and explores it further, even taking it to different places as the jam goes onward. Some of the best guitar interplaying ever in AF’s history is comprised in both this track and the next one, the long-side “Looping”: the way that the latter incorporates dreamy passages and rocking moments in a fluid intercalation comes as no surprise to those already familiar with the band’s capability to create their unique ethereal walls of sound, bathed in majesty. My overall rating for this album is the maximum one in Prog Archives terms – this is, after all, a unique masterpiece of krautrock.
--------
If, I say If my head was full of spliff I might never come down after this...
Cosmic Peace y'all.
djh

Kraut #2: Agitation Free "2nd"

2007-02-09T08:27:00.000Z

And a couple from their, surprisingly titled second disc:

1. First Communication

7. Haunted Island

Download here (mp3s, 21.5 mb)

"Second is another classic album from Agitation Free, one of the leading lights of the Krautrock movement in Germany. As opposed to Malesch, Second shows some slight change in direction for the band. It becomes readily apparent on the first track that the band's sound is slightly jazzier and the melodies are a little tighter and stonger. The guitar duels between Ulbrich and Diez are utterly gorgeous, and the melodies absolutely shimmer throughout the album. The only misstep is probably Hoenig's "Dialogue & Random", an experimental piece that is just random electronic blips for a couple minutes.

The two-part "Laila" piece is definitely a highlight, featuring a jazzy, almost funky bass groove from Michel Gunter to underpin the exquisite guitar explorations. "In the Silence of the Morning" uses another addictive bass motif to accentuate its hypnotic structure. "Haunted Island" is initially a little cheesy, being that it features some spoken work poetry (with heavy voice alteration), but eventually develops into another excellent track, with their trademark subtle guitar solos and gorgeous keyboard textures. Overall I'd say this album loses some of the mystical feel that Malesch had, due to the abscence of the Arabic percussive textures and melodies, although motifs of that kind do crop up at points. On the whole it seems to take a slightly more conventional path, and the incorporation of jazzy and near-Canterbury like passages is definitely effective.." From Progweed.net

More info on their official page.

Krautrock #1: Agitation Free "Malesh"

2007-02-09T08:16:00.000Z

The two opening tracks from their 1972 debut to get us started:

1. You Play For Us Today

2. Sahara City

Download here (mp3s, 19.6 mb)

"Agitation Free's debut album is one of the absolute classic albums to come out of Germany in the 1970s. Agitation Free approached the groundbreaking experimental tendencies of the German scene from a different persepective than most of the other groups. Firstly, the delicate touch of melody was certainly not lost on the band, and they often bypass the strictly standoff-ish approach of many of the other German bands, infusing their albums with a gorgeous melodic drive. Malesch takes a slightly unique approach then the more jazzy follow-up, Second would, though both albums are in the same basic vein. The album extensively incorporates ethnic and world music influences, due to the fact that much of the album was apparently composed on a trip to Egypt around the same time. Much of the album features sound samples and recordings from the trip, which are used to divide the tracks.

Most of the Arabic and ethnic influence is percussive, as exotic rhythms underpin Agitation Free's melodic and powerful guitar interplay. "You Play for Us Today" and "Sahara City" both build into exciting, driving guitar led crescendos. "Ala Tul" features an extraordinary Michael Hoening keyboard motif that glides over the intense and magical percussive backdrop. "Pulse" tends to get bogged down a little in avant soundscapes, but does provide some breathing room and eventually morphs into a heavily hypnotic piece. "Khan E Khalili" and "Malesch" both build on the already established style of the album, and are full of powerful guitar interplay and a completely magical atmosphere. The soaring closer "Ruckstruz" is totally majestic, a powerful melody that closes out this classic album in fitting form. My overall opinion is obviously that this is one of the very finest German albums bar none. Agitation Free manages to be extremely melodic, yet retains that experimental focus and pushes their music waaaaaaayy out there. The incorporation of Arabic influences beneath the incredible guitar dueling makes this a unique entry in the Krautrock scene. I doubt that those already not predisposed towards the Krautrock/space-rock movement will find themselves converted by this album, but newbies would do well to start here." From Progweed.net

More info on their official page

Krautrock 101

2007-02-07T22:14:00.000Z

well, 100 anyway...I rather like Marc's suggestion of working our way through the Freeman brothers' list, banging up a track or two from each. Perhaps folks could add a few comments regarding the ones they're familiar with, and at some point I'll compile it all into a giant Frank's Apa guide to kraut and run it as a zine/pull-out-and-throw-away supplement. Anyway, here's that list in full, courtesy of Mr. Scott Watkins of the parish (shockingly Marc Gascoigne has all of these bar the bolded entries - can anyone step up to fill the remaining gaps?):

1. Agitation Free - Malesch
2. Agitation Free - 2nd
3. Agitation Free - Last
4. Alcatraz - Vampire State Building
5. Amon Duul - Psychedelic Underground
6. Amon Duul - Collapsing: Singvogel Ruckwarts & Co
7. Amon Duul II - Phallus Dei
8. Amon Duul II - Yeti
9. Amon Duul II - Dance Of The Lemmings
10. Annexus Quam - Osmose
11. Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel
12. Ash Ra Tempel - Schwingungen
13. Ash Ra Tempel - Join Inn
14. Between - And The Waters Opened
15. Brave New World - Impressions On Reading Aldous Huxley
16. Can - Tago Mago
17. Can - Future Days
18. Can - Unlimited Edition
19. Cluster - Cluster [aka Cluster 71]
20. Cluster - Cluster II
21. Code III - Planet Of Man
22. Cosmic Jokers - Cosmic Jokers
23. Cosmic Jokers - Planeten Sit-In
24. Cornucopia - Full Horn
25. Dennis - Hyperthalamus
26. Deuter - D
27. Dom - Edge Of Time
28. Dzyan - Electric Silence
29. Eiliff - Eiliff
30. Eiliff - Girlrls!
31. Embryo - Embro's Rache
32. Embryo - Steig Aus
33. Emtidi - Saat
34. Et Cetera - Et Cetera
35. Eulenspygel - Ausschuss
36. Faust - Faust
37. Faust - So Far
38. Faust - The Faust Tapes
39. Floh De Cologne - Geyer-Symphonie
40. Frumpy - Frumpy 2
41. Galactic Supermarket - Galactic Supermarket
42. Gila - Gila "Free Electric Sound"
43. Sergius Golowin - Lord Krishna Von Goloka
44. Gomorrha - I Turned To See Whose Voice It Was
45. Grobschnitt - Grobschnitt
46. Guru Guru - UFO
47. Guru Guru - Hinten
48. Guru Guru - Kanguru
49. Ibliss - Supernova
50. Kluster - Klopfzeichen
51. Kluster - Zwei Osterei
52. Kollektiv - Kollektiv
53. Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk
54. Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk 2
55. Message - From Books & Dreams
56. Mythos - Mythos
57. Mythos - Dreamlab
58. Neu! - Neu!
59. Nine Days Wonder - Nine Days Wonder
60. Nosferatu - Nosferatu
61. Organisation - Tone Float
62. Out Of Focus - Out Of Focus
63. Out Of Focus - Four Letter Monday Afternoon
64. Popol Vuh - Affenstunde
65. Popol Vuh - In Den Garten Pharaos
66. Popol Vuh - Aguirre
67. Popol Vuh - Letzte Tage - Letzte Nacht
68. Achim Reichel & Machines - Die Grune Reise
69. Achim Reichel & Machines - Echo
70. Achim Reichel & Machines - AR. 3
71. Achim Reichel & Machines - AR. IV
72. Achim Reichel - Erholung
73. Release Music Orchestra - Life
74. Rufus Zuphall - Weiss Der Teufel
75. Sand - Golem
76. Gunter Schickert - Samtvogel
77. Conrad Schnitzler - Rot
78. Conrad Schnitzler - Blau
79. Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht
80. Klaus Schulze - Cyborg
81. Klaus Schulze - Timewind
82. Klaus Schulze - Mirage
83. Tangerine Dream - Electronic Meditation
84. Tangerine Dream - Alpha Centauri
85. Tangerine Dream - Zeit
86. Tangerine Dream - Atem
87. Technical Space Composers Crew [aka Holger Czukay] - Canaxis V
88. Thirsty Moon - Thirsty Moon
89. Thirsty Moon - You'll Never Come Back
90. Tomorrow's Gift - Tomorrow's Gift
91. Tomorrow's Gift - Goodbye Future (have .wma, .mp3s welcome)
92. Virus - Revelation
93. Vita Nova - Vita Nova
94. Wallenstein - Blitzkreig
95. Walter Wegmuller - Tarot
96. Wired - Wired "Free Improvisation"
97. Witthuser + Westrupp - Trips + Traume
98. Xhol Caravan - Electrip
99. Xhol Caravan - Motherfuckers GmbH & Co KG
100. Yatha Sidhra - A Meditation Mass
101. Brainticket - Cottonwoodhill

So, who's going to kick us off with some Agitation Free?

Hey Kate Bush! You Want Some Of This? I Can't Hear You

2007-01-27T13:10:00.000Z

Hawk or Handsaw? - A TOAD quiz

2006-12-29T15:46:00.000Z

As some of you like Hawkwind, I've concocted a quiz TOAD (or perhaps just a questionable TOAD) of various space rock bands. They are mostly from the 1990's but with a couple of pieces that are older or more recent. I've removed all MP3 tags and changed the file names so that the identity of the tracks shouldn't be obvious. Your challenge is to identify which tracks are by Hawkwind and which are by other bands. In addition to the bands' own material, some of the tracks are Hawkwind songs covered by other bands. If you can identify the track titles, albums and any involvement of members or ex-members of Hawkwind, I will be awarding points. Full answers will appear in the next issue of Frank's, if I can get my act together in time.

http://www.zshare.net/download/hawk-or-handsaw-part-1-zip.html

http://www.zshare.net/download/hawk-or-handsaw-part-2-zip.html

Cheers and a happy new year!

Dave

That Rudolph comp for Xmas

2006-12-21T07:53:00.000Z

As threatened, for a limited time only, 30 tracks of sheer Xmas delight for your lugs (plus the usual assortment of distracting interludes and interjections). This ain't just Xmas, this is Frank's APA Xmas...

First half and printable insert (53 megs)
Rousing finale and incomprehensible track listing (59 megs)

To wit...
01. LITTLE BECKY - Little Becky’s Xmas Wish
02. RX - Happy RXmas
03. THE CAROLEERS - Who’s That Up on the Roof?
04. PRINCESS SUPERSTAR - Compactus Xmas
05. THE FOUR SEASONS - Jungle Bells
06. THE UNIVERSAL ROBOT BAND - Disco Xmas
07. COUSIN OLIVER - Naked Xmas
08. DORA BRYAN - All I Want for Xmas is a Beatle
09. THE BEATMAS - White Xmas
10. BARBARA MORGENSTERN - White Xmas
11. ANALGORETERROR - Jingle Bells
12. WESLEY WILLIS - Merry Xmas
13. CLANN ZU - Words for Snow
14. BUG - The 12 Boots of Xmas
15. JEFF ST PIERRE/PHILLIP ANTONIADES - Rubber Clause is Comin’ to Town
16. CKy - We Wish You a Shitty Xmas
17. MECO - Xmas with the Stars
18. THE SMASH UP - The Coventry Carol
19. BUTTERBEANS & SUSIE - Papa Ain’t No Santa Claus (Mama Ain’t No Christmas Tree)
20. DIVIDE & KREATE - Jingle Jane
21. WOODY PHILLIPS - Jingle Bells
22. THE FALL - We Wish You a Protein Xmas
23. POKEMON - I’m Giving Pikachu for Xmas
24. DJ NIFTY - Yuletimerinse
25. PLEDGE DRIVE - Xmas Rhapsody
26. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - All I Want for Xmas is You
27. SUFJAN STEVENS - Come On! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance!
28. MEL BLANC - The Hat I Got for Xmas was Too Beeg
29. ST ETIENNE - Driving Home for Xmas
30. CARY GRANT - Xmas Lullaby

Not that I'm angling, but...

2006-12-14T09:36:00.000Z

I would quite like one of these . Perhaps "9:31 - Why Don't You Eat Carrots" on silver.

Some chicken

2006-11-27T08:44:00.000Z

Back in May The Necks did a 25 minute set for ABC in Australia. That's it there.

Re:cent 11*2006: More Things

2006-11-14T13:45:00.000Z

Archive in two parts, 23 MP3 files and a natty little printable pdf CD sleeve in the second part.

Part one (69.7 mb)
Part two (74.6 mb)

Track Listing
01. Barry Adamson - Here in the Hole (Stranger on the Sofa 2006)
02. AR & the Machines - Beautiful Babylon (Die Grune Reise 1971)
03. Associates - White Car in Germany (12" single 1981)
04. Atrium Musicae de Madrid - Anakrousis. Orestes Stasimo (Musique de la Grece Antique 1979)
05. Blut aus Nord - The Choir of the Dead (The Work Which Transforms God 2005)
06. Burial - Southern Comfort (Burial 2006)
07. The Can - Father Cannot Yell (Monster Movie 1969)
08. Coheed & Cambria - Three Evils (Embodied in Love & Shadow) (In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 2003)
09. Tore Elgaroy - Tonesykkel (The Sound of the Sun 2001)
10. Brian Eno - This (Another Day on Earth 2005)
11. Espers - Dead Queen (Espers II 2006)

12. Fujiya & Miyagi - Ankle Injuries (Transparent Things 2006)
13. The Grey Daturas - Repeate Until False (Dead in the Woods 2004)
14. High on Fire - Brother in the Wind (Blessed Black Wings 2004)
15. Infantjoy - Application 1 (Where the Time Goes 2005)
16. Jonathan Kane - Curl (February 2005)
17. Killwhitneydead - Liars Live You Live the Shortest Lives (So Pretty, So Plastic 2005)
18. Morgen - Welcome to the Void (Morgen 1969)
19. Serena-Maneesh - Selina's Melodie Fountain (Serena-Maneesh 2006)
20. Six Organs of Admittance - Black Wall (The Sun Awakens 2006)
21. The Slits - Love und Romance (Peel Sessions 1977)
22. Chas Smith - Beatrix (Cold Blue 1984)
23. Susanna & the Magic Orchestra - It's Raining Today (Melody Mountain 2006)

Seeing Through Shadows

2006-11-10T22:04:00.000Z

"Me cyan' understand when a rocket ship explode yet everybody still want to fly...."

I decided I liked this set cut to the bone so no Burial track. Hopefully the .zips should unpack perfectly neatly in running order but in case they don't the order is as follows:

Part 1: Junior Boys>>>Superpitcher>>>Loco Dice>>>Theo Parrish

Part 2: Digital Mystikz>>>El-B>>>Loefah>>>Pinch>>>Kode9

just downloaded about half the next installment...god bless booze.

TOAD on the way

2006-11-07T13:26:00.000Z

Advance warning: the new zine makes mention of Re:cent 11*2006, another selection of current listening Chez Gasco. I'll post it here for download via the usual services as soon as a physical copy of the zine is in my hand. If you can't make this interweb thing work I can mail you an MP3-stuffed CDr instead; just email me. -- marco

Seychelles organ funk

2006-08-28T08:04:00.000+01:00

Heya all,

Here a great African 70's track I once found somewhere online... hear that crazy slick organ and the supersweet singing! It's in old colonial patois french (dialect) which makes it even more special.

Thomas Alexie - Mon Dorina

But We had More mp3 Blogs Last Week

2006-08-08T22:59:00.000+01:00

I point you in the direction of a couple of new mp3 blogs from my Dublin confreres, Don Rosco and Justin Mason (you might find me posting on this one occasionally too). I should make it clear that Justin has made an exceptionally fine start by uploading Terry Riley's "You're No Good", which I have been dying to hear for years....

Words + Music

2006-08-04T14:34:00.000+01:00

So yeah, I work for a publishing company (OK, I run a...) and I also like to rock. So how can I combine these two interests? How, how indeed.

Yeah, OK, so some ain't so funny but hell, there's hundreds of the buggers so there's probably at least a snort or two somewhere.

Samplers, start your engines

2006-08-04T00:07:00.000+01:00

John Bonham drum outtakes.

The Art of the Riff #59

2006-07-28T12:44:00.000+01:00

Rory e-mailed me last night giving me a link to this one. But luckily for all of us, I already had it, and so here it is:

Sandy Bull, "No Deposit-No Return Blues" (17:01, 22.1MB, VBR100)

I like this. That sort of watery psychedelia that was all the rage in '68.

Wolfgang was his real name, geddit?

2006-07-27T14:56:00.000+01:00

I'll totally feel like a tool if somebody in FA has already mentioned this, but that dude who bought Bill Graham's Fillmore/Winterland/Etc archive is streaming selected tasty bits at Wolfgang's Vault. So far this morning I've heard pre-1st-LP Santana (surprisingly thin sound), Incredible String Band from '69, Dylan from '75 ("Sara," urgh), Elvis Costello from '78, Mark-Almond, Mountain, Traffic, Byrds from '70, Emmylou Harris from '75, and right now it's the 11 Feb '69 Dead and "Dark Star." Pretty good selection, updated Thursdays.

Won't Somebody Please Think Of The Children

2006-07-26T10:23:00.000+01:00

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=D6C6118347C6A509

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=516CA94652A55C90

Go on have a listen - you know you want to.

Would it help if I tell you there is a very young member of the Super Furry Animals involved? I'm probably lieing but how can you be sure?

Maybe It's The Booze Talking...

2006-07-23T00:02:00.000+01:00

...but I can't stop listening to this.

Mind you, the Hot Chip album is wrecking me also.

Post for Dave

2006-07-20T09:09:00.000+01:00

Morning Mr Howarth,

The only MP3 blog you'll ever need. Nip out and buy yourself a massive new hard drive. You might just need one.

Jade Chante Magma

2006-07-06T01:36:00.000+01:00

It's not like YouTube hadn't already justified its existence with a thousand other tidbits, including the video for Grace Jones' "Slave To the Rhythm" that I've always had a soft spot for, but now we have The Greatest Performance of a Magma Song That's Ever Been or Ever Will Be.

KraftByrne

2006-06-28T23:10:00.000+01:00

yes sirree, thanx for soulseek if ever.
I found this super David Byrne cover of Kraftwerk's The Model. I like the classical yet electroey approach to it. violin bleep galore!

David Byrne - The Model

Hey baby, what's your sign?

2006-06-26T14:04:00.000+01:00

So, what kind of music do you listen to, cutie pie? Ah, excellent, you use iTunes Sig Maker. Now I can listen to a John Oswald-style mash of tiny snippets from your iTunes library and get a handy overview in just a few seconds. Or create a screaming hellish miasma of teeny fragments in classic Plexure stylee.

The Art of the Riff #58

2006-06-15T16:36:00.000+01:00

If you haven't had your RDA of castrati today, this should help:

Current 93, "Where the Long Shadows Fall" (19:04, 26.5MB, VBR100)

This track pretty much sums up why I don't particularly like David Tibet: he takes an idea that isn't necessary bad in and of itself, but then runs it several times through his Incredible-String-Band-o-vator and repeats it ad nauseam. Part of England's Reverse that I wish would stay Hidden.

A Thank You & A Reminder

2006-06-04T16:24:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to say thanks to Paul & William for the mp3 blog links... and do so in a post not a reply so that a) I remember how to post and b) remember that I'm theoretically working on a list of such links that others may find useful / be keeping secret from their apa buddies.
Hoopla
djh

MP3 Blog of the Day

2006-05-24T15:44:00.000+01:00

Over at the brand new Classical Connection, knowby takes the same liberties with the term "classical" that your average Tower Records employee might, but he's posting some good stuff by 20th century composers just the same. Some shortish ("Gesang Der Junglinge") but also some enormous stuff, including all of Young's The Well-Tuned Piano and Feldman's String Quartet #2. (I just found this site a few minutes ago thanks to an ILX tip, and will be checking out the Elliot Carter posting toot sweet.)

The Art of the Riff #55, #56 and #57: Minimalism!

2006-05-23T11:26:00.000+01:00

Just got all three of these fairly recently, and since they're all (broadly) in the same musical genre, I figured I'd put them up in a single post...

La Monte Young, "The Melodic Version of `The Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer'" (77:04, 96.1MB, VBR100)

Terry Riley, "Music for `The Gift'"(19:36, 15.8MB, VBR100)

Tony Conrad, "Four Violins (1964)" (32:26, 47.8MB, VBR100)

Meek digitalised

2006-05-20T13:29:00.000+01:00

hey hey,

A new Matmos ode to Joe Meek; a glitchy, riff-tastic and orchestral one that is :)
(from The Rose has Teeth in the Mouth, Matador 2006)
Matmos - Solo Buttons for Joe Meek

Also I have been lured into the dense sticky web of Pascal Comelade, the Catalonian-French composer who mashes classical compositions with odd jazz and improv sounds. He's like an avant-garde Yann Tiersen, but more subtle and less drama. He did some stuff in the past with Robert Wyatt, Pierre Bastien and Jaki Liebezeit which you should really check out.
Here a track of Scénes de Musique Ralentie, released in 1984 as a cassette! I fucking adore this grainy compositon! more please.
Pascal Comelade - Scenes de Musique Ralentie, track 2

quick update: actually, the track is called 'Instant au Bord de la Mer' and was also featured on the Détail Monochrome album.
here's the *cleaner* version, choose which one you like more
Pascal Comelade - Instant au bord de la mer

Marco, funny you must mention that 20 Jazz*** blog as I stumbled upon this very same blog a couple o' monhs ago. Good diverse stuff there indeed! hmm, perhaps I'll submit a list of blogs-to-keep-tabs-on. I really should write more on a weekly basis, since my zines are always full of time lapses and blackholes. At some stage I will also do a small Soundtransit.nl writeup here that some Apaite asked in ancient times begone. communication out.

Live Circle

2006-05-18T13:30:00.000+01:00

Not much, but a glimmer for all you believers, courtesy 20 Jazz Funk Greats (yeah, back at the end of April, but hey, who can read these things daily any more?).

Help Me Somebody

2006-05-09T22:08:00.000+01:00

Nothing has really tempted me to reinstall Garage Band and try my hand at remixing a track until now.

Cover Version Friday: Bongwater

2006-05-05T16:53:00.000+01:00

For no reason whatsoever, a collection of cover versions by Bongwater...

Peter Cook & Dudley Moore:
"Bedazzled"

Led Zeppelin:
"Dazed and Chinese" (in Mandarin, no less)
"Four Sticks"

The Beatles:
"Julia"
"Love You to"
"Rain"

The Monkees:
"Just May Be the One"
"The Porpoise Song"

Jimmie Rodgers:
"Kisses Sweeter than Wine"

Tuli Kupferberg:
"Reaganization"

The Moody Blues:
"Ride My See-Saw"

Gary Glitter:
"Rock & Roll, Pt. 2"

Johnny Cash:
"There You Go"

Kevin Ayers:
"We Did It Again"

Roky Erickson:
"You Don't Love Me Yet"

(And this doesn't even include their version of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'" or their totally ace cover of Slapp Happy's "The Drum" -- sadly, my copies of those are still back in the US.)

The Art of the Riff #54

2006-05-04T15:05:00.000+01:00

Was just over in Scotland for my brother's wedding, and met up with Adrian & Noelle and Nessa, and finally met Dr Dave Berry. Got back last night, and to mark being (ugh) back in work...

Melvins, Lysol (31:20, 43.3MB, VBR100)

Well, technically, the piece is the entire Melvins album, but it's exactly the same music no matter what it's called. A riff-happy sludge metal symphony in several, er, movements.

Imperfect Sound Forever

2006-05-01T13:56:00.000+01:00

An interesting article (if a little lengthy for the point being made) over at Stylus magazine, addressing the issue of excessive compression in recording, which is something I have noticed without any understanding of the reasons for it. I suppose one reason it's less evident to me is that the music I listen to where it's most apparent is music like the Psychic Paramount or Boris where it's a deliberate aesthetic choice, where the aim is to make the music sound overwhelmingly loud and distorted at low volumes. By contrast, Sunn 0))) albums must be recorded with much less compression - ordinarily I only have the volume on the amplifier turned that high when I'm listening to early Nightmares On Wax or LFO and really want to hear the sub-bass.

Of course I was sucked in from paragraph one when he mentions listening to Spirit Of Eden (Talk Talk) on the very same headphones that I own....

I know it's short notice, but...

2006-04-26T08:26:00.000+01:00

If you are anywhere near London tomorrow, Thursday April 27th.

RHYTHM & SOUND,
with TIKIMAN and half a dozen other sound systems
The Neighbourhood Club, 12 Acklam Road, Ladbroke Grove, W10 5JJ

Bare Files

2006-04-26T02:55:00.000+01:00

I suspect this one will be of interest solely to me and Seb but there is a massive collection of grime/dubstep mixes and radio shows available for download over at Bare Files.

weareie

2006-04-22T15:24:00.000+01:00

And while I'm giving props to other blogs, the best-named blog out there, weareie, has just posted another fine mix of vintage jungle - Hyper-On E, Rufige Kru, Photek, DJ Crystl - forty minutes of pure sweetness.

No Condition Is Permanent

2006-04-22T15:06:00.000+01:00

No Condition Is Permanent looks like an interesting music blog, posting entire albums of vintage african sounds with lengthy writeups. The downloads are via Rapidshare so don't torture yourself if you can't roll with that...personally I'm downloading some King Sunny Ade albums right now.

Winkelmann's Happy Endings

2006-04-19T10:38:00.000+01:00

Mark asked me to post this compilation for you all.

Winkelmann's Happy Endings (ZIP archive, 89.3 mb)

01. Judge Dread - The Winkle Man
02. The Faces - Cindy Incidentally
03. OST - Ekkelog
04. RK Veulpoepers BV - Hakrobionies
05. Stepaside - Get Out of Dublin
06. Ram John Holder - Brixton Blues
07. Sunday Funnies - Reach Out
08. Hawkwind - Love in Space
09. Ween - Freedom of '76
10. Steely Dan - Green Earrings
11. Patrick Moraz - Primitivisation
12. Santana - Mirage
13. Odyssey - Battened Ship
14. Christine Harwood - Wooden Ships
15. Nick Garrie - The Nightmare of JB Stanislas
16. Wendy & Bonnie - What's Really Happening
17. Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66 - Righteous Life
18. David McWilliams - Three O'Clock Flamingo Street
19. Pinky MacClure - Heartsease
20. Joyce - Ave Maria
21. Gary MacFarland - Suzanne

If we're especially blessed, I hope he'll be able to pop on some background notes in due course. Note that this file goes away in one week.

Flac to audio

2006-04-17T08:28:00.000+01:00

Dear Peoploids,
I was wondering what folks use to convert flac files to regular audio. They're easy enough to play on the PC through winamp or whatever but increasingly I'm getting stuff that I wanna share or play on the moldy old hi-fi (remember them?) I've half paid attention to folks over on Eurotraders so many times but d/ling a liberated Japanese boot of Velvet Underground Sister Ray recordings has upped the ante somewhat. I'm using windows XP and I'm looking for something an ex-pat Lancastrian can understand.
All help gratefully received etc.

Killing The Music Industry

2006-04-16T02:15:00.000+01:00

It seems that some people are having problems downloading the files posted via Rapidshare. I'm going to suggest that we use Yousendit for the time being. At the moment, Yousendit invites you to set up an account - it is not necessary to do this in order to upload a file. The benefit of the account (which is free) is that you can post files up to 100MB in size whereas without signing up you are limited to 50MB maximum. 50MB is plenty for anything short of a TOAD.

As mentioned before, the big problem with Yousendit is that the files are removed from the server after seven days. If you are one of the people who does download and listen to these tracks, you might want to add the blog to your Bloglines account/live bookmarks/aggregator. Alternatively, if the file has already gone by the time you see the post, leave a comment and maybe the poster (or another member) will repost the file.

Anyhow, for your listening pleasure, here's one of the bonus tracks from the US edition of the Domino Fire Engines compilation...and it's a cover version to boot, even though it's Saturday.

Fire Engines - Jacqueline

The Art of the Riff #53

2006-04-13T14:49:00.000+01:00

Okay, let's really see how good Rapidshare is, with two biggies:

Takehisa Kosugi, "Mano Dharma '74" (41.3MB, 26:32, VBR100)
Takehisa Kosugi, "Wave Code #E-1" (34.8MB, 22:26, VBR100)

Before getting Catch Wave (the album both of these tracks are from), I'd heard of Kosugi only in connection with the Taj Mahal Travellers and from Sonic Youth's Goodbye 20th Century, but both of these are pretty nice. Quite atmospheric, in fact. But, to my ear, pretty riff-free.

Cover Version...er...Monday

2006-04-11T03:27:00.000+01:00

Just to test out Rapidshare, here's Davy Graham covering "Moanin'" by Art Blakey. I remember thinking that the riff sounded very familiar when I heard the Art Blakey album a couple of years ago...took me until this weekend to twig that I'd heard it many times before, buried on Folk, Blues & Beyond.

Davy Graham - Moanin'

If you have any problems downloading it, leave a comment to that effect or drop me an email.

Welcome To The Future

2006-04-08T18:20:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the new Frank's blog - this first post will lay down a few groundrules. I will subsequently edit it to include the answers to any questions I am asked about how to use the blog. Once it disappears below the fold I will make a permanent link to it in the sidebar for ease of reference.

Posting privileges are open to all current and former members of Frank's Apa. Admin privileges are open to anyone whom I trust not to make a hash of the HTML. Commenting will remain open to all comers unless spam becomes a problem.

As before, the abiding principle is that the blog should not subtract from the print version of Franks, so give a little thought to whether anything you're planning to post here would be better saved for your zine. Obviously this doesn't apply to former members.

By and large, I expect most of the posts here to involve mp3s. Unlike Typepad, Blogger does not allow us to upload files directly. Instead you should upload the file to one of the free upload services such as Rapidshare or Yousendit, then post the link to the uploaded file here. Files will stay up longer on Rapidshare than Yousendit - thirty days after the last download rather than seven days after the upload - but Mark has some unspecified problem with Rapidshare. I will update this section if and when we come up with better solutions to this issue. If you want to upload a TOAD, I recommend that you zip (archive) it and upload the .zip file.

You going to stick up some instructions on how to post?

1. Go to http://www.blogger.com and enter your username and password in the "sign in" box at top left.

2. This takes you to the dashboard where the F-Blog is listed as Ruth is Stranger Than Richard. Immediately to the right is a green plus-sign - click this to open the post window. The interface is more or less identical to Typepad.

3. Could you really not have worked this out for yourself, Marc?