Searching for a Lost Sibling

I’ve lost contact with a dear friend. I don’t know what to do to re-establish the connection. I’m not very good at waiting. Last time it was nearly two years before our communion was renewed, but the story was not all that good. Health & society had taken their tolls. Now radio silence once more & I am more concerned than ever.

I’ve been listening to some music he created some twenty to twenty five years ago. It is so wonderful but it is making me melancholy. I have decided to share it with you all in the hopes of stirring some cosmic vibration. Here’s what he has to say about it…

''Between 1989 and 1993 The Ghosts recorded a vast number of songs (the gathering hesitates to dub these sketches demos) on a living room installed Teac 4-Track. They never saw the light of day. The majority of those recordings were entirely spontaneous. Fueled by a seemingly endless diet of alcohol and various nefarious substances. A few of these songs - the best, though by no means the vaguest - proved oddly prophetic. ''

''Half muttered utterances and instrumental doodlings appeared to take shape arbitrarily on tape with little planning or provocation; fleeting snapshots etched magnetically like fragile antique photographs documented for posterity. Again, given their spontaneity, few seemed to benefit from subsequent reworkings. Repeated attempts to improve on the quality of those original scribbles resulted, at best, in yet more songs broadly hinted at; at worst, in dead-ends unravelling like string. ''

''The finished painting resisted editorial conceit.''

''The words 'ether' and 'happenstance' were increasingly employed with banal regularity, even as those more detailed aural pictures revealed themselves in unfolding events. The spectre of mockery loomed in and out, something faintly malicious glimpsed over one's shoulder. It came and went. Avoided definition. ''

''A pillow of moss ; a sliver of sneeze ; a broken pocket watch.''

''There was, in any event, a definitive collective of five persons involved. Sometimes just three. Frequently a pair. As time went by, the most naked of those sketches, quite possibly, were fathered by only two. They felt themselves to be diviners of curiosity rather than serious musicians.''

''And then they just grew tired.''

''The following 'snapshots' are Begg & MacDonald compositions, if they warrant such chutzpah. Take them with a pinch of salt. Dust off your snap-brim.''

''ib: vocals, table knocking;

gus macdonald: guitar;
fiona macdonald: bass.''

''Chancers. Soap-dodgers. Gibbering in the drool of Jack Daniels. Pulling on a neck of Wild Turkey.''

The Ghosts - The Lost Album, TEAC demos (Maryjane), 1992.

Tracklist –

New Baptist (Dust Bowl)

Stickleback

Goldilocks

Stickleback (original live version)

The Ghosts – Hitler’s Watercolours: 56 Gower Street, 1989-1993.

Tracklist –

Sister Lino

Pony Nose

Unicycle

High Tungsten Filament

The Ghosts – The Rehearsal Tapes: 1989 – 1991.

Tracklist –

Dragnet

The Ghosts - The Lost Sibling

decryption code in comments

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

NØ

Mr. Midnight

Here's something that everyone should just love. It doesn’t really fit into any mold so no matter what you’re particular musickal taste, this one should be unique but enjoyable. It comes from the fertile mind of David J & cohorts.

David John Haskins is best known to most as David J, bassist & founding member of Bauhaus & Love and Rockets. David J wrote the lyrics of several Bauhaus songs (including their first single, "Bela Lugosi's Dead"). He sang backing vocals on many songs & sang lead on "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?"

He began writing music for his planned solo career while still in Bauhaus. When the band broke up in 1983, he released the dark Etiquette of Violence & Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh, played bass on two Jazz Butcher albums (A Scandal in Bohemia & Sex and Travel), both of which he also produced. While working with Jazz Butcher, he hooked up with JB saxophonist Alex Green & formed this very short-lived band The Sinister Ducks, with Green & comics writer Alan Moore (with whom he collaborator on other projects).

The Sinister Ducks is: Capt. José da Silva (David J) – guitar & bass;

Max Akropolis (Alex Green) – saxophone; & Translucia Baboon (Alan Moore) – narrator.

The record contained a comic insert by Alan Moore & Lloyd Thatcher illustrating the song "Old Gangsters Never Die". I have included the comic with the music.

The Sinister Ducks – The March of the Sinister Ducks 7", Situation Two SIT 25, 1983.

Suiside –

March of the Sinister Ducks

Homiside –

Old Gangsters Never Die

Enjoy,

NØ

“I don't fuck much with the past but I fuck plenty with the future.”

Norwegian "futurepop" band APOP – Apoptygma Berzerk

Apoptygma Berzerk – Sonic Diary (European release w/bonus remixes disc),
GUN Records GUN 251, 2006.
decryption code in comments

Tracklist -

Cambodia (Kim Wilde cover)
Bend & Break (Keane cover)
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (U2 cover)
A Strange Day (The Cure cover)
Coma White (Marilyn Manson cover)
Fade to Black (Metallica cover)
Shine On (The House of Love cover)
The Damned Don't Cry (Visage cover)
All Tomorrow's Parties (The Velvet Underground & Nico cover)
Electricity (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark cover)
Ohm Sweet Ohm (Kraftwerk cover)
Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover)

All Tomorrow’s Party (live version)

& hidden track
Nothing Else Matters (Metallica cover)

"Nothing Else Matters" is a unlisted, hidden bonus track (comes after 20 seconds silence – here I cut it into a separate track).

Bonus disc –

Mourn (Mesh remix)

Back on Track (Northern Lite remix)

Until the End of the World (Ladytron De-Shape remix)

Deep Red (Blackmail version)

Maze (Zombie Girl remix)

Love to Blame (Sono remix)

Pikachu (Darkdream mix by Sonic Code)

Love to Blame (Pelton Thrashy remix)

Turning in to the Frequency of Your Soul (Cyberpunk remix)

Enjoy,

NØ

The Evolution of Dub (Syndicate)

Dub Syndicate initially evolved out of Creation Rebel. Dub Syndicate's evolution was rapid & large.

Their first outing, 1982s The Pounding System (pre-Lincoln Valentine 'Style' Scott's drumming or artistic & creative processes), was a perfect example of Adrian Sherwood's vision of his big sound in instrumental Dub.

Their second release, in 1983, actually came out on ROIR's cassette only label out of New York. By this time Scott was a major presences. But his & Sherwood’s vision was not clearly defined as of yet. The release is primarily dubs or versions from other On-U projects of the era. "Drilling Equipment" was the only track exclusive to One Way System.

The album I previously featured, North of the River Thames, showcased Doctor Pablo (Peter Stroud) who had been a constant around On-U for many years, serving up his melodica & keyboards with both Creation Rebel & Dub Syndicate as well as a host of others.

Then came this, Dub Syndicate's fourth album, 1985s Tunes from the Missing Channel. 

With this release, Dub Syndicate gave birth to a highly experimental technological dub sound. It ushered in a whole new genre in Dub. What has been labeled 'new roots' can trace its ancestry to this one album. While working in Switzerland, Sherwood discovered an emulator (using it to implement the sitar sound from the keyboard in the song "Ravi Shankar Pt.1"). Also Sherwood began using a technique he called 'captured sound' using an AMS digital harmoniser. Now it was possible to forgo the cut & paste tape deck fiasco to get the cuts of Emperor Rosko into "The Show is Coming". Another difference was the addition of ex-PIL members Jah Wobble & Keith Levene, members of African Head Charge, & the sweet vocals of Bim Sherman. Tunes from the Missing Channel became one of the best-selling albums in the entire On-U catalogue & a new direction & sound for Dub Syndicate.

Dub Syndicate – Tunes from the Missing Channel, On-U Sound ON-U LP38, 1985.
decryption code in comments

Side One –

Ravi Shankar Pt. 1

The Show is Coming

Must Be Dreaming

Over Board

Forever More

Side Two –

Geoffrey Boycott

Wellie

Jolly

Out & About

Enjoy,

NØ

The Doctor is In!

Guess I’ll finish up with week-end Dub. Here’s another dose of On-U Sound from 1984. Doctor Pablo paying homage to Augustus Pablo & AP’s release East of the River Nile.

On NotRT, players are: Dr. Pablo – guitar, keyboards, & melodica; Ashanti – guitar & percussion: Frederix – guitar & bass; Bloodvessel – guitar; Fatfingers, Kishi, & Webster – keyboards; Evar, George Oban, Lizard, & Ras Ani – bass; Bonjo & Jah Dave – percussion, & Style Scott & Fox – drums. Recorded & mixed at Berry St. & Southern between December 1982 & January 1984. Produced by none other than Adrian Sherwood.

Doctor Pablo & The Dub Syndicate – North of the River Thames, On-U LP30, 1984.
decryption code in comments

Side One –

Man of Mystery

Dr. Who?

Pressurized

Tribute

Side Two –

A Taste of Honey

North of the River Thames

Red Sea

We Like it Hot

Enjoy,

NØ

Material Witness

Most accurately Bill Laswell &… (here abouts that would be word-virus cut-up Champion WSB first & foremost).

In 1978 Russian music entrepreneur Giorgio Gomelsky moved to New York City to try opening up the American market to the European progressive jazz-rock bands he was working with, such as Gong, Henry Cow, & Magma. He opened the Zu Club in Manhattan. There he met 24-year-old bass player Bill Laswell & encouraged him to form a band. Three young friends, 17-year old Michael Beinhorn - synthesizer, 17-year old Martin Bisi – programer, & 14-year old Fred Maher – drums responded to Laswell's ad in The Village Voice. They began rehearsing in the club's basement.

The band was called Zu Band until they hooked up with former Gong frontman Daevid Allen. They then took the name New York Gong. Guitarist Cliff Cultreri & a second drummer Bill Bacon joined in the spring of 1979. In the fall of that year they parted company with Allen. The band then took the name Material from the Laswell/Cultreri instrumental track "Materialism" on the About Time album.

By the late 80s, Material was simply another word for Bill Laswell. By 1989, Material had basically ceased performing as an actual band & Laswell began to use the name as a moniker for specific musical projects. The first of these projects was the album Seven Souls featuring William S. Burroughs reading portions of his novel The Western Lands. In 1998, the album was subject to a series of re-mixes by Laswell, Talvin Singh, Spring Heel Jack, DJ Olive, & DJ Soul Slinger. It was released as The Road to the Western Lands.

Another great Material project is Hallucination Engine. On this Laswell teamed up with the jazz legend Wayne Shorter & a cast that included Sly Dunbar, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worell, various Indian & North African musicians playing traditional instruments & sounds along with many other notable musicians as well as once again William S. Burroughs. The mixture of jazz, funk, blues, rock, psychedelia, & international sounds is enthralling. This essential release is true meditation for the hardcore music fan.

The story of Material & Bill Laswell could go on for pages, but I’ll leave that to others. Just sample some of this music & hear for yourself.

Material – Seven Souls, Virgin V2956, 1989.
(this release was originally tracks 4 – 10)
all decryption codes in comments

bonus tracks -

The Western Lands (A Dangerous Road mix)

Seven Souls (Tim Simenon mix)

Soul Killer (Remote Control mix) – from the Triloka Records 1997 re-issue

Side A –

Ineffect

Seven Souls

Soul Killer

Side B –

The Western Lands

Deliver

Equation

The End of Words

On Hallucination Engine, Material is: Bill Laswell -  bass guitar, loops, beats, & samples; Wayne Shorter - soprano & tenor saxophones; William S. Burroughs – voice; Simon Shaheen – violin & oud; Liu Sola – voice; Nicky Skopelitis - acoustic & electric guitars, electric sitar, & baglama; Bernie Worrell - electric piano & Hammond organ; Bootsy Collins - Space bass; L. Shankar – violin; Sly Dunbar – drums; Jeff Bova – synthesizer: Jihad Racy – ney; Jonas Hellborg - acoustic bass & fretless electric bass; Zakir Hussain – tabla; Trilok Gurtu – tabla; Vikku Vinayakram – ghatam; Fahim Dandan – voice; George Basil – qanoun; Michael Baklouk – daff & tambourine; & Aiyb Dieng - chatan, congas, & percussion.

Material - Hallucination Engine, Axiom 314-518 351-2, 1994.

Tracklist –

Black Light
Mantra
Ruins (Submutation Dub)
Eternal Drift
Words of Advice (featuring William S. Burroughs)
Cucumber Slumber (Fluxus mix)
The Hidden Garden/Naima
Shadows of Paradise

From the liner notes:
     ''The Road to the Western Lands is a collection of radical mix translations from Material's Seven Souls. This work revolves around the words & voice of the late William S. Burroughs who died August 2nd, 1997. One of our greatest writers whose entire life's work maintained an aggressive, but humorous attack on the values of mainstream society as anarchy's double agent, an implacable enemy of conformity & all agencies of control."

     "Presented here are seven sound constructions derived & mutated from the original sources. Created by methods similar to those used by Burroughs himself with artist Brion Gysin to produce alternate results with writing...(the cut-ups)."

     "This is a tribute to the mind, the life, & the words of William S. Burroughs, the singularity of his vision & his certainty in the power of language. His words are weapons against those who are bent by stupidity or design on blowing up the planet.''

Material – The Road to the Western Lands 2xLP, Mercury 314 558 02-1, 1998.

Side A –

The Seven Souls – Bill Laswell

The Western Lands – Talvin Singh

Side B –

The Western Lands – DJ Soul Slinger

The Road to the Western Lands – Spring Heel Jack

Side C –

Joan’s Haunted Hints at the Gate to the Western Lands – The Audio Janitor

Seven Souls (The Secret Name) – Bill Laswell

Side D –

The Western Lands (A Dangerous Road Mix) – Material

Enjoy,

NØ

7" Gala

The other day when I walked into the music room, all the 7" punk records were crying. I told them: "There’s no crying in punk rock." But they said I had simply forgotten them & they had no reason to live. I tried to jive 'em that I just don't have the time for them anymore, that my life is just too cluttered. But the truth is, I've just been being lazy. I mean…shit, it does take a lot of time to rip & tag, to format artwork, to zip & upload. Yet I know they have a point, I’ve been ignoring them & they used to be amongst my favorite children. I told them I’d see if I could ease their sorrow a bit, & being a man of my word (I did slip in one 12" & one flexi-disc, so shoot me) …here are some blasts from the past.

The Nuns – Self-titled 7", 415 Records SUB 01, 1978.

The Germs – Lexicon Devil 7", Slash Records Scam 101, 1978.

Bags – Survive 7", Dangerhouse Bag 199, 1978.

Gang of Four – Damaged Goods 7", Fast Products FAST 5, 1978.

Various – S.F. Underground Vol. 1 7", Subterranean Records SUB 01, 1979.

The Urinals – Another EP 7", Happy Squid Records HS002, 1979.

X---X – No Nonsense 7", Drome DR8, 1980.

Various – S.F. Underground Vol. 2 7", Subterranean Records SUB 10, 1980.

Plasmatics – Butcher Baby (See Live) 7", Stiff Records BUY 76, 1980.

Germs – Cruising Studio Sessions 7", Bandwagon Records bootleg, 1980.

Agent Orange – Self-titled 7", Agent Orange Records 245-T-1, 1980.

Bad Brains – Pay to Cum 7", Bad Brains Records BB001, 1980.

JxFxAx – Blatant Localism EP 7", Placebo Records PLA-101, 1981.

Various – Take It! Magazine flexi-disc, Take It! Magazine 1150195, 1981.

Battalion of Saints – Fighting Boys 12" EP, Nutrons Records BS-001, 1982.

Battalion of Saints – 2nd Coming 7", Mystic Records M45128, 1983.

Gang Green – Sold Out 7", Taang! Records TAANG!-1, 1984.

Weirdos – It Means Nothing demos 7", Punk Vault PV-4, 1988.

Various – Forever (A Harcore compilation) 7", Irate Records, 1990.

Weirdos – Ranting in a Rubber Room 2x7", Unofficial release, 1992.

Various – Smells like Smoked Sausage 2x7", Sub Pop Singles Club SP140, 1992.

Enjoy,
NØ

Learning the Zanzibars Twist in Limbabwe

Anyone familiar with Limbabwe Records knows the kind of bands in their roster. Zanzibars Twist is one of my favorites & probably at the more extreme edge of some extreme music. For those of you who don’t know Limbabwe, here’s a little history.

Limbabwe was a music label active in the first half of the 80s. Their first release was in May 1982, a cassette tape called "Vlaaikots". The last tapes/records came out in 1985. Only a short 3 year of existence, but a catalogue of 42 releases.

Limbabwe Records started in Venlo, a city of 70,000 in the south of The Netherlands on the German border. The town never was all that exciting but in the beginning of the 80s, their "underground culture" was very much alive.

In the late 60s, a small but very active group of local hippies managed to get recognized by the city council & have a building at their disposal for cultural needs. They organized concerts & other artistic events. They built rehearsing space with PA (sound equipment) & after some time even a recording studio. The building was given the name OOC…Open Ontmoetings Centrum (Open Meeting Center). The OOC formed an important base for what came out of the next generation.

In 1980 a house in the center of Venlo was taken over as a local squat. This became Martinusstraat 24, or in popular scene language "de Martinusstraat". De Martinusstraat was in the town center & soon had a rehearsing space. Because of that it became a hang out of many musicians & bands. A group of people from de Martinusstraat began organizing cultural events under the name "Bauplatz". The group was allotted some space in the local OOC for their activities. Some of the original founders of OOC were opposed to the young radicals, but OOC was an Open Meeting Center & open means for everybody.

Bauplatz started to regularly hold events, art shows & concerts, every Sunday evening at OOC. This is about when Limbabwe came into existence. As the interest in the arts grew, the music scene in Venlo grew equally. Matski, who started Limbabwe, went around to rehearsing spaces, basements, back rooms, & squats with a tape recorder to register the "sound of Venlo". The sound was very diverse, from very industrial noise to ultra jazz to fast punk. These first recording sessions yielded Limbabwe’s first release Vlaaikots (Vlaai is a kind of local cake, kots is puke…so 'Cakepuke').

The tape was the first of its kind, representing the music that was happening in Venlo at that time. The tape was a success & received attention of the national press. Many tapes & records of bands followed. Venlo was in its most creative period ever. Art nights with industrial, punk rock, poetry, & paintings. A noted German music magazine declared Venlo "The New York of Europe" at that time. The front basement room of de Martinusstraat squat became the Limbabwe space. From there they produced, administrated, & distributed their products. Their roster included the trashy hardcore band Pandemonium, the trash rock band Oh’ Dev, the free-funk band Zoo, & many more.

Zanzibars Twist was a regular at Limbabwe. They released four cassettes on Limbabwe:

Never Mind the Bollocks (Limbabwe 7) 1982;

Zanzibars Twist Brings You Your Alltime Favourites (Limbabwe 9) 1982;

NRC By Bus (Limbabwe 17) - a 'live at NRC Amsterdam' recording 1983

Basta (Limbabwe 23) 1983.

I have posted Never Mind the Bollocks & Basta elsewhere, I don’t have NRC By Bus (hint-hint), & here is…

Zanzibars Twist – Zanzibars Twist Brings You Your Alltime Favourites cassette,
Limbabwe 09, 1982.
decryption code in comments

Side A –

Hey Yoe

16 Tons

It’s Going to Rain

Lust for Life

Side B –

Blue Spanish Eyes

Feel Allright

MacArthur Park

Je T'aime Mais Non Plus

Stop in the Name of Love / Ghostriders

Track order of tape does not match back cover of cassette.

Enjoy,

NØ