Here's to the Lord of Garbage

Providing more than 50 years of musical trash...

Kim Fowley – Snake Document Masquerade, Ariola 201 217, 1979.

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Side A

1980 - Run for Your Life

1981 - Black Christmas  

1982 - Stranded in the Future

1983 - Don't Feed the Animals

1984 - The Saga of Hugo X

Side B

1985 - Physical Lies

1986 - Snake Document Masquerade  

1987 - Lost like a Lizard in the Snow

1988 - Searching for the Human in Tight Blue Jeans

1989 - Waiting Around for the Next Ten Years

R.I.P.

NØ

Kevin Rutmanis has Hepa-Titus

Like the previously tasted Mighty Boosh sez, my musickal diggings travel through 'time & space', so I’ve never been one for the Best of…(fill in the year) Lists. I was reading one of trusty73s recent posts over at Wilfully Obscure & I was, like, "I can totally relate". I'm still discovering things I missed from 2013 (or 2003 or 1963 or 1969 or 1987 or 2007…well, you get it). I do try to check out new releases from bands I've heard about from reliable??? sources or bands I've enjoyed on some of their previous outings. But I always try to check out the myriad 'Best of….Lists' that crop up near the end of the year around the interweb to see what I might have missed that might be worth checking out, as well as seeing how I did compared to others also trying to keep a finger on the pulse of modern music.

2014 seems to have been a busy year for many bands & artists, both new & old. I can’t say that I’m very positive about the state of today’s musical creativity, but I bought a few things over the past year that gave me some hope (this is why I supplement my collection by mining the wide world & the infinite past: crate digging; boot shopping; thrift-shop diving). I noticed numerous releases I have been enjoying making many lists, so I thought I’d make up a sampler of some of the tracks I’ve been grooving on. I’ve tried to illuminate the artist’s strengths with the tracks I picked (or presented two tracks to highlight an artist’s diversity (featuring hard blues & deep Tuareg from Tinariwen...pure funk & pure protest from D’Angelo...a strong vocal track & a fiery guitar track from Noura Mint Seymali...like that).

Of all the music I purchased this year that seemed to hit the lists, only four left me going Meh! A Sunday in Glasgow – Sea When Absent, United Waters – Sunburner, Medicine – Home Everywhere, & Brian Eno & Karl Hyde – High Life were all, in my opinion, less than stellar (on a better note, also from 2014 Brian Eno & Karl Hyde – Someday World was almost "Baby's on Fire" quality Eno).

Sweeping 2014, a strong wind across the Sahel…fantastic vocal supremacy from Mauritanian griot Noura Mint Seymali – Tzenni. Seymali’s vocals push an already supreme music to aethereal heights, coupled with the ripping electric guitar from Seymali’s husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly (the two pictured above).

& my beloved Sahel blues from Tinariwen – Emmaar. Tinariwen’s Radio Tisdas Sessions are near legend, but this new material might just be their best work to date.

Following closely on the winds of Africa are two strong Dub outings. Heir-apparent to the Kingship of Dub Prince Fatty meets Nostalgia 77 – In the Kingdom of Dub to claim his domain. The current reigning king (following King Tubby & Prince Jammy) Scientist releases The Dub Album They Didn’t Want You To Hear. Hear it now.

Others in this mix include:

Ava Luna – Electric Balloon challenges us with spastic cool until "PRPL" creeps into the mind through the earholes without our noticing & seduces in the most enjoyable way.

Brian Eno teamed up with Karl Hyde on Someday World to create some of the least ambient, most visceral tuneage he’s made in years.

Karl Hector & the Malcouns play some Afro-centric stylee that is Unstraight Ahead, which is always where I aim.

FKA Twig have issued two previous EPs (EP1 & EP2) & now give us an LP (LP1…what else?). If you don’t get the power of these vocals, roll over…then feel the spot-on musicianship takes hold. Oh yeah.

Fat White Family play so many variations on the thing they do that it was hard to pick a track, but being from Cali, I have to hope the Champagne Holocaust will "Bomb Disneyland".

The Heliocentrics have previously teamed up with Mulatu Astatke, Lloyd Miller, & Orlando Julius to great success. Now they have hooked up with Melvin Van Peebles of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song & Watermelon Man fame to present The Last Transmission. I hope it’s not the last. Van Peebles lays down some street poetry/philosophy over Heliocentric’s groove. Galileo was right. All Hail Heliocentics.

Midge Ure, he of the ultra voice (vox), has presented a Fragile offering. Don’t break it.

Being a fan of the Black Mountain crew (Stephen McBean, Brad Truax,  Amber Webber, Joshua Wells, & Jeremy Schmidt), I was excited that Jeremy, the synth-scape/space rock one & Josh Wells, the pounding one, had recorded another release as Sinoia Caves (their last was 2006s The Enchanted Persuaded). Beyond the Black Rainbow is an official movie soundtrack that is strong enough to rule as a perfect stand-alone.

From the funkster behind Voodoo, many years in the making, comes the vital & immediate Black Messiah – D'Angelo & the Vanguard. Funk yeah meet Ferguson.

Right on, Rhyton! Some music that actually made me hopeful about the state of moderne musique. Sonic voyages originating from the great port city of Brooklyn, NY. Kykeon was a drink created by the ancient Greeks that had psychoactive properties. Good name for the radical concoctions they’re serving up here.

I find myself more familiar with night sweats or night wood, usually not The Night Terrors. But this one is, if not the greatest, at least an honest & perplexing attempt. This Spiral Vortex seems to grow on me the more revolutions I give it. I know I’ll be going back to it to further delve into its dark depths.

They said This would (Will) Destroy me (You) but it actually made me feel much better. Although it is Another Language, it seem less Destroyer, more Bardo Pond.

Benedic Lamdin or Nostalgia 77, an eclectic producer who switches between samples & live instrumentation with equal skill meets up with Prince Fatty In the Kingdom of Dub. Here the worlds of Dub & electric jazz collide in the Dubness of Dubhead.

Both Prince Fatty & Scientist have been featured prominently here in the past. I don't really need say more than this is The Dub Album They Didn't Want You To Hear. 

I've added a bonus track, a single release I bought on bandcamp from Hepa-Titus, an old Cows (hey, Kevin Rutmanis has Hepa-Titus…pass it on) cover Chow featuring King Buzzo of Melvins fame as guest vocalist (did you hear the one about Kevin Rutmanis?).

Various - Nothin’s 2014 Sampler
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Tracklist –

Hebebeb (Zrag) – Noura Mint Seymali

Toumast Tincha – Tinariwen

PRPL – Ava Luna

Strip it Down – Brian Eno & Karl Hyde

Girmas Lament – Karl Hector & the Malcouns

Weak Spot – FKA Twig

Bomb Disneyland – Fat White Family

Big Bang Reincarnation – Heliocentrics & Melvin Van Peebles

Let it Rise – Midge Ure

1983-Main Theme – Sinoia Caves

Another Life – D'Angelo & the Vanguards

California Black Box Vapors – Rhyton

Witness – Brian Eno & Karl Hyde

Force Field – The Night Terrors

Memory Loss – This Will Destroy You

Koud Edhaz Emin – Tinariwen

El Gusto – Karl Hector & the Malcouns

Lights On – FKA Twig

Special Ape – Fat White Family

El Mougelmen – Noura Mint Seymali

Skeletons Dub – Prince Fatty meets Nostalgia 77

Don’t Give Up Your Culture Dub – Scientist

Ain’t That Easy – D'angelo & the Vanguards

Chow (Cows cover) – Hepa-Titus

Enjoy,
NØ

ps. - As I was checking for errors, one glaring omission came to light. I somehow completely overlooked Shellac - Dude Incredible. Have it. Dig it. Have to get back to it later.

NØ

You're Still Hangin' 'round Here???

Take this!!!

Albertos y Lost Trios Paranoias - Snuff Rock EP

Have a New One,

NØ

20 - 15 - 10 - 5...the Countdown has Begun

Have a righteous new year (for those of you who follow this particular calendar). For your New Year’s pleasure, come with us now on a journey through time & space, to the world of the mightiest Mighty Boosh.

The Mighty Boosh – I Did a Shit holidaze mix
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Tracklist –

Searching for a New Sound

Electro Boy

I Did a Shit (live)

The Moon Song

Listen to Your Heart

Crimps (the complete Collection)

Isolation

Shooting Star

Yeti Magic

Soup

Eels

Ape of Death

Crack Fox singing

We’ve Got the Funk

Nanageddon

Future Sailors

Naboo’s Hash Cakes

Crimp (outro)

bonus folder - Loose Tapestries Presents the Luxury Comedy Tapes

¡Próspero año nuevo!

NØ

I'm Burning a Log Right Now

Have a Merry, everyone.

Fred wishing you all his best.

Enjoy Yourselves,

NØ

Thee Three Kings

King Tubby, Prince Jammy, & Scientist – First, Second, & Third Generation of Dub, 

KG Imperial KGLP002, 1981.

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Side One –

First Generation – King Tubby

Second Generation – Prince Jammy

Third Generation – Scientist

Tubby’s New Fashion – King Tubby

Side Two –

Prince Jammy on the Scene – Prince Jammy

Scientist at His Best – Scientist

Tubbs the Originator – King Tubby

Original Style – King Tubby, Prince Jammy & Scientist

Have a kool Yule, fool

NØ

I'm Lovin' Life at the Top

Here ya go, rowdies. I took this photo last time I was back in Pennsylvania. It was a great, great show.

Right off I’d say Muslimgauze & Legendary Pink Dots are already enough for this old lad. Add “Homage to Sewage” by Coil. Must I say more? Attrition, Bushido, Pornosect…well, duh, the list is below. Grab it or not, I already have it. But on a sour note, I bought my copy used & it didn’t have the free Absract Magazine Issue 4. If anyone has & would share scans, please, please let me know. From Orwell & 1984.

Various – Life at the Top, Third Mind Records TMLP07, 1984.
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Side 1 –

Perversion – A Primary Industry

Disinformation – Pornosect

The Lifesucker – Legendary Pink Dots

The Last Refuge – Attrition

A Diet of Nitro-Glycerine – The Loved One

Side 2 –

Extract from Beyond the Great Wall – Bushido

Homage to Sewage – Coil

The Prayer Clock – Stress

Muslim – Nagamatzu

Dissidents – Muslimgauze

Performances Parts 1-3 – Possession

Enjoy,

NØ

What a Bunch of Bullwackie!

While On-U Sound rose to the challenge of Dub in England, in the U.S. that mantle was raised by none other than Bullwackie.

Bullwackie was born Lloyd Barnes in 1944 in Trenchtown, Jamaica. He moved to the Bronx, New York in 1967. He was an active member of the newly developing DJ scene in New York City (primarily the Bronx, Brooklyn, & Queens). When that scene became so fatally violent (Barnes tells of how after one particular gig he had to pull bullets out of his speakers), so oppositional to the spirit of unity & communal enjoyment that reggae & the sound system culture espoused, Barnes opted to turn his hands to studio production.  He is the founder of the independent record label Wackies, specializing in great Jamaican music. The Wackie’s label, with its Rastafarian image of a lion with a dreadlocked mane, was one of the earliest reggae labels in this country.

Barnes was a protégé of Prince Buster while in Jamaica. They recorded several singles during the 1960s. Lloyd then worked for Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label as an engineer before moving to New York. He opened Wackie's House of Music record store on 241st Street & White Plains Road. Behind this shop-front was his studio, the first significant reggae studio & label in the United States. This became the recording factory for Bullwackies & Wackies labels as well as other imprints such as Senrab (Barnes backwards), Hamma, & Senta. During the late 1970s & early 1980s he produced artists such as Horace Andy, Sugar Minott, Junior Byles, Roland Alphonso, Tyrone Evans, & Lee 'Scratch' Perry.

If you want a much more intimate & in-depth view of this Wackie Dub phenomenon, you can watch the 1980s film Wackies: Bulwackie in New York here. I highly recommend it.

Barnes presently resides in the Wakefield neighborhood in the New York City borough of the Bronx, where he owns & operates another music studio on 225th Street & White Plains Road, once more called Wackie’s.

In 2001, Basic Channel, a German label, began to reissue Barnes’ earlier recordings. Thanks to this comprehensive reissue campaign by Moritz Von Oswald & Mark Ernestus, Wackies continues to reach new listeners. The force & beauty of the Wackies style still sounds prodigious today.

Here are a few tastes to make your day Dubtastic:

Engineer Douglas (Prince Douglas) Levy was part of the original 74-75 Wackie's crew alongside Lloyd Barnes & Jah Upton. For a while he has his own label, Hamma, within the Bullwackies family. Along with Sugar's International Herb, this 1980 dub album is his finest work.

Many of the rhythms are derived from a tape given to the studio by Sly & Robbie, containing their versions of the then-current Joe Gibbs hits. There is also a brilliant treatment of "Tribesman Dub" using the rhythm of Tyrone Evans' "Black Like Me". But the deadliest cut of all reworks another gift, Steel Pulse's "Handsworth Revolution", which arrived in a parcel of records from England the same weekend as the recording session. "March Down Babylon Dub" finds Bullwackie himself at the microphone in his Chosen Brothers guise, as steely & apocalyptic as Douglas Levy's fabulous production.

Prince Douglas – Dub Roots re-issue, Wackie's W295, 2005.
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Side A –

Jam Love Dub

Hard Times Dub

Let Me Love You Dub

Tongue Shall Tell Dub

March Down Babylon Dub

Side B –

Sunshine Dub

You & Me Dub

North of the Border Dub

Tribesman Dub

This is one splendid Dub album...released originally on the Senrab label in 1976. The selection commemorates a series of brilliant seven & twelve inchers from labels like City Line & Wackies & from sister labels like Upton, Versatile, & Munchie Jackson's Earth imprint. The core rhythm tracks are straight from Jamaica. They are mostly tracks from Treasure Isle mixed by King Tubby. They were then worked over at the Sounds Unlimited studio on E. 24th Street in Manhattan.

Bullwackies All Stars – Dub Unlimited re-issue, Wackie's W-0036, 2006.

Side A –

Black Heart Dub

Disco Dub

Dub to Jah

Dub Seasoning

Dub Unlimited

Side B –

Bullwackies Revenge

Upton I

Hurricane Not I

Dubbing Around

Unlimited Dub

Enjoy,
NØ

Bye-bye Bing. Bye-bye Berlin.

Thanks Jonder for the gentle reminder (Know what I mean? Know what I Mean? Nudge. Nudge. Nudge. Nudge. Know what I mean? Say no more.)  about this chestnut. It got buried in the dusty stack of unlistened-to Xmas detritus. Fantastic re-find. Enjoy, all.

Basement 5 – Last White Christmas b/w Traffic Dub 7", Island Records WIP 6654, 1980.

Side A –

Last White Christmas

Side B –

Traffic Dub

Last White anything would be great,

NØ

In a Dub Mood

Finishing off the week-end in a Dub mood! So welcome to the Kool jazz stylings of M. Don Letts & friends.

Basement 5 – Basement 5 in Dub, Island Records IPR2038, 1980.
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Side One –

Paranoiaclaustrophobia Dub

Work Dub

Games Dub

Side Two –

Immigrant Dub

Holocaust Dub

Record marked 45rpm, but is actually 33 1/3. FYI.

Enjoy,

NØ

Ø Ø FUN!

Well, this year's harvest time is finally done. Just finished up turning the last of the debris into bubble hash, so if this following post doesn't make much sense, blame it on that. I'm in a cloud.

This is going to be some kinda Not Not Fun mega-post. As I’ve said before, sometimes I start digging into these things & am amazed how one thing leads to another. Then soon I find myself entangled in a web of connectivity.

Established record labels like Rough Trade or Warp Records once started out as small DIY companies. The Los Angeles based labels Not Not Fun Records & 100% Silk are the DIY of today.

This past February Not Not Fun celebrated a decade of releasing music. Since 2004 Britt & Amanda Brown have released, produced, & composed music that is linked to an intuitive way of making music. The Browns are not slaves to musical trends. Their driving force seems to be sheer creativity. Their various musical projects are all over the genre & style map. They just go down to the basement, calls some friends, Amanda grabs a mic, hits record & says whatever she feels like saying. They don't care who does or doesn't 'get' their form of expression. They show no real regard for how their music will be received. They don't try to convey some sort of profound message & they sure aren't trying to change any lives. They just want to have fun.

The Brown's label specializes in lesser-known bands, mostly in L.A., making limited runs of vinyl records & cassette tapes. Drawing from rock, experimental, psychedelic, dub, noise, & house influences, the label has become home to many of the best Los Angeles indie musicians & artists. On NNF & Amanda’s other label 100% Silk, they have featured artists such as Peaking Lights, Maria Minerva, Ital, Dylan Ettinger, Sun Araw, High Wolf, & more. They have gained international fame for compositions that share one unifying intention: to expand the mind of each new listener. Britt & Amanda, co-founders, co-owners, & soul-mates have not only recorded & distributed many performers, but they have also themselves been in the groups Weirdo/Begeirdo, Robedoor, Topaz Rags, Barrabarracuda, Quintana Roo, Pocahaunted, & LA Vampires.

Here is a wide cross-section & scatter-shot presentation of some of their own personal musical creations.

The short-lived (2004-2005) Weirdo/Begeirdo were Britt Brown, & Amanda Holzer with various help from the likes of Claire Evans, Meagan Yellott, & Molly Rodgveller. Their full-length album So I'm Dude in This Equation delighted almost everyone who heard it, except music critics, who seemed mostly universally pissed off: "Sloppily destroyed & bored insider pun-pop". SIDiTE was recorded entirely on toy instruments that build to a truly frenetic climax.

Weirdo/Begeirdo – So I’m Dude in this Equation, Not Not Fun Records NNF004, 2005.
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Side A –

Sike

Currin & Joel Used to Live Downtown

Total Genius

Machine Gun Sounds

Hello Hi

Scrutin’s Eyes

Side B –

Saint Saint Marks

Is that Giovanni Ribisi

Our West is One

Put a Hat on Yr Love (Hate)

Love is a Violent Poison

Limited edition of 300 on pink marbled vinyl with a hand sewn sleeve.

Robedoor are the duo of Alex & Britt Brown (no relation). Their band's name is apparently derived from the practice of smoking Robitussin-soaked Doritos through a bong, which gives a good idea as to the hallucinogenic music the duo produce. A prolific band with more than 60 records, CDRs, & tapes that shuffle between doom, drone, psych, tribal stomp, & primal electronica. In their early releases their sound replicates the tiny suffocating rooms where the music was made. The music gradually progressed to a fuller & more exploratory sound with the addition of drummer M. Geddes Gengras. His subsequent departure forced the band to evolve once again, to streamline their sound.

Robedoor – Totem Hole, tanzprocesz tzpCD12, 2006.

Tracklist –
Untitled 1

Untitled 2

Untitled 3

Robedoor – Christ’s Vipers, Chocolate Monk CHOC-145, 2007.

Tracklist –

Ruined Raptures

Stained Glass

Scared Scared

Dreamed Redeemer

Amanda Brown & her friend Bethany Cosentino (of Best Coast) formed the duo Pocahaunted in 2005. The group released over a dozen albums, a few EPs/singles, & several split releases. They prefer vinyl & cassette formats over compact disc. Their releases often have handmade/hand-painted artwork often done by Brown herself. The group toured heavily after their inception. Cosentino left for New York to focus on her sunshine pop project Best Coast in 2009, necessitating a lineup overhaul for Pocahaunted which included the addition of husband Britt on guitar, Diva Dompe (of Blackblack) on bass guitar & vocals, Leyna Noel Tilbor (of Psychic Reality) on keyboards & vocals, & M. Geddes Gengras on drums. The band re-emerged in 2009 with a more upbeat, funk/rock based sound, while retaining dubby bass lines & an overall tribal sound.

They disbanded in August 2010.

"The Olsen twins of drone" as Pocohaunted was sometimes called are not one of my favorite bands, but I am including here a split release that they did with Robedoor.

Robedoor & Pocohaunted – Hunted Gathering 2XCD, Digitalis Recordings DIGI045, 2007.

CD1 Tracklist –

Plague of Settlers – R

Roman Nose – P

Crow Scout – P

Spectral Outpost – R

CD2 Tracklist –

Ancestress Moon – R

Warmest Knives – P

Razed Terrain – R

Hunted Gathering – R&P

As Topaz Rags, Eagle Rock’s most reclusive comedown crew creep back into the black-light for their vinyl debut with a pair of loosely focused excursions into cold soul music & post-beatnik jazz shadow-play. This is the soundtrack to the after-after party deep in some forgotten L.A. grotto. The 4am smoke clouds are a rallying moment to collect oneself in the calm æther before trying to make sense of what may be when that sun comes up. Topaz Rags provide some brief respite from the cruel & harsh reality of morning

Topaz Rags – Tarot Harem 7", Not Not Fun Records NNF144, 2009.

Side A –

Tarot Harem

Side B –

Black Honey

Black vinyl singles in hand-silkscreened, photocopied, & die-cut sleeves with topless nature nymph/burnout artwork. Limited dition of 250. First 78 copies come with a different tarot card from a 1970s Aleister Crowley Thoth deck illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris.

California Ash is Topaz Rags 2-sided elegy for the Golden State’s darkest ghosts, the rich hills full of fire the day after the kool-aid. Back-alley bass lines plod under smoky piano shadows, drums stalk a straight line in a house with the power out, a trumpet moans from a warped 78 spinning in the basement. Wasted, grey, DIY drug jazz lost somewhere between Bohren & Der Club of Gore & some half-destroyed pre-digital Portishead demo. Gold-on-white pro-dubbed cassettes in spray-painted cases with doomed hippie chick portrait cover photo bedecked with a hand-cut shred of neon palm tree fabric. Limited to an edition of 100.

Topaz Rags – California Ash cassette, Not Not Fun Records NNF138, 2008.

Side A –

Untitled

Side B –

Untitled

Barrabarracuda is a classic pop-punk turned doom-skuzz band.

Barrabarracuda – Abasement Tapes, Not Not Fun Records NNF077, 2007.

Tracklist –

Koresh Crush

For What its Worthless

Texarkanachrist

Maya Miller on the Cutting Room Floor

Give Me Shelter

Neon stenciled CDRs in black plastic cases with full-color wrap-around collage cover (artwork by Amanda Brown) affixed with beaded safety pins & a hand numbered insert, limited edition of 120.

From Various Artists - Thrash Sabbatical (12" & 2x7"), an elaborate box-set of vinyl, pairing Thurston Moore with a selection of Los Angeles acts. The box set includes amazing art designed/curated by Britt & Amanda Brown. (feat Thurston Moore / Men Who Can't Love / Barrabarracuda / Kevin Shields). On one split 7" Barrabarracuda here features Grace of Foot Village & Amanda of Pochahaunted on drums & vocals, plus Britt of Robedoor on guitar, & Nichole of Child Pornography on keyboard.

Barrabarracuda - Stone Cold Steve Austin at the Cold Stone Creamery, 
Deathbomb Arc DBA069, 2007. 
Side 1 of first 7" (b/w Thurston Moore’s "Petite Bone").

Since the demise of Pocahaunted,  Amanda’s musical outpourings have been mostly confined to LA Vampires. On So Unreal, LA Vampires is Amanda Brown – vocals, tape manipulation, & keyboards & Britt Brown – bass with Matrix Metals providing the beats. Limited edition of 600.

LA Vampires featuring Matrix Metals – So Unreal, Not Not Fun Records NNF211, 2010.

Side A –

Make Me Over

How Would U Know

Don’t Dance Alone

Side B –

Berlin Baby

Still Goin’ Down

So Unreal

LA Vampires & Zola Jesus – LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus,
Not Not Fun Records NNF195, 2010.

Side A –

Bone is Bloodstone

In the Desert

Searching

Vous

Side B –

Looking In

Eulogy

No No No

Enjoy,

NØ