31 January 2009

Celestial, just celestial

UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded & more music added
09/12/2013. Enjoy, NØ.


Recently ISKSP posted up Circle X's first release, an untitled four-song EP on Celluloid Records, from 1980. It revealed the talents of raw, manic iconoclasts set on tearing down & reinventing the stuff of rock musick itself with a strong philosophical bent & intense early standards like the relentless "Onward Christian Soldiers" & the blues-tinged terrorism of "Tender." The record’s cover - identifiable only by a spray painted circle with an X through it, a symbol the group chose instead of a name - gratingly reflected its content. "Marketeers" inevitably forced a spelled out "Circle X" on them.

I hadn't listened to the band for many years, but after listening to that first release, I dug out all of their other stuff I have & that's all I've been listening to since then. The band next recorded the equally inventive but more varied Prehistory LP, unreleased until 1983, on the California-based consortium of Enigma & Index Records. Some say this recording served as a crucial blueprint for the subsequent New York noise scene that spawned Sonic Youth, Swans & Live Skull. The LP went out of print rapidly, but was later reissued semi-legally by the French label Sordide Sentimentale with the addition of a booklet of essay texts & skin disorder photos. Mutant Sounds has posted this, in my opinion, the bands finest. (Nothin' Sez...Happily reissued in 2008 by David Grubbs' Blue Chopsticks label.)

When I realized that Celestial was unavailable anywhere that I could find, I decided it was my duty to post it here. If you don't know this band or haven't heard then of late, or were looking for this release, then without further ado...

"The morphology of the song & its text; building blocks words of inaudibility. The word may be dead & its object the text yet the entirety of the project may create a conditional world where the right perception of the song will change the world. After hearing: Liberation; Late in the song like night. The distant sputter & hiss: Man stands as a swan. The list of ingredients which constitute it as a thing:

Part A. Part B. Part C.
Ship's Pulley

Rope - Coiled

Guitar - Detuned

Open, Standard

Measure
Trigger - Envelope

Generator
Korg ----------- Casio

Synthesizer

Bass drum - 2 x 4 - Pony
Clamps - Orange

Temper Metal Rim

Digitech Blue Box

Muff

Boss - Lavender - Box

PA Budapest Station

Mosque Konya

+ ALI

The Egg Shaker

Device Radio Band
Bow

Hammond

Violin

File - Chunka - Loop

Long Squeak
Vacuum

Slam - Splice - Hiss

Traps

Snares

Typewriter

The Body, its Voice

Guided by:


On the cellular level, the equipment's interior construction, the creation of the conditional
setting."

Bruce Witsiepe - voice, guitar, & tapes; Tony Pinotti - voice, synthesizer & tapes; Rik Letendre - bass & keyboards; Martin Köb - drums. Violin on "Crow's Ghost" & "They Come Prancing" - Lois Dilivio. All music by Circle X, all lyrics by Bruce Witsiepe except "They Come Prancing" - Lakota traditional courtesy of Bureau of American Ethnology Collection.


Circle X - Celestial, Matador OLE 091-1 , 1994.
decryption codes in comments

Side 1/2 A -
Fig. #1 - Kyoko
Fig. #2 - Pulley
Fig. #3 - Crow's Ghost
Fig. #4 - Gothic Fragment

Side Ø B -
Fig. #5 - Tell My Horse
Fig. #6 - Some Things Don't Grow Back
Fig. #7 - Little Celestial Poet
Fig. #8 - They Came Prancing


Enjoy,


The band recorded four white-vinyl seven-inch singles for Matador, American Gothic & Lungcast Records that were released over the course of 1992. Titled The Ivory Tower, the records were compiled into a box set & re-released under the auspices of EDITIONS ANTI-UTOPIA in mid-’93. If anyone has these, please post them & let me know. Please!

UPDATE: Moments after I posted this, a friend from Portugal hooked me up with all four of these gems. These four records are stunning from start to finish. Thanks Imbroglio

I was recently asked to post up The Ivory Tower, as it is not really readily available (I saw one advertised for $300 online somewhere). Well, here it is...


Circle X – The Ivory Tower, Editions Anti-Utopia 4 X 7”, 1993.
decryption code in comments

 Disc 1 -
1a 33/Puerto Rigan Ghost (after MARS)
1b The Pleasure Gallows

Disc 2 -
2a Compression of the Species
2b Fail Better

Disc 3 -
3a Shiny Blue Orb
3b Crooky Crain

Disc 4 -
4a Some things Don’t Grow Back
4b Champ Pourri

Enjoy,


24 January 2009

A Call to Arms

UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 03/01/14. Enjoy, NØ.



Starting off with local Sacramento band Hoods, its...


Enjoy,

21 January 2009

Ain't that America?

Released in 1996, the title track was in response to the Oklahoma City bombings, but seems to be appropriate today, the day after the ousting of the fascist Bush regime. Recorded at Sound Impressions in Portland, Oregon with cover art by famed tattooist Freddy Corbin of Temple Tattoos in Oakland, California.
Knuckleheads - Ain't that America, Ransom Note Recordings RNR 012, 1996.
Enjoy, NØ

20 January 2009

The Twits

Re-uploaded 5/17/2020 by request...

Next, for all you twits, The Twits...

Darrin Twit - guitar
Nathan Twit - guitar & vocals
Fil Twit - bass & vocals
Cuddlebear Twit - drums

The Twits - The Twits, Dirty Records DR-09, 1999.

Enjoy,

18 January 2009

Adams Alcoholics

UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 02/26/2015. Enjoy, NØ.

Well, its time to circle the wagons. Adams Alcoholics are liquored-up & on the warpath. One of the bands featured on the last post compilation, here's an album from Phoenix' phinest drunx (& they are not using any apostrophes).

Adams Alcoholics - Circle the Wagons, Dirty Record DR-666, 1999.
decryption code in comments




Enjoy,

17 January 2009

Denver vs. Phoenix

Next up is a battle of the bands pitting seven Denver bands against seven local Phoenix faves. Listen up, & you be the judge. Various Artists - Denver vs. Phoenix, Dirty Records DR-06, 1998. Denver Side: Pinhead Circus - Asking for a Beating 8 Bucks Experiment - American Blue The Gamits - Don't Take Much The Family Men - Signals Substitutes - Beneath the Wheel Uphollow - Sparkle Eyes Phoenix Side: Mandingo - Alcohol Subject Mad - SMIII Adams Alcoholics - Lifes Blood Dirty Laundry - Lucky Dog Aggression Session - Bee Pragmatics - Edmuns Fault Plinko - Picture Perfect Enjoy, NØ

15 January 2009

The Assmen

UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 02/26/2015. Enjoy, NØ



I first got hooked-up with Dirty Mike & Dirty Records out of Glendale, Arizona when I was doing EAT POOP! 'zine. A band from my old stomping-grounds in northwestern Pennsylvania called The Assmen sent me their latest, Enema Nation. It was on Dirty Records. From that point on, I got some great musick from some great bands from Dirty Mike. I'm gonna post up some of my favorites (this is punk-as-fuck shit, so get ready for the moshpit, crusties). It's only right that I start at the beginning.

The Assmen - Enema Nation, Dirty Records DR-08, 1999.
decryption code in comments























Enjoy,

14 January 2009

Chameleon Fetish

 Re-upped 7/23/2022.

 

Chameleon Fetish was a bondage, punk, & piercing place in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They put out a compilation of mostly local bands (Michigan, Illinois, & Iowa).


What Have You Done at All Lately?
Hard
Mary St. Massacre
C.R.S.4 (Captive Rock Star)[Short Attention Span mix] - CRS (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Thee Duma - Iowa City, Iowa
Silence is Rhythm Bound
Prayer for the Sick & Stupid - Thee Duma (Iowa City, Iowa)
Friction
Dive - HAL (Ferndale, Michigan)
I Fall Down
The Fish Song - Salt Chunk Mary (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Winner
Used to Be a Fence - The Deterants (Ypsilanti, Michigan)
Liberate the Minnows
Tired
Obituary - Blue Onion (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Plastic Man
Jimmy - Nadsat Nation (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Commitment
Ant Dance - The MIBs (Peoria, Illinois)
Mengele USA
Bury Freud - Mt. Tai (Detroit, Michigan)

Enjoy,

Clean Up this F@@king Mess

I'd forgotten about this until friend Jon was looking for it. I sent it to him, then I forgot again. Now I remembered again. [from Wiki] The Mops were formed in 1966 by a group of high schoolers: Mikiharu Suzuki (drums), Taro Miyuki (guitar), Masaru Hoshi (guitar), & Kaoru Murakami (bass). They began as an instrumental rock group similar to The Ventures, but soon after forming, Mikiharu Suzuki's brother Hiromitsu joined on lead vocals. The group began to play psychedelic rock at the suggestion of their manager, who had brought home recordings of American hippie groups such as Jefferson Airplane from his trip to San Francisco. The group signed to JVC Records, the Japanese wing of Victor Records, and released a single in November 1967 called "Asamade Matenai", which hit #38 on the Japanese charts. In April 1968, the full-length debut, Psychedelic Sounds in Japan, followed; the album included covers of "White Rabbit" & "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane, as well as songs by The Doors & The Animals. They received much press for being the 'first psychedelic band' in Japan, & performed with elaborate light shows.
The Mops - Psychedelic Sounds in Japan, RCA Victor Japan SJV-356, 1968
Side A: Asamade Matenai (Can't Wait 'til Morning) San Franciscan Nights I am Just a Mops Inside Looking Out The Letter Somebody to Love Bera yo Isoge (Hurry Up Vera) Side B: White Rabbit Asahi yo Saraba (Goodbye Morning Sun) Light My Fire Kienai Omoi (Unforgettable Memory anthem) All of You I Can't Get Hot Blind Bird (Please Kill Me) Enjoy, NØ

11 January 2009

Just like hot Velveeta

Here's some smooth cheese. One hit blunders. Try the first track for their faux reggae splash, or the last track for bargain basement Queen of the Meatloaf poo-poo platter. This is what you deserve, boyos. Chris Kay - lead vocals & guitars; Sky - bass; Guy McKeague - drums. Special guests Michael Dawson - lead vocals on "Never Wanna Go"; Ricci Accardi - drums on "Smoke Two Joints".
The Toyes - Smoke Two Joints ep 45, Ginger Coffeee Records PK 85003, 1983.
Side A: Smoke Two Joints Eddie's Theme Side B: Listen to the Radio Never Wanna Go Enjoy, NØ

07 January 2009

It's 2009 Futhermocker! Let's Have a Love-In!

It's a new year. I'm into different shit right now. The first live recording from the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, 1967. The Charles Lloyd Quartet doing Love-In. What a stellar band. Charles Lloyd on tenor sax & flute, Keith Jarrett on piano, Ron McClure on bass, & Jack DeJohnette on drums. I need say no more.
The Charles Lloyd Quartet - Love-In, Atlantic 1481, 1967.
Side 1: Tribal Dance Temple Bells Is it Really the Same? Here There & Everywhere (Beatles cover) Side 2: Love-In Sunday Morning Memphis Dues Again / Island Blues Enjoy NØ