Flashing Back to Viet Nam

The Khmer Rouge, which means Red (as in commies) Khmers, was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia. It was formed in 1968 as an offshoot of the Vietnam People's Army from North Vietnam. They recorded only this only double disc…

No, no, that’s not it. This is Phil Shoenfelt, Barry “Scratchy” Myers, probably Claus on drums, others…They were ex-pat Brit smack survivors in the early 80s East Village NYC. They were punk & reggae & No Wave & more. Probably never became a household cleaner because of the name, the drugs, & themselves. Too bad for us. Luckily there is this to help remedy the travesty. 

 Khmer Rouge – New York-London 1981-86, Hip Priest ‎– HIPP001CD, 2004. 

disc one & disc 2 decryption codes in comments

 back w/ tracklist (included)

Disc One 
Disc Two

Enjoy,

NØ

Musick, the Global Language

One time about a year & a half ago, Zer0_II over at Digital Meltd0wn, another blog that I help out on, had the idea for a Musick around the World project. We were going to attempt to post at least one album from every country in the world. It was a massive undertaking & we elicited the help of numerous other friends & bloggers to help out. The project never got off the ground & died what to me was a sad, sad death. I had accrued musick from at least half of the countries myself, so I felt I had invested a great deal of time & effort into a project that never happened. I did however keep most of the files, so lately I have been mulling over the prospect of rebirthing, to a lesser degree, this crazy plan.

Throughout the month of February I challenged myself to post one post per day. I chose February because it is the shortest month, granted, but here it is March & well, I succeeded. This gave me the confidence I needed to attempt this resurrection of Musick Around the World. With apologies to Zer0_II, whose idea it was, I think I’ll begin.

From Zer0_IIs original proposal, some notes…

      “The primary goal of the project is to post at least one album from every country

       in the world. The music we post will be obscure, & either out of print, issued

       under a creative commons license, or otherwise commercially unavailable. We

       aim to make the project seem like a "journey around the world", rather than simply

       taking the easy route & covering countries according to alphabetical order. The

       plan is to start in Northern Europe, & follow a route that would take us through

       each continent, covering every country located within it before moving on to the

       next continent. “

I believe this is the countries list we finally agreed upon:

EUROPE

Greenland     Iceland     Norway     Sweden     Finland     Russia

Estonia          Latvia      Lithuania   Belarus      Poland     Germany

Denmark       Netherlands     Belgium     England     Wales

Scotland        Ireland     Portugal     Spain     Andorra

France               Luxembourg         Monaco (City Nation)      Switzerland     
Liechtenstein (City Nation)      Austria          Czech Republic     Slovakia     
Ukraine     Moldova      Romania        Bulgaria     Greece     Cyprus (Island Nation)     
Albania      Macedonia     Kosovo (Disputed Territory)     Montenegro     Serbia

Bosnia and Herzegovina       Croatia        Hungary       Slovenia

Italy               San Marino (City Nation)              Vatican City (City Nation)  

Sicily (Autonomous Region of Italy)                 Malta (Island Nation)

AFRICA

Tunisia     Libya      Algeria      Morocco      Western Sahara   Mauritania     

Cape Verde (Island Nation)     The Gambia     Senegal     Guinea-Bissau

Guinea      Sierra Leone      Liberia      Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)      Mali

Burkina Faso      Ghana      Togo      Benin      Nigeria      Niger      Chad

Central African Republic      Cameroon      Equatorial Guinea      Gabon

Sao Tome & Principe(Island Nation)           Republic of the Congo      
Democratic Republic of the Congo      Angola        Zambia      Zimbabwe      
Botswana      Namibia      South Africa  Lesotho (City Nation)   Swaziland     
 Madagascar      Comoros (Island Nation)        Mayotte (French Territory)     
 Réunion (French Territory)  Mauritius (Island Nation)   Seychelles (Island Nation)  

Mozambique      Malawi     Tanzania      Burundi      Rwanda      Uganda

Kenya      Somalia      Djibouti     Ethiopia      Eritrea      Sudan      Egypt

MIDDLE EAST

Israel      Palestenian Territory      Jordan      Saudi Arabia      Yemen      Oman

United Arab Emirates     Qatar     Bahrain (Island Nation)     Kuwait      Iraq      

Syria      Lebanon      Turkey      Armenia      Georgia      Azerbaijan      Iran

Turkmenistan      Uzbekistan      Kazakhstan      Kyrgyzstan      Tajikistan

Afghanistan      Pakistan

ASIA

India           Nepal         Bhutan        Bangladesh         Sri Lanka         Maldives (Island Nation)      

Indonesia         East Timor        Malaysia        Brunei         Thailand        Burma (Myanmar)         

Laos       Cambodia        Vietnam       China         Free Tibet        Tuva (Federal Subject of Russia)     Mongolia             North Korea             South Korea            Japan           Taiwan

            Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region)                     Philippines    

                                                                   

  
AUSTRALIA

               Australia                     Papua New Guinea                      New Zealand

PACIFIC ISLAND NATIONS

Palau           Northern Mariana Islands (In Political Union with the United States)        Guam (US Territory)      Federated States of Micronesia        Solomon Islands         Vanuatu         Fiji               Tuvalu            Nauru                  Marshall Islands            Kiribati                Western Samoa             Tonga 

           Cook Islands (self-governing parliamentary democracy)              French Polynesia     

SOUTH AMERICA

         Chile                 Argentina             Uruguay               Paraguay           Bolivia 

          Peru             Ecuador        Colombia     Brazil      French Guiana (French Territory?)      
                   Suriname              Guyana                      Venezuela     

CARIBBEAN ISLAND NATIONS/TERRITORIES

        Aruba (Netherlands)             Curaçao (Netherlands)

Trinidad and Tobago              Grenada               Barbados                 St. Vincent and the Grenadines

        Saint Lucia                        Martinique (French Territory)                  Dominica    
Guadeloupe (French Territory)            Montserrat (British Territory)       Antigua and Barbuda    
            Saint Kitts and Nevis                 St. Martin/St. Maarten              Anguilla      
         British Virgin Islands (British Overseas Territory)             US Virgin Islands (US Territory)      
                Puerto Rico (US Territory)          Dominican Republic                Haiti      
       Bermuda (British Territory)                       The Bahamas                         Cuba
                                          Cayman Islands                         Jamaica 

CENTRAL AMERICA

                       Panama      Costa Rica      Nicaragua      Honduras      El Salvador     
                                                 Guatemala                        Belize

NORTH AMERICA

                              Mexico                   Canada                United States     

Well, you get the idea how crazy this is---225 countries on this probably less than accurate list. I guess if I’m going to do this thing, I better do this thing.

Starting now…

Greenland

Finally, Some Pop Songs

Artist Mark Ritch & loser Nathan Nothin' at Poopoopalooza

For some reason the past keeps creeping into things lately. Back in the Stoned Age when we were doing EAT POOP! ‘zine, we did a show called Poopoopalooza with 14 bands & a bunch of local San JoHaze artists. Chris Johanson was one of the artists…

“Johanson was born in suburban San Jose, California in 1968. He grew up skateboarding, attending punk rock shows, drawing. He had a dry yet sharp sense of humor. He had no formal training in art, learning some technique by painting skateboards and houses. He was a prominent 'zine artist, and his publication "Karmaboarder," a skateboarding and art zine he published in the early to late 1980's, helped shape what later became well-known works.”

He did a crazy huge installation piece something like this…

Shortly after, he moved to San Francisco…

     “  He moved to San Francisco, California's Mission District in 1989, where he became a member of the local art community, initially drawing cartoons on lampposts and bathroom walls using black Sharpies.  In 1994, Johanson did one of the initial board graphic runs for a new San Francisco-based skateboard brand, Anti-Hero, which brought his art to a wider audience. Also, during this time, he played in a band called "Tina, Age 13," which was scrawled on a drawing the band came across randomly.”

We kept on putting on shows around San JoHaze & finally Tina,Age 13 played one of them. They had already become one of my favorite bands by that time. Being a punk musick ‘zine, we were immersed in the current punk musick scene. Several of the Poopsters were in The ByProducts & then later The Puds. We travelled frequently to San Francisco to hang out with SteelPole BathTub, The FuckBoyz/Hickey, & Tina, Age 13. This scene was the SHIT!

Aesop, drummer for The FuckBoyz/Hickey said this about Tina, Age 13…

     “  Almost everyone has a particular band from their hometown that they loved and wanted to do real well and take over the world. Because you believed in what they were doing and their success would be the success of your tiny bullshit town, and in a way, you too. In 1996 Tina, Age 13 was that band in San Francisco. Granted, SF isn't some tiny bullshit town, even if it is always tiny and often bullshit, but you know what I mean. Anyways, they were every bit as great as Pavement or Superchunk was and even better was the fact that I was their friend and (as the title suggests) they made this beautiful 7" for me (among others.) I appreciate it still, the song Elevator still makes me sad in that good way that lets you know that you are still a human. Tina, Age 13 aren't a band anymore, something always fucks that up, but they are still my friends. Sean Casement still lives in San Francisco, our sons sometimes play together. Chris Johanson lives in Portland, Oregon, and is a respected painter whose art hangs in MOMAs all over the country. Sadly, Jake took his own life not long after this record came out. He was a good dude, but maybe he didn't think so. They were all good dudes. Good Times, Hard Times indeed. Thanks, friends.”

I have to say that I too considered myself a friend of theirs & always felt exactly the same, that these songs were also for me (among multitudes of others).

I’ve included a track from the 1996 Goldenrod Records Super Mixer compilation as a bonus track, just because I could.

On Pop Songs for Our Friends, Tina, Age 13 are: Sean Casement – guitar & vocals; Chris Johanson – bass & vocals; & Jake Elliott – drums & vocals (R.I.P.). 3 of 18 songs recorded in 6 hours on 4-30-94 at Guerrilla Euphonics. No instrumental overdubs.

 Tina, Age 13 ‎– Pop Songs for Our Friends, Broken Rekids ‎– Skip 28, 1994.  

decryption code in comments 

Side A –

Elevator

Starla

Side B –

Sunday Morning

bonus track – Foggiehead

Enjoy,

NØ

Gimme a Chaw a' thet Tabackee

Climax Golden Twins Chawin' Tabackee, thet is

Seattle, Washington has a good number of off-kilter bands, but if you asked a native who they thought was the most outré, well, a lot of folks would say Climax Golden Twins. The core duo of Jeffery Taylor & Robert Millis have been baffling musickal expectations & subverting musickal conventions since 1993. Their back catalog contains everything from beautifully somnolent drones to fractured field recordings to scalding noise rock to surreal sound collages to rickety folk songs. They also possess a deep knowledge of musick history that informs their art. If you’re a movie buff, you might know the group from the soundtrack they did for the 2001 cult horror film Session 9. 

 5 Cents a Piece is a 2007 offering from Climax Golden Twins with the addition of Dave Abramson. Released on Abduction Records on 180 gram vinyl in a one-time only pressing of 500 copies, it was soon out of print. It features the heavy electrified trio improv attack mode they’d been utilizing at live shows. It has that twisted twang & sinister folk not unlike the  Session 9 soundtrack I mentioned above, a compromise between their wild avant garde side & their more prosaic rock.

On 5 Cents, CGT are: Robert Millis – guitar, vocals, electronics, toys, & percussion; Jeffery Taylor – guitar, slide guitar, vocals, electronics, & piano; & Dave Abramson – drums, percussion, vocals, & electronics.

Climax Golden Twins ‎– 5 Cents a Piece, Abduction ‎– ABDT038, 2007.

decryption code in comments

Side A –

Diabolic Mind Control

Clammed Up

Unfortunate Attribute

Enchanted Boat / Another Funeral

Decade of Hookers

Mancini at Dinner

Continental

Side B –

The Pillow

Mancini Returns

Oregon Vortex Rag

Vientiane

Nick from Crippler

Sociology  Room

For the Exited (don’t know if this was a typo & they meant excited, by the sound of the tune, or if they meant for those who already left [exit-ed])

Enjoy,

NØ 

Gibbering Ghosts Burning in Jelly

Back in the century passed, way back in the old days of the 80s before the birth of musick blogs, I was so into ‘zines. First Mike Gunderloy & then later Seth Friedman were god. Factsheet Five was the bible. We had our ‘zine (Long Live EAT POOP!).  It was all an extension of the Punk DIY ethos that we espouse

EAT POOP! #9 - cover by POOPSTER, poet, & artiste Frank Bella

 What was one of the greatest perks was the free musick. Every local band (San JoHaze) gave us demos & 45s & tapes & cds. But because of the FS5 network, we were in touch with other ‘zines all over the world. They wanted ours & wanted us to have theirs. That’s the way it was.

This all tied in perfectly with the underground cassette culture that was going on at the same time. I still have a special box full of crazy cassettes that don’t fit anywhere on any shelf. Ones with rocks glued to the covers; ones with hand-made felt boxes; ones with cardboard & plastic sleeves; all with crazy & sometimes extremely impressive original artwork. Anybody who had access to any sort of copying equipment (such as reel-to-reel tape recorders that came back to the States with GIs from Vietnam era [Sony - Teac - Webcor] or the portable tape to tape cassette players that first became common in the late 70s / early 1980s) could release a tape, & then publicize it through this network of fanzines that existed around the cassette scene. To us, the cassette culture was totally natural, an ideal & very proletarian  method for making available music that would never likely be recipient of any mainstream backing or promotion. We found in the cassette culture music that was more original, imaginative, challenging, beautiful, & groundbreaking than most output released by commercial bands.

Most of you musickphiles out in muscick blogland are probably aware of the great pioneer of cassette culture & 'outsider' music in the United States, R. Stevie Moore. His 'R. Stevie Moore Cassette Club' has been releasing DIY, home-recorded music steadily since the 1970s. Moore lives in Nashville & continues to make many releases in the cassette-only format.

Not as well known to the general musick hound, but legendary to us who still revere the cassette culture, was Minóy (Stanley Keith Bowsza) of Torrance,CA. Not only was he one of the acknowledged “creators” of the 1980s “homemade” independent music scene, he was also one of its most-acclaimed & well-known artists. He collaborated extensively with dozens of other luminaries in the burgeoning scene. 

 Dave Prescott / Minóy collaboration

 But Minóy is best known for his solo compositions, which number well over 100. He was the master of controlled noise. He used every sound imaginable in the world around him for the basis of his audio manipulations. Although the term noise properly identifies, perhaps, his genre, it doesn’t really do his musickal creations justice.

Minóy was very obsessive about his creations. He would stay up for days & nights on end, recording sounds & vocals, going from one cassette deck to another over & over. As heavily overdubbed as some of his compositions seem, he never used a multi-track recorder. He used cheap DIY equipment to create his compositions: guitar; shortwave radio; Radio Shack mixer (crucial for the reverb mode switch which could make very strange analog echoes); & a Casio CZ-101.

Minóy was a name that everyone knew in the 80s post-industrial cassette network, but then he stopped recording around 1992. Then he disappeared after the 90s. He has become largely forgotten.

Keith died on 3/19/10 from a myocardial infarction & liver shutdown. He had been on progressively-increasing medications over his last decade due to a number of medical problems. His health had gotten worse & he was hospitalized around 3/1/10. His death was sudden & unexpected. One day in the hospital he was joking & laughing, the next day he had become brain-dead. On Friday he was taken off life-support. R.I.P.

Here, to take you on a splendid trip, is another excellent outing from 1980's deep underground mail-art & home-taping legend Minóy. 

 Minóy  - Nightslaves cassette, Minóy Cassetteworks, 1986.

decryption code in comments

Side A -
A. Nightslaves (31:38)

Side B -
B1. Insect Trust (13:50)
B2. Gibbering Ghosts Burning in Jelly (17:27)

Enjoy,

NØ

The Island of Doctor Death

 C'est la Mort was a small but influential independent record label that operated from the home of Woodrow "Woody" Dumas in Baker, Louisiana. C'est la Mort specialized in ethereal, ambient, dream pop & darkwave bands. It operated from 1985 to about 1994.

postcard  sent to mailing list members announcing the next CLM release

The label featured a series of Doctor Death compilations, which grew out of Dumas's Doctor Death radio show. Dumas began his Dr. Death radio show on KLSU in December of 1983. The radio show led to a mail order business known as Deadly Records, then eventually to the CLM label itself. In all there were six Dr. Death compilation albums released. They presented highlights from many of the labels stable of bands: album; non-album; & previously unreleased tracks. C'est La Mort did much of its business via mail order & indie record stores, but did eventually establish distribution through Cargo in the '90s.

Associated bands included: Area, Beautiful Pea Green Boat, East Ash, Heavenly Bodies, Handful of Snowdrops, Controlled Bleeding, The Arms of Someone New, Johanna's House of Glamour, Room Nine & Psyche along with many others.

A few C'est La Mort releases, including all four Area albums, were eventually reissued by Projekt's Archive sub-label. Any releases not reissued by Projekt remain long out-of-print & most difficult to locate.

Various Artists - Doctor Death's Volume IV - The Marvels Of Insect Life,

C'est La Mort CLM 029-2, 1990.
decryption code in comments

Tracklist:

M-1 Alternative - The Marvels of Insect Life Theme
Johanna's House of Glamour - Dark Hour
Mumbles - Two Clouds
Double Happiness - Cut
Critical Mass - Vacation
Flower Sermon - If God Is
M-1 Alternative - Slumming
Talisker Tale - Alone
Psychic Surgery - Greeks & Romans
Area - Green Light
Blackgirls - Translator
Leigh Gregory - Athea
Halcyon Daze - Ragman
Millions, The - Delicate Balance
Magnetic Fields, The - Crowd of Drifters
Future Neighbors - Salty Sea
& Siamese Urbain - Whale's Belly
Handful of Snowdrops - Now, Then & Forever

Enjoy,

NØ  

There Will be Big Blood

Big Blood is known as “the phantom four piece”. Featuring Colleen Kinsella, Asian Mae, Caleb Mulkerin, & Rose Philistine. Appearing only as a duo. Two members are on the physical plane & two are on the more cerebral train. 

Cerberus Shoal, now on ‘hiatus’ according to Caleb, is a prolific Portland, Maine ensemble of art rock weirdos. They formed in 1994 at the Berklee College of Music (Boston), a group of Maine expatriates led by Chriss Sutherland & Caleb Mulkerin. Things like: their self-titled first release; Crash My Moon Yacht; collaborations with others, including Herman Dune & The Magic Carpathians Project or Sir Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls fame (called The Vim & Vigour of Alvarius B & Cerberus Shoal);...are all must-haves, in my opinion. Colleen Kinsella joined Cerberus Shoal for 2003s Chaiming the Knoblessone. She quickly became vital to the group as multi-instrumentalist & singer. Her vocals veer from a very distant & dry delivery to screaming banshee heart-plucking bitchgodessness.

 Big Blood evolved from Cerberus Shoal. Colleen & Caleb had a baby together, thus changing the dynamics of sound & soul. Big Blood became their outlet for musical, artistic & familial activities. In the past 4 years, they've released 13 or 14 full-length CDRs, each one reflecting the set list from a live show they've played.  Each CDR is unique unto itself, not a glimmer of rot, predictability, or filler.  This disc is from a couple shows: Space Gallery – Jan. 27, 2007 + Sahara Club – Jan. 28, 2007. You can get most or all of their output free at Free Music Archives. I picked this one because “She Said Nothing” (blush…blush).

 Big Blood – Space Gallery Jan. 27, 2007, DontTrusttheRuin-dttr 005, 2009. 

decryption code in comments

Glory Daze

The Rise of Qunnisa Rose

A Troublesome Lot I

Shrining Light

She Said Nothing

A Hole in One

Don’t Trust the Rain

A Troublesome Lot II

Sequins

Enjoy,

NØ

Donnez-moi un Billet pour un Avion

Métal Urbain was one of the first French punk groups, formed in 1976 in Paris. Probably because the French already have such a pissy attitude toward everything, punk never caught on there like it did with the Brits or the Yanks. The Brits dug MU, so UKs Rough Trade signed them & released “Paris Maquis b/w Cle de Contact” as their first single (RT001).

Although they were heavily influenced by The Clash & The Sex Pistols, they used much more heavily distorted guitars & they replaced the traditional rock rhythm section of bass guitar - drums with a synthesizer & a drum machine

The band broke up by 1979, though Éric Débris – singer & electronics & Charlie H – electronics went on to become Metal Boys, teaming up with mysterious English vocalist China to record Tokio Airport in 1980. It was re-released in 2003 & 2004 with different (some added & some missing) tracks.

 Metal Boys ‎– Tokyo Airport, Celluloid ‎– CEL 2-6560, 1980. 

decryption code in comments

Side A –

New Malden

Parlez Moi d’Argent

Carbone 14

The Pleasure

Café Sale

Love in Dub

Side B –

Colt 45

Commando

Hurry Back

Tokio Airport

Un Petit Peu d’Amour

Enjoy,

NØ

It's a Miracle

Miracle is some mighty fine example of On-U Sound. Bim Sherman was a bright star in the Jamaican Dub/Reggae world by the mid-70s. Adrian Sherwood heard Bim & dug his style. He invited Bim over to London to do some work with On-U Sound. Bim went & stayed.

Miracle was released in 1996 on On-U & Mantra with: Bim Sherman – vocals; Skip McDonald – acoustic guitar & backing vocals; Doug Wimbish – bass; Talvin Singh – tablas & percussion; & Carlton Oglivie – backing vocals. With additional strings by Studio Beats Orchestra Bombay.

What I’m offering up today is the Miracle Demo Sessions from 1995. These are unreleased acoustic versions that later were developed into the Miracles official release.

 Bim Sherman & Fats Comet & Friends – The Miracle Demo Sessions cassette, 1995.

Side A –

Life (called “Simple Life” on Miracle)

Golden Locks

Over the Rainbow

Side B –

Missing You

Just Can’t Stand It

Bewildered

My Woman

Enjoy,

On-U (I mean NØ)

Leave on the Jacket

Bromheads Jacket emerged from the burgeoning musick scene in Sheffield, England in 2005. They have been lumped with the other Sheffield bands of the time. However, with their crude sound situated somewhere between punk & indie rock, they are heavier than most of their citymates. Tim Hampton provides heavy guitar. His singing style & Hampshire accent also adds another element that adds to their uniqueness. Some say they sound like The Streets on speed, but others are sure Bromheads Jacket combines the sound of Squeeze, Bad Manners & the Sex Pistols.

Most of their output is available free from the band or elsewhere on the interweb. In 2009 they became a two piece known simply as Bromheads, with the loss of bassist Jono West. They have played tirelessly since that time, touring & playing shows & festivals. In fact they have a new album, Choro, due out April 13th this year that can be preordered on theirofficial site.

Well, here is a demo of some of the songs they played live their first couple years.

Bromheads Jacket are: Tim Hampton (vocals - guitar), Jono West (bass) & Dan Potter (drums).

Bromheads Jacket – Demos, 2005?6? (I made up the cover)

decryption code in comments

Trip to the Golden Arches

Land of the Brave

A Pinch of Psalt

Met a Dark Girl

SRI’s & Big Bore 4’s

Celebriyism

ATM

Enjoy,

NØ