30 November 2014

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,

29 November 2014

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


Side A –
Bone is Bloodstone
In the Desert
Searching
Vous

Side B –
Looking In
Eulogy
No No No

Enjoy,


23 November 2014

Well, How Much???




Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit, & Holger Czukay – How Much are They? 12" 45rpm,
Island Records 12WIP 6701, 1981.
decryption code in comments

Side A –
How Much are They?
Where’s the Money?

Side B –
Trench Warfare
Twilight World



Enjoy,

16 November 2014

An Atmospheric Collection of Goodies




A new friend of NSS left a comment on the last Sad Lovers & Giants post, vaguely inquiring about further tuneage. Here is a real gem.

SL&Gs kinda went through a hard time between 1983 – 1987. They were on hiatus/broken up for those years. In 1987 Allard teamed up with Tony McGuinness & began releasing SL&Gs music again. The material on this 1984 release is a collection of previously unreleased material from their formative years.

Tracks A1 & A2 are demos recorded at Pet Sounds in early 1981. They were reworked for this release.

Track A3 was recorded live at The Venue, September 1982.

Tracks A4 & A5 are out-takes from the Colourless Dream sessions at Surrey Sound, Summer 1981. "Landslide" had already been released on the group's first 7” EP, 1981s Clé  & "Echoplay" is from Epic Garden Music which I recently posted. The versions here were remixed at Alaska the summer of 1984.

Tracks A6 to B3 are from a Radio One John Peel Session November 25,1981. "Sex Without Gravity" was never performed anywhere else. "Clint" & "Alice (Isn't Playing)" are also on Epic Garden Music (& another version of "Clint" appeared on The Thing From the Crypt compilation).

Track B4 was recorded live at the Brunel Rooms, Swindon, March, 1983.

Track B5 here is a different version of "Imagination" which originally appeared as the A-side of Clé. After Clé was released, SL&Gs wished to record a better version of the song. The version here is an out-take from the Feeding the Flame sessions recorded at Spaceward during the summer 1983.

On In the Breeze, SL&Gs is: Simon ‘Garce’ Allard – vocals; Simon ‘Tristan Garel-Funk’ Blanchard – guitar; David Wood – keyboards & saxophone; Cliff Silver – bass; & Nigel Pollard – drums & percussion, with Steve Carter – bass on tracks A1 & A2.

Sad Lovers & Giants – In the Breeze, Midnight Music CHIME 00.07M, 1984.
decryption code in comments

Side One –
50:50
The Change
Interlude
Landslide
Echoplay
Sex Without Gravity

Side Two –
There Was no Time
Clint
Alice (isn’t Playing)
3 Lines
Imagination


Don't be sad, enjoy


09 November 2014

Panic Land



"National Panic---since when did a man who is a man Panic?
National Panic?
Everybody inside, with his weapons to protect hisself & his loved ones.
Outside:
Sauvé qui peut.
Every man for himself.
Chacun pour soi.
SOS. SOS. SOS.
May Day. Aid Me. Aid me.
SOS."     
W.S. Burroughs - Last Words



Don't really get all political here at NSS very often. I live far from the madding crowd & by my own set of rules, but numerous elements converged recently to stir this rant.

Midterm elections just passed last Tuesday & the likes of 30% of the voting herd have determined our political future. WTF? Pollsters were asking folks here in California who they voted for to hold the Gubernatorial seat & the most common reply was: "I didn't know that was on the ballot. I thought it was just a bunch of meaningless measures & replacement School Board representatives." Duh!



That ties in with the book I'm reading right now, Generation of Swine by Hunter S. Thompson. It is specifically about the 1980s but obviously the Generation is still going strong.

"Huge brains, small necks, weak muscles, & fat wallets---these are the dominant physical characteristics of the ‘80s…The Generation of Swine"
HST.

The only thing noticeably different is that the brains have shrunken & the wallets have gotten fatter.

Listen, you racist sons o' bitchin' swine. You need to lay off the Hillbilly heroin for a few days, dust off your memory modules, strap 'em on & think back to the days when Dubya was steering the Ship. Everything…& I truly mean everything, was so much more fucked up then. & today's Grand Old Peckerheads & their Teabagger Party cronies make Georgie Boy look like a bleedin' liberal.



Take a good look at the picture above. You think the plundering pachyderm helped with that, think again. File it in your Grey-matter Hotel. The new Congressional Whoremasters are dead set on making sure you never see that again once they're done & it’s gone.

"The Big Lie that we force or persuade enough people to believe.
Fascism never needed a majority, just 10%, plus the military & the police. &
how easy to persuade, when a little piece of power is the carrot.
We have been abandoned here on this planet, ruled by lying bastards of modest brain power. 
No sense. Not a tiny modicum of good intentions. 
One lie piled on another. 
Lying worthless bastards."
WSB – Last Words

Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine – The Audacity of Hype,
Alternative Tentacles VIRUS 411, 2009.
decryption code in comments

Side One –
The Terror of Tinytown
Clean as a Thistle
New Feudalism
Panic Land
Electronic Plantation

Side Two –
Three Strikes
Strength Thru Shopping
Pets Eat their Master
I Won't Give Up

The School of Medicine's enrollment here is: Kimo Ball – guitar; Ralf Spite – guitar, keyboards & backing vocals; Billy Gould – bass: Jon Weiss – percussion & drums. Headmaster is Jello Biafra. Artwork by Shepard Fairey.

Enjoy it while you have the Freedom,

03 November 2014