The Chevalier is Drowning in the Musick

I was listening to the Viva Los Angeles comp the other night. Hidden amongst other LA experimental bands like Savage Republic, Bay of Pigs & 17 Pygmies is the gem "Festival of Healing" by Drowning Pool. I had forgotten this band but remembered that the great Woody Dumas of C'est la Mort Records  had once recommended them (high praise, in my opinion). He had featured their song "Black Baghdad" (at that time unreleased) as the opening track for Doctor Death's Volume III - Les Péchés De L'amant.

Woodrow states:
     "I arranged the tracks on this LP as if I were doing a radio show, & none set the tone as well as "Black Baghdad"...Although not signed to C'est la Mort, they really could be. For this is the type of timeless sound I'm looking for."


I dragged out what I had & started giving the band a serious listen. I decided that I needed to share them here. 

 

Drowning Pool is a quartet (mainly) from Costa Mesa, CA. Adam Elesh - guitars, Andrew Crane - vocals, keyboards, & percussion, Brett Smith - bass, & Jon Thomas - drums & percussion. They create a clean & essential sound expressed through melancholically ritualistic music. They make atmospheres of mysterious evocativeness with delicate guitar weavings, fluid vocals, & a discreet use of electronic keyboards. Their pool is dark & surreal. They have been hailed as existential psychedelia. 

 

After several cassette-only releases shared with friends (Uncork the Mind, Muted Streak, Toy Soldier), they began hitting the vinyl. Their first, Drowning Pool - Untitled, released on the Viva label (the Italian label responsible for Viva Los Angeles), is a great place to jump into the pool. It features the song that stated this sojourn. It is also the portrait of a band with their musickal shit together painted by an exceptional artist. 

 

Drowning Pool - Untitled (aka The Bloody Boy), Viva Records REVI 002, 1986.
all decryption codes in comments

Lato A -
Ritual Regeneration / Toy Soldiers
Festival of Healing    
Song to the Chumash

Lato B -
Weaving Petals
Muted Streak    
Art of Waiting    
Fired from Within

 

 

 

 

Their second self-titled LP is a much darker swim. 

 

Drowning Pool - Drowning Pool, Scarface Charley Records DP31187, 1987.

Face Side -
Romans
What of Singing Birds
Open Palms
Pogrum

Dance Side -
Broken Jawed Woman Sings (featuring Kirra Vollman)
New Tremblin Fingers
Edith, Hold Out Your Hand
P. E. 26
Paradise Found 

Once again on Viva for their third, with tributes to Native Americans (sound bites of Little Big Man, Dan George, William S. Burroughs)...Nierika..."doorway within our minds that usually remains hidden & secret until the time of death'. 

 

 

At this point, the band is at both their pinnacle & unravelling at the same time. The title track encapsulates the essence of Drowning Pool. 

 

NØ sez: "One of the finest songs I know." 

 

 

Drowning Pool - Nierika, Viva Records REVI 004, 1988.

This Side -
House of Dreams    
Trueblood    
Shadows

Other Side -
Master Bebra
Nierika    
House of Dreams (reprise) 

 

 

 

 

 

This drug, my friends, is highly psychedelic. Better living through Musick. 

 

About this time, the Pool had become engorged with water & overflowed its banks. Things kinda flowed off in different directions, as feathers or smoke or water or thoughts sometimes do.

With the departure of singer Andrew Crane, Aphonia (in medicine: loss of ability to speak through disease of or damage to the larynx or mouth) is an instrumental release from Drowning Pool (though not without wonderful voices). It is a shifting collage of sounds, meditational rhythms of nature. There are layers of music that overlap, drifting in & out of one another yet never overpowering a beautiful sense of space within the textures. The guitar work of Adam Elesh is as captivating as David Sylvain, as eccentric as Robert Fripp & occasionally as beautifully self-indulgent as Phil Manzanera.

     "Welcome back, listeners, to SEZØ -FM, to the radio program that plays all the latest hits none of the time. Woody, here at the turntable, starting off tonights soundfunfest set with the song that's been sweeping none of the dance floor anywhere,  Black Bgahdad by Drowning Pool."

 

 

Drowning Pool - Aphonia, Fundamental SAVE 72 CD, 1988.

Side 1 -
Black Baghdad    
Tap Tap    
Shimmy    
Water    

Side 2 -
Din    
Chevalier MacGregor    
The Italian Pop Song

 

 

    

With or without Andrew Crane, Drowning Pool are exceptionally fine. Yet I often think of what "Din" might have sounded like with Crane on board. If you want a taste of Drowning Pool with another singer (Kelly Ray), search out Mumbles - Two Clouds. It was released on Viva with a run of 1000 so it's been hard to come by, but I think Adam Elesh re-issued a remastered version around 2006. I've heard it but don't have it, even digitally so if any dear reader has, please honor me. 

 

Elesh & Crane were subsequently in the band (āc'orn.) who released one album, Sustenance (Smith & Thomas from Drowning Pool are also seven of the ten tracks)...

Viva Las Pool,
NØ

Stop Goofing on Us

As the vultures of cultures ravaged my brain, I stumbled into Wax. I fantasized that some astute musicophile would enlighten me about the tailor of these threads. But I knew no astute student of sound would be slogging about this mire of noise. I was stuck in a Wax hole until a visitor on my last post brought me to my nonsenses.

Pal Joey commented:
     “...stop goofing...Get serious.”

The day I stop goofin' is the day I stop breathin', sucka, but I'll get serious. Seriously twisted Dubwise, that is. 

 

I've served up a couple tastes of Nick Manasseh in the past, two 45s from his vast catalogue. You can find the here & here. I just never allotted him the space he deserves. So I'll GET SERIOUS & remedy that right now.

Nick Manasseh is a UK dub producer/selector. Nick is widely credited for pioneering the 'UK Steppers' genre with Sound Iration's  'Seventh Seal' in 1988.  He co-founded Roots Garden Records in 2004. He has released records on the Acid Jazz & Riz Records labels as well.

 

Nick teamed up with schoolmates Ed Maiden & Billy T in 1985 & created Manasseh Sound System. Based out of West London in the Shepherds Bush area, they debuted on Sunday morning at the Notting Hill Carnival 85. Manasseh Sound System played root reggae, a style not prevalent in the UK scene at that time.

Nick started producing  that same year for Sound System Dubplates. His earliest productions with his partner Scruff (Steven Gilder) eventually became Sound Iration. Their first single, 'Seventh Seal' was issued on the Mystic Red label in 1988. Sound Iration went on to release In Dub for Youth (Martin Glover [Killing Joke]) & Alex Paterson's WAU MR Modo label. It was another huge success. The album was re-issued by Year Zero in 2010 & again on the 11th this month (7/22) on green vinyl for Partial Records.

 

In 1990 Nick set up his first studio. He also began a new label called Riz Records with co producers Gil Cang, Eddie Joseph, & Mak Gilchrist. The label ran for about 7 years, with many notable successes such as Earl Sixteen's "Natural Roots", Admiral Tibet's "Permission", Orville Smith's album Walking on Tightrope & Manasseh meets The Equalizer - Dub The Millennium.

Manasseh Studio (Brixton  1991-2000) was popular with many other musicians (especially visiting Jamaican artists. Manasseh recorded Dennis Brown, the Mighty Diamonds, Freddie McGregor, Sugar Minott, Brigadier Jerry, Josey Wales, Charlie Chaplin, Johnny Osbourne, Junior Delgado, Tony Tuff & The Melodians. 

 

At this same time (starting in 1987) Nick, Ed, & Billy T started their radio show on pirate station Kiss FM run by brothers Norman & Joey Jay. They were given the 3-7am graveyard slot. 

 

When Kiss became a legal station in 1990, Manasseh occupied the 3-6am slot until 1999. Bearing in mind that in those days there was no internet, no file sharing, Nick's radio show, along with their Sound System, established Manasseh as a positive force in the reggae scene in the UK & internationally as well.

In 2004 Nick teamed up with Jon Jones, host of the long standing Brighton roots night, Roots Garden. Jon wanted to start a new label. Nick had a release that he thought would be excellent for the new label's premier. Nick & Gil Cang had recorded a tune with Johnny Osbourne originally intended for Riz Records that had remained un-released called 'Black Star Liner' (see first link paragraph 4). Roots Garden Records has continued to grow since then with releases from Luciano, Freddie McGregor, Brother Culture, Dark Angel, Ava Leigh, Kenny Knots, Bob Skeng, Cate Ferris, Mc Trooper, Ruben Da Silva, Jahmali, Danny Red, Vin Gordon & many more. 

 

In 2012, after living in the South West of England for twelve years, Nick returned to London. He opened a new studio, The Yard, in West London, just around the corner from where he first started with Sound Iration in the 80s. 

 

Nick continues to DJ & work as a selector throughout the world. He still finds time for the occasional radio (Passion Radio, the Sufferer's Choice show). 

 

Was that serious enough, Joey? But enough about the man, let's get to the music. Starting with one of my all-time favorite Manasseh releases. Here's The Missing Two Weeks (originally on Natural Response 1995) re-issue on Echo Beach with tracks 3, 5, 10, 16-18 as bonuses. Let's get Dubby. 

 

Manasseh presents Spectre - The Missing Two Weeks (Covert Dubs), Echo Beach EB024, 1999
all decryption codes in comments

Covert Dub
Spectre Overseas
Dub Overseas    
The Missing Two Weeks
The Missing Dub
Throw Down Spears
Spectre in the Dance
Mad Frank Lends a Hand
Blow    
Blow (alternative Dub mix)    
Vibration Version
Tribute to Scratch    
Errors    
The Prez    
End Games    
Covert Drum & Bass    
Covert Dub (Youth emix)
Spectre Overseas (The Orb remix) 

Now some of Nick's fantastic Dubplate stylee.

 

Manasseh - Dub Plate Style 1990-1999, Hammerbass BASS CD 008, 2002.

Clash Version
Clash Version Pt. 2
Creation
Creation Dub - Nick Manasseh
Rise Up
Rise Up Dub - Manasseh & Johnny Osbourne
Skenga 12" mix
Masaï Get a Bly - Manasseh & Natty P
Mind the Gap Version
Jungle Trees Dub
Pharoah's Dub
Good Stepping Pt. 1
Stepping Pt. 2 - Manasseh
Natural Roots Original 12" Mix
Natural Roots Sound 12" mix
Natural Dub 12" mix - Manasseh & Earl 16
I Planet Humanity
Humanity Dub - Manasseh & Ras I
Walking on Tightrope
Tightrope Version - Manasseh & Orville Smith 

 

 

 

 

In part two, all songs by Nick except Clash's "Guns of Brixton" Dub (& no, not that MAGA). 

 

 

Manasseh - Dub Plate Style Vol. 2, Hammerbass BASS CD 019, 2004.

Thunder Roll Dub
Challenging Version
Maga Man
Maga Dub Part 1 & 2
Science Part 2
Zion City (featuring Earl 16)
Zion Dubbing
Western World Version (featuring Ras I)
Tear Down
Dub Down
Don Gorgon (featuring Danny Red)
Dubbing the Gorgon
The Next Step
Next Version
Dubs of Brixton

But seriously folks,
NØ

Wax Trax

The story (written by Sara Genn) of a boy, his record player, & his records who finds a dusty rainbow in the dark, narrated by Don McCorkindale.

That boy is Jean-Christophe Le Saoût. He created this album from rebuilt instruments, dusty notes, & other textures captured from old vinyls from the records in his room. 

 

Wax Tailor - Dusty Rainbow from the Dark, Lab'oratoire – Lab'023, 2012.
decryption code in comments

Exordium with voice by Mary Wells
Dusty Rainbow featuring Charlotte Savary
Like n Hourglass
Only Once featuring Ali Harter with scratches by Ugly Mac Beer
Heart Stop featuring Jennifer Charles
Something Began to Glow
No
A Stop Motion Bloom
The Sound featuring Mattic
In the Mirror
Past, Present & Future (Rock'n'Roll) with scratches by Ugly Mac Beer
Not Alone
Down In Flames featuring Sara Genn
Time to Go featuring Aloe Blacc
Narrator – Don McCorkindale
Magic Numbers featuring A.S.M & Mattic
No Regret featuring Shana Halligan
Phonovisions
Into the Sky
My Window featuring Akua Naru & Elzhi
From the Dark
(Uncredited Track)
Heart Stop - (bonus Radio edit) featuring – Jennifer Charles
Time to Go - (bonus Radio edit)

Enjoy,
NØ

Where the Bumblebirds Fly

 

Thoughts are strange birds.

I guess I wasn't even aware that I had recently heard Télépopmusik - "Breathe" (with Angela McCluskey) but then this bird flew in my brain squawking: "I wonder what she's done since then."

Here's what's left of that bird...

I remember back in early 00s when the song "Breathe" was getting some heavy airplay. To me it was kinda...well...cringe-worthy. But I remember that I liked the vocalist & a few other songs from the CD that she sang on. That's about it.

Flashing forward twenty-some years to today, I'm thinking I wonder what ever happened to Angela McCluskey (didn't even think once as to whatever happened to Télépopmusik...don't really care).

Angela McCluskey is from Glasgow, Scotland, UK. I find her voice to be intriguing. What she's been doing since Breathing is quite obviously singing. Her name pops up on multiple bands & numerous visionary unions. First off, a smattering of Angela McCluskey (I included the other three tracks featuring Angela off the Genetic World release but thoughtfully skipped the culprit of this crime, "Breathe"). 

 

Angela McCluskey - A View, NØ Comps, 2022.

Télépopmusik featuring Angela McCluskey - Smile
Angela McCluskey with Shudder to Think - Day Ditty
Maor Levi with Angela McCluskey - Pick up the Pieces
Angela McCluskey - The Little Things (Kasbo remix)
Télépopmusik featuring Angela McCluskey - Yesterday was a Lie
Angela McCluskey - It’s Been Done
Paul Oakenfold with Angela McCluskey - You Could be Happy (Future House mix)
Angela McCluskey - Believing
BT featuring Angela McCluskey - In the Air (Mord Fustang remix)
Angela McCluskey - I Adore You
Télépopmusik fearturing Angela McCluskey - Love’s Almighty

 

 

 

Just before her work on Genetic World surfaced, Angela released an album of covers working with Triyptych that included Lili Haydn, Martin Tillman, Paul Cantelon (Angela's husband & The Citizen's Band / Wild Colonials band-mate) . Give it a listen, you'll know what I was hearing.

 

Angela McCluskey with Triptych - Curio, Random Records T-001, 2000.
all decryption codes in comments

Famous Blue Raincoat (written by Leonard Cohen)
Lady Grinning Soul (written by David Bowie)
My Funny Valentine (written by Richard Rogers/Lorenz Hart)
Nature Boy (written by Eden Ahbez
God Bless the Child (written by Arthur Herzog, Jr., Billie Holiday)
Soldier's Things (written by Tom Waits)
Solitude (written by Ellington, DeLange, Mills)
Don't Explain (written by Arthur Herzog, Jr., Billie Holiday)

 

 

 

Then I took to wing & flitted  around in the labyrinth of mind like the flight of the bumblebird, drifting from one high perch to another...which led me to this branch... 

 

Can somebody explain Wax Tailor?

Wax Tailor - Hope & Sorrow, Atmosphériques 9848124, 2007.

Once Upon a Past    
The Way We Lived featuring Sharon Jones
The Games You Play featuring Voice
The Tune    
The Man with no Soul featuring Charlotte Savary
Radio Broadcast
Positively Inclined  featuring Maina Quaisse & A.S.M
Sometimes    
House of Wax featuring The Others
Beyond Words    
To Dry Up featuring Charlotte Savary
We Be featuring Ursula Rucker
That Case
There is Danger
Alien in My Belly featuring Charlotte Savary

 

 

 

 

Let me know the scoop on Wax Tailor, anyone, please. 

I was digging the above tracks featuring Charlotte Savary so decided to try some of her other offerings.

In 2016 Charlotte released her debut solo album Seasons. Less electro/trip-hop than Wax Tailor, more French pop/folk. Great vocals.

 

 

 

 

Charlotte Savary - Seasons, Wing It WING002, 2016.

A Movie (intro)
Bye Bye (Summer)
Under Your Skin
Coming Home
The Fall
A While
Oh Rose
Winter (What You See Below the Ice)
Your Love Means Nothing
Faster, Further
Spring Time (Is Here for Love Making)
What Do You Do ?
The Stereo

 

 

Recently Charlotte has been performing with Marine Thibault, doing French electro/poptrip-hop under the moniker SEYES. Charlotte wrote the lyrics & sings, Marine plays piano, flute, drum machine, provides the chorus, most everything else. Drum machine, then flute slides in, the piano picks up the melody, then...wait for it...the angelic vocals join the song. "Peace" has it in spades.

 

 

 

SEYES - Beauty Dies, Music Box Publishing, 2020.

Dream In Blue    
The Valley of Unrest    
Au Son Des Armes    
Beauty Dies    
Arrest Him    
Peace    
Dans l'Arène    
Alan in September    
Sans Titre

 

 

 

Then the birds were in flight again, feeling the pull of migratory conditioning...

SET US FREE, the birdsongs called.

I drifted back in time a few years to music that's been on stand-by more or less. I used to listen to, then lost track of Emancipator (Douglas Appling, NYC born musician). His downtempo / trip-hop style always went down well in my ears. I guess somewhere around the Dusk to Dawn / Dusk to Dawn remixes I forgot.

 

 

 

 

I remember why I forgot. I started this *%@&!!ing blog back in 2007. I started presenting music I wanted to share. I guess for a goodly while I just stopped listening to anything I didn’t already enjoy & wished to pass on to the ears of others. I guess about the time of I did Music Around the World (2013) that I really started listening to 'different music' (out of my comfort hole). That project forced the fact that there was a world of musick out there that I needed to hear. Since that time I have opened up completely to MUSIC. Only recently, after my move back to the East & my freedom at last from wage slavery have I stream-lined the way I post musick on this stinking mess. 

If the music lingers long enough in my mind, I do something with it, whatever that becomes.

 

 

Be Here Now!

 

Here are a pair of releases that belong together just for the fantastic juxtaposition between the studio & the live.

 

Emancipator - Baralku, Loci Records LOCI 021, 2017

Baralku    
Ghost Pong    
Mako    
Daffodil Pickels    
Tree Hunt    
Abracadabra    
Goodness    
Udon    
Bat Country    
Pancakes    
Rappahannock    
Winter Dub    
Time For Space    
Sands

 

 

Next is an Emancipator album recorded live on his 2018 tour. Baralku Tour Live embodies the progression from studio to live, fusing the bands organic electronic sound with the audience's energy & presence. Featuring the full Emancipator Ensemble - Doug Appling (Emancipator) backed by: Asher Fulero - keyboards; Ilya Goldberg - violin/viola); mub FRACTAL - bass; & Colby Buckler - drums.

 

Emancipator - Baralku Tour Live, Loci Records, 2019.

Baralku
Valhalla
Nevergreen
Dusk to Dawn
Diamonds
Bat Country
Water Temple
Lionheart (DnB remix)
Natural Cause
Ghost Pong
Eve
Greenland
1993
Wolfdrawn
Ares
Time for Space
Goodness
Kamakura
Anthem
Minor Cause

 

 

 

 

 

By now my fine feathered friends are seeking roost. They are worn of wing & frazzled of feather. What was supposed to be a scholarly treatise of a wise owl ends in a flight of fancy that is giving me goose bumps. I guess I’m crazy as a loon.

So Just Flunk Me.

I have been working on a Flunk post for a long time but I haven’t been happy with the results.

So just flunk me.

I decided for now I'll just post up a "Best of..." compilation (deluxe version, of course...I know you’re not chopped liver).

So just flunk me.

 

Or how about this... 

 

 

 

 

Flunk - The Songs We Sing: Best of 2002-2012 deluxe version, 

Beatservice Records BS136CD, 2012.

Disc 1 (the original mixes) -

Play    
On My Balcony    
Blue Monday (New Order cover)
Cigarette Burns
Six Seven Times    
Personal Stereo    
See Thru You    
Sit Down
Probably    
Morning Star    
Miss World    
Blind My Mind    
If We Kiss    
Spring to Kingdom Come    
Common Sense    
Diet of Water & Love

Disc 2 (the remixes) -

 

Blue Mondays (Blue States remix)
Morning Star (Parliavox remix)
Play (Slowpho Opp Av Godstolen remix)
Common Sense (Kohib remix)
Kebab Shop 3 AM (Rune Lindbæk Klubb Kebab Dub)
Personal Stereo (Sagevik remix)
If We Kiss (Astrojazz remix)
Magic Potion (Athome Project Nedi Garasjen remix)
All Day & All of the Night (Tronso & Nils Noa remix)
Diet of Water & Love (Manu remix)
See Thru You (Cinque Cento remix)
Personal Stereo (Wet Cookies remix)

Birds of a feather flock together.

Enjoy,
NØ

Be Good to Your Badawi Self

 

Raz Mesinai is a veteran of the New York illbient scene. He was a vital member of recently posted Sub Dub. Under the Badawi moniker he mixes illbient's Dub & ambient electronics with Middle Eastern percussion. This is his full-length first release as Badawi. 

 

Badawi - Bedouin Sound Clash, ROIR USA RUSCD8229, 1996.
all decryption codes in comments

Suspicions    
Suspicious Dub    
Pressurizor    
Big Foot    
Attack of the Giant Fruit Flies    
FX-57 Missile    
Lack of Oxygen to the Brain    
Lack of Dub to the Brain    
Cyborg Stepper    
Hi Fashion Version    
Audio Bomb Squad    
Turbo Auto Drive    
Badawi Dub    
Chamber of Dub    
Snake Charmer 

 

 

Badawi's first of two releases on the illbient label Asphodel is The Heretic of Ether (the other being 2006s Safe). This music could be from the Middle East of today or from two thousand years in the past or the future. It is haunting & ethereal. 

 

Badawi - The Heretic of Ether, Asphodel ASPH 0992, 1999.

CHAPTER 1: The Heretic -    
Intro    
Tired Soldiers    
A Voice from Six Corners    
Santur    
Enter the Heretic    
Fatal Confrontation (The Death of Gashka Gavör)

CHAPTER 2: The Etheric    
Entrance    
Arrival    
Fatal Confrontation (Gashka Meets the Gate Keeper)    
Welcoming    

CHAPTER 3: The Return Of Gashka Gavör -
Falling    
Fatal Confrontation (revisited)    
Return of the Heretic    
Awakening 

 

 

 

 

Fela Kuti once said "Music is the weapon". Jerusalem born / New York based Raz Mesinai clearly agrees. During the 2004 Republican Convention in New York rather than just joining the protesters, he booked a studio a few blocks away (One Soul Studios, NYC, August 24). His Badawi Quintet set up & improvised for 10 hours, focusing on their feelings of rage & hopelessness melded with hope, defiance, & anarchy. Over the next couple of years Raz engineered the recordings, then sent the material off to a bunch of international DJs, producers, & sound artists to remix the material.

The Badawi Quintet is great mix of clarinet, cello, bass, percussion, & electronics. It's fascinating to hear how the different mixers have interpreted it. There's a definite Dub vibe with a Middle Eastern flavor to much of the work.

This is an interesting & appealing release, quite dark & brooding. The thematic unity of the source material provides a solid link to some really disparate but always interesting approaches.

 

 

Raz Mesinai's Badawi - Unit of Resistance, ROIR RUSCD8307, 2007.

 

Gates of Chaos - Raz Mesinai vs Badawi

Market Place - Badawi Quintet

Poison Dripping Cinco - hhyScumclash vs Badawi

Jihad Remix - DJ Spooky vs Badawi

Bahr El Dumu Part I - Seth Ayyaz vs Badawi

Den of Drumz - Kode 9 vs Badawi

Out of Breath - Kreng vs Badawi

Knife the Ehterics - Filastine vs Badawi

Badawileaf - Marina Rosenfeld vs Badawi

Ipanema Under Fire - DJ Rupture vs Badawi

Bahr El Dumu Part II - Seth Ayyaz vs Badawi

Crows - Badawi vs Juakali

Enjoy,
NØ

Auto No Auto

 

The inspration for this compilation was Massive Attack meets Scientist - Protection  / No Protection. 

 

The Sub Dub post got me on to a Badawi post that should be next, but for now, this. Hope you enjoy. 

 

Various (Automatic +) - Signal / No Signal, NØ Comps., 2022.

Too Much Money
Too Much Money (Peanut Butter Wolf remix)
Calling It
Calling It (Peaking Lights Disco rerub)
Suicide in Texas
Suicide in Texas (Panther Modern remix)
Highway
Highway (Kevin Haskins Dub remix)
Signal
Signal (Maral remix)
Damage
Damage (Jeremy Raven crowing remix)
Electrocution
Electrocution (John Dwyer remix)
Champagne
Champagne (Nothin’ rebuff)
Strange Conversation
Strange Conversation (Sudan Archives remix)

Next up, Raz Mesinai...
NØ

Love Him or Hate Him, but You Can't Ignore Him

He is King at least for a day... 

 

A member of the graduating class of whack-jobs that includes Gary Wilson & Zolar X...

Presenting the man, the myth, the true Con(n)undrum. 

Bobby Conn definitely deserves his time here at NSS.  I had been planning this post for several years or more. I would work on it & then I would put it away for a while. The task of chronicling Bobby Conn's diverse career just seemed daunting.

Then blog-friend MrDave commented on my April Marc Bolan post.

MrDave5/2/22, 9:35 AM...
     "Bolan looks like the illegitimate sex-child of Bobby Conn and (his lovely partner) Julie Pomerleau which I'm sure is exactly what the two of them were going for. Speaking of which, if you have any, I'd love to have it! (I've only got a low bitrate version of "Homeland")."
 

Songs like "Baby Man (refrain)" or "California" from the Rise Up! release are just soooooooooooo Marc Bolan / T Rex as relates to MrDave. Then listen to the BeeGee-esque "Face Blind" or the Bowie-esque "More than You Need" or the Devo-esque "Underground Vktm" from Macaroni. You’ll be scratching your brain in uncertainty. Say what? That's how I felt in the past, but I felt I owed it to MrDave to forward to the goal. (I wasn't going to post Macaroni but now I name-dropped tunes from said pasta, so here[___])

Conn was born Jeffrey Stafford in New York. He spent much of his young life in the Chicago suburb of St. Charles. He started a hardcore punk trio in high school called The Broken Kockamamies. In 1989, Bobby joined the Chicago avant garde rock quartet Conducent: Bobby Conn - guitar; Rex Jenny - bass / vocals; Le Deuce - loops, beats, atmosphere; & DeShawn -drums / vocals. Conn went solo in 1994 after Conducent broke up. His first lineup consisted of ex-Conducent member DJ Le Deuce on turntables, as well as his future wife Julie Pomerleau (aka Monika BouBou) on electric violin. Conn has released seven studio albums (the latest being 2020s Recovery), a live album Live Classics, & several EPs. 

 

 

A few years back I happened upon the widely circulated & very puzzling YouTube clip of Bobby Conn performing "Never Get Ahead" on a local Chicago cable access program. The song was just weird/good enough to make me search out more Mr. Bobby. What did the rest of Bobby Conn's music sound like, I wondered? After all these years & much time invested in listening to his entire output, I'm still wondering. I get it, but I just can't say. You just have to listen for yourselves. I recommend multiple listens. It won't sink in on the first play (or even the third for most). It's complicated, requires paying close attention, because it's music with a lot of tiny moving parts. 

 

 

Since the YouTube video of "Never Get Ahead" was my first exposure to Bobby Conn's music, I've started at the beginning with his self-titled 1997 debut Bobby Conn that features that song. I have seen the album described as no wave or post rock. Not entirely inaccurate, but with the mutant pop/disco/soul of "Never Get Ahead" or the heavy metal bludgeoning of "The Sportsman" or the 13-minute-long musique concrète collage of slowed down layered snatches of Paul McCartney on "Who's The Paul? #16" it becomes apparent there is much more going on here. 

 

Bobby Conn - Bobby Conn, Truckstop TRUCK02CD, 1997.
all decryption codes in comments

Overture
Axis '67 (Part One)
No Kids, No Money
Never Get Ahead
Who's the Paul #16   
Who's the Paul #33
Payback
The Sportsman
Axis '67 (Part Three) 

 

 

 

Conn's next album was 1998s Rise Up!, which is both a parody of mainstream rock & a political message, but an updating of the whole protest music concept for an apathetic generation not much interested in protesting anything. Musically it is a massive step forward from the first release. Produced by Jim O'Rourke & featuring a much deeper musical collaboration with his future wife, violinist Julie Pomerleau, aka Monika BouBou. Bobby's image of a diminutive, falsetto-singing, drug-addled rocker with glitter eyeshadow & chipped painted fingernails gave this outing a "leper messiah" edge.

Bobby Conn - Rise Up!, Atavistic ALP306CD, 1998.

The Twilight of the Empire    1:41
Rise Up!
Axis '67 Pt. 2
United Nations
California
Passover
A Conversation   
Baby Man
Baby Man (refrain)
White Bread
Lullaby
Ominous Drone   
Rise Up, Now!

 

 

 

 

 

If the Bobby Conn project went into full bloom with Rise Up!, 2001s The Golden Age (also produced by Jim O'Rourke) is a huge leap forward once again. The arrangements on this album are next level. Conn & BouBou are now fully in sync. So for anyone not sure where to jump into the Conn pool, this is probably the spot. The Golden Age is one of the most musically sophisticated pop albums around, with some very fine musicianship, bursting with intelligence. 

 

 

Bobby Conn - The Golden Age, Thrill Jockey thrill084, 2001.

A Taste of Luxury
Angels
You've Come a Long Way
The Best Years of Our Lives
Winners
The Golden Age
No Revolution
Pumper
Whores

 

 

 

 

All anyone needs to say is "King for a Day". As good a song as any by Bowie or Bolan. Punch the sky!

 

Bobby Conn - King for a Day, Thrill Jockey thrill 177, 2007.

Vanitas
When the Money's Gone
King for a Day
A Glimpse of Paradise
Love Let Me Down
Sinking Ship
Twenty-One
Punch the Sky!
Anybody
(I'm Through with) My Ego
Mr. Lucky
Things

 

 

 

 

 

So now on to Recovery, the newest Bobby Conn album. It's the soundtrack for the CoVid-19 pandemic nightmare. Alexis, play Disposable Future! 

 

 

 

Bobby Conn - Recovery, Tapete Records TR450CD, 2020.

Recovery   
Disposable Future   
Good Old Days   
No Grownups   
Brother   
On the Nose   
Bijou   
Disaster   
It's a Young Man's Game   
Always Already

Thank you, MrDave,
NØ

Bus Bud

Didn't know if I'd finish this first or the Bobby Conn post. Bobby is a hard row to till, so I'm still working my way through it. 

 

Rising

Listening to Incursions in Illbient compilation from the DJ Spooky post, I just had to give up a dose of Sub Dub.

Sub Dub created a harmonious fusion of ambient music & dub by blending studio production with live instrumentation. Sub Dub was basically the duo of programmer Raz Mesinai & bassist John Ward, with occasional help from vocalist Ursula Ward & tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart.

 

 

Sub Dub - Babylon Unite EP, Totally Killing It Productions TKI 143, 1994.
all decryption codes in comments

Front Side -
Babylon Unite Pt. 1
Babylon Unite Pt. 2

Back Side -
Vision Quest
19.5
Rhythm Collision

 

 

 

 

 

Sub Dub - Dawazangpo EP, Underground Producers Alliance, 1995.

This Side -
Intro
Dawazangpo
Tag 1
Witchcraft
Monuments on Earth
Tag 2

That Side -
Vision Quest (“95 Remix)
Soundcheck
Tag 3

(both sides end in a lockgroove, Tag 2 & Tag 3 are the clipped tracks)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sub Dub - Sub Dub, Instinct Ambient AMB6001.2, 1996.

Intro    
Backup    
Rising Dub    
Jihad (Desert Storm mix)    
Drifting    
Assunni    
Jihad (Sub Dub meets the Opiated Hash Assassins)
Ambient Syndrome    
Elastic Dub    
Deserted Dub    
Ambrosia    
19.6

Enjoy,
NØ