Monte Cazazza "The Worst of"

Monte Cazazza can be called a messias of industrial music. He was one of the very first to include tape loops, samples (with recordings of violence ambience, rape, wars and other atrocities). Oh, he was also expelled from the Oakland College of Arts and Crafts because when he was asked to do his first sculpture assignment, he built a cement waterfall hat permanently disabled the main stairway of the college's building. His work is considered so obscene that I've heard that even nowadays it's difficult for him to appear on the streets. He would've meet some of his friends with dead cats and then would blow them up to pieces. Now that's a fair lesson to be and stay obscene and controversial.
This album (that features an ironic title and is a fairly good compilation) contains various songs of Monte's career. The tracks are:

1. Bart Alberti, M.D.: "Psychiatric Review" - 2:10
2. Monte Cazazza: "To Mom On Mother's Day" - 3:26
3. Monte Cazazza: "Candy Man" - 2:33
4. Monte Cazazza: "Rabid Rats (Vietnam)" - 2:09
5. Monte Cazazza: "Distress" - 2:21
6. Monte Cazazza: "Mary Bell" - 2:23
7. Monte Cazazza: "Kick The Habit Man" - 2:04
8. Monte Cazazza: "First/Last" - 5:14
9. Monte Cazazza: "Tiny Tears" - 1:39
10. Monte Cazazza: "Stairway To Hell" - 4:50
11. Monte Cazazza: "Sex Is No Emergency" - 2:59
12. Monte Cazazza: "A Snitch Is A Snitch" - 8:59
13. The Love Force: "Six Eyes From Hell" - 4:45
14. The Love Force: "Liars (Feed Those Christians To The Lions)" - 5:26
15. The Atom Smashers: "A Is For Atom" - 6:10
16. The Atom Smashers: "If Thoughts Could Kill" - 6:36
17. The Atom Smashers: "Mark Of The Devil" - 6:19
18. The Love Force: "Climax" - 8:00

Personally, I love the following tracks: "Stairway to Hell", "Six Eyes From Hell", "Liars (Feed Those Christians To The Lions)", "If Thoughts Could Kill" and "A Is for Atom". This work was released in 1992 on the label The Grey Area. The album's lenght is around 72 minutes and 25 seconds. Instruments used: sampler, keyboards, vocals, violin, synthesizers, guitar, bass, tapes, drums and some magnetic tape effects.
Have this album by clicking here, if you dare [not for the weak of heart].

Monte Cazazza on the cover of Vile Magazine

I'll leave one song of the album I enjoy a lot: "If Thoughts Could Kill":

Xiu Xiu Larsen "¿Spicchiology?"

This album is a collaborative effort of experimental indie rock band Xiu Xiu and post-rockers Larsen (this collaboration is entitled XXL and this is the second album they've released). The album came out in May 22 of 2007, released at Important Records (the label that Larsen are on).
The first and second tracks have more of Larsen's influence than Xiu Xiu's, as I can hear. But both are very good, smooth and relaxing. They have Larsen's common hypnotic (and somewhat obscure) drone and Xiu Xiu's melodic experiences. The first track is "So Easy, So Cheap" - 2:03- and the second track is "Daydrinking" - 3:53.
The third track, which is"Little Mouse of the Favelas" (4:15 minutes), is more melodic and now has Jamie Stewart's distinctive voice. I strongly advise you guys to hear this one.
The other 5 songs I haven't heard them enough to comment them, sorry, although I think that I enjoyed hearing "Last in the Society"- 3:40.
There are, as you could see, 8 songs:

1. "So Easy, So Cheap" - 2:03
2. "Daydrinking" - 3:53
3. "Little Mouse of the Favelas" - 4:15
4. "King of Koalas" - 4:50
5. "The Green Count Tapes" - 4:40
6. "Last in the Society" - 3:40
7. "...Nothing About Dwarves?" - 5:45
8. "Tale of Brother Cakes and Sugar Dust" - 9:52

The album's lenght is around 37 minutes and 37 seconds. In this album there's an ecletic variety of musical instruments. I deduce they are the following: electric viola, drums, vocals, guitars, basses, synths, acordeon and some others, I presume...
Pitchfork scored it as 7.4 out of 10.0.
You can have access to this album here.

Oh, by the way, I've met Larsen this year, May 15 of 2009, when they played at Galeria Zé dos Bois. They had a successful concert. They signed one album of mine too and Julia Kent was also able to sign it.

Below is the 4th track "King of Koalas":


You can hear and view below a Larsen concert I've filmed some months ago, May 15 2009, at Galeria Zé dos Bois:

COIL "Spring Equinox"

Pure magick. Released in 1998, this was part of COIL's releases during solstices and equinoxes. Predictably, they release other three records of this unusual collection: "Autumn Equinox", "Winter Solstice" and "Summer Solstive".
According to my perspective, this one is much more dark than the other ones. It's hypnotic in its own way, dragging you to an infinite field filled with melancholic thoughts. As the other releases of this sort, during 1993 to 1998, COIL were in a more experimental side, evolving to a different stage. They made music with drones, glitches, noise and other awkward methods of self-induced auditive madness (for example, when they made the drone album "Time Machines" I think they didn't sleep for several days). According to wiki: "In March 1998, Coil began to release a series of four singles which were timed to coincide with the equinox and solstices of that year. The singles are characterized by slow, drone-like instrumental rhythms, and electronic or orchestral instrumentation.^[13] The first single, Spring Equinox: Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull, featured two versions of the same song, the second version of which included a electric viola contribution from a newly inducted member, William Breeze. "
There are two tracks in this release 2 tracks (as mentioned before): "Spring Equinox part 1" and "Spring Equinox part 2". This cd's lenght is around 16 minutes and 37 seconds. I advise you to hear "Spring Equinox part 2", although both songs are, for sure, marvelous. COIL made celestial music, that didn't transcend beings at the same time. Like Jhonn Balance said when speaking about religious views: "spirituality within nature."
You can download this audible piece here.

Spring equinox record

Below I've put the "Spring Equinox part 2" song:

Current 93 "Black ships heat the dancefloor"

If you know Current 93's music, you wouldn't imagine it remixed into superb techno / club / dance songs. This is the case where your ears won't believe what they're hearing: Current 93's ecletic sounds converted into brainwashing club music!... It's a DVD/CD DualDisc that also contains the two videos for the C93 tracks ‘The Beautiful Dancing Dust’ (vocals by Antony) and ‘Black Ships Ate The Sky’ (vocals by Tibet) as well as the 4 tracks from the 12" release, which featured 2 remixes by JG Thirlwell of the track ‘Black Ships Ate the Sky’ and two Matmos remixes, of ‘The Beautiful Dancing Dust’ and ‘Black Ships Ate The Sky’.
As a matter of fact, this work was poorly rated on Discogs: 2.93 out of 5.00 (14 votes were made to obtain this score).
The first and second tracks (JG Thirlwell's remixes of ‘Black Ships Ate The Sky’) feature some heavy beats with a background filled of some sort of tribal bongos. Both songs have lots of details, with many beats, sometimes it even reminds me of some bizarre IDM music.
The third track, the Matmos' remix of ‘Black Ships Ate The Sky’, is more soft and you can hear David Tibet's typical voice echoing through the entire song. There's a consist sharp beat that distinguishes this song from others.
The forth track, the Matmos' remix of "The Beautiful Dancing Dust" can be considered in overall a song with a more optimistic mood. This track contains Antony's vocals (from Antony and the Johnsons, if you don't know the singer...).
The DVD 1 is available here; the DVD 2 is available here [DVD's info: 60.4/23.8MB WinRAR. AVI format video] ; the CD is available here [48MB WinRAR. MP3's @ 320kBit/s] (the password for all of these archives is: teenageriotblog.blogspot.com

You can see and hear below the JG Thirlwell's remix of C93's 'Black ships ate the sky':

Emtidi "Saat"

Formed in Germany, Emtidi can be considered a prog folk / krautrock / prog rock band. They released this album, Saat, in 1972 on the label Pilz Records (which is now inactive). The band's members are: Dolly Holmes (acoustic guitar in bouzouki, kazoo, vocals), Maik Hirschfeldt (guitars, flute, vocals).
This album contains 7 tracks. I really like the following: "Walkin' in the park", "Träume" and "Touch the Sun".
It's an amazing album, which sounds that seem to be from a different space, pure and harmonic, driving us to dreamy fields. It sure has some of the krautrock essence. It blends the singer's sweet voice with some synths (I think the sound is made with them at least) and at the same time with a divine acoustic guitar. Their lyrics are quite curious too.
The album is available here.


You can hear the first track of the album below:

[upcoming bands] Dum Dum Girls

Basically there's just one consistent member in this band and she calls herself "Dee Dee" I believe. It's lo-fi pop.
Nevertheless, it sure is good. Dum Dum girls... They've even signed to Sub Pop. You can tell this is an upcoming band. They've played in the Woodsist fest in Brooklyn, NY, or whatever that fest was. Dee Dee assumes a wannabe gothic style (no offense intended here) - which I quite adore, I must say. Their discography currently consists of: an EP entitled Yours alone (on Captured Tracks label), a 7" named "Long hair", a 4-way split and there'll be soon available a cassette comp on Art Fag label.
See how this lo-fi pop is appealing - direct yourself to their myspace. They've been compared to bands like Black Tambourine and Shop Assistants.

I'll put a video here for you to heart them ("Hey Sis" song):

Angerfist "Pissin' Razorbladez"

If you're into hardcore techno or gabber, you might like this. It's heavy, yeah (for some reason it's called "hardcore techno"). Its sound is filled with deep and heavy beats, atonal basses, Eminem's quotes and a nihilistic raver attitude.
Angerfist's mastermind is Danny Masseling, who's also a DJ.

Since Masseling could not handle performing live alone, he enlisted the help of friends to form Angerfist as a bona fide live act. Currently Angerfist consists of three people:

• DJ Angerfist (Danny Masseling)
• DJ Crucifier (Grzegorz Luzynski)
• MC Prozac
  

This is a boxset that consists of 2 cd's (Angerfist's first complete album) and also features a DVD. It was released in 2006. The 2 cd's have in total 31 tracks and the album's lenght is 146 minutes and 46 seconds. Deep brain washing this is, I tell you. My favourite tracks are the following: "Chaos and Evil", "Fuck off", "Nothing but the Darkside" and "Criminally Insane".
The two cd's are here: part 1 and part 2. Hope you like both and don't forget to wash very well your brain with these intense frequencies.

As tradition demands, I'll put some tracks below:

(this one is "Criminally Insane")

(this one is "Nothing but the Darkside")

(this one is "Fuck off")

Aphex Twin "Selected Ambient Works Volume II"

I consider this artist pure genius. "Why?" Because in all the "IDM" environment he can always blend, create and convert new sounds. His music's b.p.m. can be so high because of all the glitch involved with it and at the same time it can have a bass that flushes your ears until you notice one of your kidneys exploded - you don't care, after all it's Aphex Twin you're absorbing.
As a matter of fact, Selected Ambient Works II or S.A.W. II is more soft and relaxing than most of his other albums. Doesn't have all the amount of electricity that you can hear in some tracks in Drukqs; isn't so intense as some beats looped on 26 Remixes for Cash; features some of the ambient elements that can be found along some songs in Selected Ambient Works 85-92.
This album contains 2 cd's. I like both. Like the post I did before with Panda Bear's "Young Prayer", this album's tracks don't have title... In fact, they have, but Richard David James / Aphex Twin didn't want to insert the names on the album. You'll have to view them here. The 3rd song on the 1st disc, Rhubarb Song, I think, is seriously an ambient masterpiece (according to what I can hear with my ears).
If you want to hear this album, which is a good bet, click disc 1 and disc 2 then.

This is the cd's back cover.

I leave you here a song:

Panda Bear "Young Prayer"

Panda Bear is Noah Lennox (who also plays in Animal Collective and Jane).
Young Prayer is Noah's second solo album. It's been evaluated by many critics as an excellent album. I personally like it, because of its sincerity manifested along most of the songs. Oh, it's also relevant to say that these songs don't have any titles: they're all untitled. I really like the first untitled song, starting with Noah singing and then we can hear (like in all songs) a great acoustic guitar.

I'll leave you here the track 3:

[upcoming bands] Most Hated

"Most Hated was formed 2007 by two incredibly talented- yet extremely different- MC’s named Mazzi and Sneakas. What separates this duo from every other group, is the fact that on one microphone stands a Jewish Israeli, and on the other a Muslim Persian." Nice intro, right?
They make some good music, I first found their work thanks to the portuguese magazine "Ípsilon" (that comes with the newspaper "Público").
If you're into rap like Aesop Rock and similar stuff, probably you could like their flow.
Check them out here.

Liars "Liars"

Liars consist of a three-piece experimental rock band that was born in New York (its early years were lived at that urban cage). Currently, these Liars are living in Berlin, Germany. The band's members are: Angus Andrew (vocals/guitar), Aaron Hemphill (percussion, guitar, synth) and Julian Gross (drums).
This is their 4th album and their latest one (it was released in 2007). Mute Records released their album. I think it's more accessible than most of their albums, but its really good at the same time. The songs featured in it are trippy sometimes ("Plaster casts of Everything"- watch the videoclip too) and other times they convert themselves into eccentric sound waves that wash your brain with a peculiar and semi-ambiguous mix of emotions ("Houseclouds", "Sailing to Byzantium", "Protection" and "The Dumb in the Rain").
The album's lenght is 39 minutes and 6 seconds. The producers are the following: Liars and Jeremy Glover.
You can get the album here - have fun.

The three wise men are above.

The videoclip of the song "Houseclouds":


The song "Sailing to Byzantium":

No Age "Nouns"

Released in 2008, was nominated by many as one of the best albums of that year (SubPop are their label right now, I think). All Music guide gave them 4 stars out of 5; Blender gave them 3.5 stars out of 5; Drowned in Sound evaluated it as 9 stars out of 10 stars; NME gave them 7 stars out of 10 stars; Pitchfork gave them 9.2 stars out of 10 in total.
No Age's genesis occured in 2005 and the birthplace was Los Angeles. They are a Noise Pop / Nu Gaze / Indie rock band. They've also released an album in 2007, named "Weirdo Rippers".
Personally, I don't like that much this one. When I listen No Age I'm kind of seletive with their songs. There are some that I trully adore; there are others that I seriously hate.
However, I'd label them as a great band (which also made some pretty neat t-shirts).
The first song on this album, "Miner", is great (Altamont apparel, one of their sponsors, used this song on their skateboard short video documenting the skateboard team's tour to Paris). The second song, "Eraser" is their first single on this album: it has a soft start, that bursts into a supernova of original indie rock that reveal the band's irregular frenzy and catchy music. I could go on talking about the other 10 songs on this album (its lenght is 30 minutes and 35 seconds).
The link to Nouns is here or here or here.

You can hear "Eraser" here:

Moondog "The Viking of 6th Avenue"

Moondog was the pseudonym of Louis Thomas Hardin. Labeled as an avant-garde musician, Moondog was a vocalist, percussionist and a composer, who was a very inspiring character that decided to live in the streets of New York. It was at the age of 16 that he lost his sight due to a farm accident.
In addition to his music and poetry, he was also known for the distinctive Viking garb that he wore, which included a horned helmet. He partially supported himself by selling copies of his poetry and his musical philosophy.
This compilation ,"The Viking of 6th Avenue", was released in 2005 by the label Honest Jons. It includes various songs that were selected so that the listener could still comprehend Hardin's diverse ecletic musical works. There are some songs where not only Moondog sings, but he also sings with his daughter.
The songs "Rabbit Hop" and "Enough about Human Rights!" were written on the streets. It's a great world of weird americana that still nowadays inspires so many musicians.
If you're curious and want to get access to this album, click here. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I'll show you one of my favourite songs that appears on this compilation:

Black Dice "Repo"

Black Dice have been classified as an experimental electronica group. I'd say they fit into a category called "noise/electronica/experimental/dissonant/weirdo electro". You have to hear them to understand what I'm talking about. "Based out of Brooklyn, NY, the trio is fiercely independent, doggedly disciplined, and uncompromisingly DIY in approach. The music currently retains elements of noise and proto-industrial experimentation, while at the same time organically suggesting minimal, electronic, hip-hop, and psychedelic ideas as well as those of punk, tropicalia, and dub. Consistent to every era and all of their material is an irreverent, aggressive, hand-made aesthetic that simultaneously revels in and reconfigures the whole of popular culture." said a random blogger. They've started this band in 1997.
Currently, their label is Paw Tracks (the label that Animal Collective made, that has released records from Panda Bear and Jane, too).
This album [Repo] has 14 tracks, ranging each one from 0:21 minutes to 6:29 minutes. This music is described as ambient / noise / electronic. It surely is something thrilling. Gig wise gave them 4 stars out of 5 stars. Pitchfork gave them 7.1 out of 10.0.
The album is available here and if you are into this type of music, you should also hear other stuff from Paw Tracks (Panda Bear has made a few tracks in his album "Person Pitch" that were similar to Black Dice).

Here you have the fifth track from "Repo": La Cucaracha.

John Maus "Love is Real"

John Maus started playing keyboards along with Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. However, he later decided to begin a solo career. He showed to Panda Bear [Noah Lennox, who's also in Animal Collective) his music and he enjoyed it. Later, Maus started producing albums and his label is currently Upset the Rhythm (mostly psychedelic pop music, I'd say). He also works at the University of Hawai at Manoa as a political philosophy and theory instructor.
You can say his music is experimental or some sort of psychedelic pop, with influences from DIY techniques. He has released countless underground cd's (I have a CD-R he released when he went to play here at Galeria Zé dos Bois, in Lisbon).
This album entitled "Love is Real" was released in 2007 and is his second album. I love its overall mood and how John's deep voice fits along with his synths and other digital touches. He knows hot to give his music purity and wisdom: his lyrics show us a melancholic side that simultaneously describes a serious caring and love for other persons. It is as John Maus brings us a nostalgic 80s music, with reverb and echoing sounds, that can be compared in some ways to Joy Division's ethereal "Closer".
Pitchfork only gave this album 6.4 out of 10.0. Rate your music gave it 3.68 out of 5.00, I think (112 reviews were made to obtain this single result). Drowned in sound has also given them a good review (I think they don't have numerical reviews).
So, if you want to hear this philosopher's music simply click right here. Hope you like it.

I'll leave here a video of "Tenebrae" a soft mellow song from this album:

And I'll also deposit a short lousy video of him playing in Z.D.B. (Galeria Zé dos Bois, in Lisbon):

High Places "High Places"

High Places released their debut album in 2008, self-titled "High Places". It's good, even Pitchfork reviewed it as one of the best new albums of that year. I totally advise you to hear it, if you're into more soft indie pop or/and psychedelic pop genres. Synths, nice feminine vocals and some sort of bongos that seem to fit always well with their music.
They were formed in Brooklyn, NY (in Williamsburg, I think, the epicentre of all these new indie artists... MGMT, Gang Gang Dance, Das Racist, Chairlift, Telepathe, etc.).
Recently, this duo has relocated to Los Angeles and its label is named Thrill Jockey.
Like many bands who are similar in some ways to High Places, this band also features their own blog. Of course they also have a myspace page.
The album's lenght is only 30 minutes, however one of the tracks, "From Stardust to Sentience", was listed as the 417th best song of the 2000's by Pitchfork.It was released September 23, 2008.
You can get this album right here. By the way, they've also released a compilation.

One of my favourite songs of them can be heard along with an unnoficial videoclip right below:

Current 93 "Island" and a bonus CD that came with a comic book

"Island" cover

The Nodding God" cover

It's funny, because I was searching for "Island" and I found a blog that spoke about this album and of the CD that came with the Comic Book that David Tibet released as a special edition around 1993. I got this album thanks to a friend who works in a record store- nowadays the album's kind of rare to get your hands on.
It's one of my C93 albums. It's pure magic- and also the one with most "electronic" touches. In this album are featured the following artists: HÖH, Bjork and (I'm not certain) Baby Dee. You can hear Bjork singing in the first track, "Falling".
The cover of this album is really appealing too and shows how the content of this album should sound like: mysterious, melancholic, sad, and "icelandic".
The tracks which I'de recommend are the following: "Anyway, people die", "Oh, Merry-go-Round", "Crowleymass Unveiled" (an effort that David Tibet took to make a pop song and features a recording of Aleister Crowley speaking) and "Passing Horses".
In the CD, which is a short EP,you can hear two tracks: the 1st one "Children Of The Nodapoc Gathering Round" is a must have!
You can have the album and the short EP by clicking one of the images above. Hope you like these ones.

You can hear here a track that exists in "Island" (unfortunately I couldn't find one of the two tracks on the CD that came with the comic book...):

Einstürzende Neubauten "Silence is Sexy"

One of their finest albums, Silence is Sexy mixes their most "industrial sounds" with a rather new melancholic side of Einstürzende Neubauten.
My favourite song featured here is for sure "Sabrina"- which was also the first song I've listened of them, thanks to the videoclip (one of the best I've seen).
Blixa Bargeld as a particular voice, since he can sing with his characteristic screams and/or with a more Nick-Cave-ish touch: which is something to be admired. I also love "Dingsallen" and "Silence is Sexy".
You can listen to the album here and the password is this one: bunalti.com

The videoclip of the song "Sabrina":

Telepathe "Dance Mother"

This debut album was released this year and they're making efforts to make their second synth/avant-pop/indie/club/ soft electro masterpiece arrive on stores by the end of this year, I believe (or at least, as Busy Gangnes told me, they're working on their album this Fall).
Pitchfork only gave them 6.7 out of 10.0... I think it's because, as Melissa Livaudais said in an interview, when she was working as a waitress at a bar, the guy who reviewed their album, was unsatisfied with Melissa, who (as she said) was in a bad mood and didn't answer him that well. I think it's a bit childish to review an album because of this happening, but the world is full of people who suffer from Peter Pan's syndrome. Other reviews: Uncut gave them 70 out of 100; Slant Magazine gave them 4 stars out of 5 stars; Drowned in Sound says that this is one of the year's best albums, along with Animal Collective's "Merryweather Post Pavillion"; BBC said they have potential but must make more efforts; etc.
They hail from the hipster epicentre - you guessed it - Brooklyn, NY. With fellows like MGMT, High Places, LEIF, Das Racist and many other artists rising from this nest of music, Telepathe managed to get out of there (they criticised the too much "experimental spirit" in Brooklyn and admitted they didn't know that much of what was/is going on there). They come more specifically from Williamsburg, yeah, the artsy part of Brooklyn, also home of some considerable number of fellow jews.
Chrome's on it had been previously released on a EP, I think, which consisted of around 7 remixes of the song, from various cool bands. So Fine is their mind-lifting single- I love it. Trilogy is their biggest song, which is touching and with somewhat subjective lyrics. I can't stand it is also a great song, that has an awesome start, with synths and then Busy and Melissas' voices crashing together, in a way they become one single compact and angelical voice.
The album has around 45 minutes of nice, ear-softening music and sounds, that delight me. You can try it out here, it's really worth it (I've done a review previously, but someone erased it... at least they could've told the blog owners).

Their awesome "So fine" hit can be heard below and features as bonus the official videoclip:

Clouddead "Clouddead"

One of theirs songs was selected for this blog's playlist- in fact, it's the first one playing right now. This compilation, released in 2001, is really catchy (at least to my ears). Pitchfork gave it an 8.0 out of 10.0. All Music gave it 4 stars, out of 5 stars. It has around 71 minutes and 30 seconds, I think. It compiles the six 10″ singles that the group had previously released, over a period of two years, on Mush. Each track on the CD corresponds to one side of a single.
Extract from wiki: "Clouddead (styled as cLOUDDEAD) was a musical group consisting of the experimental hip hop musicians Doseone (Adam Drucker), Why? (Yoni Wolf), and Odd Nosdam (David Madson).[5] Generally Drucker and Wolf provide the group's vocals while Madson produces the music.[2] Occasionally Madson's vocals can be heard, while Drucker and Wolf provide music, especially for the group's only album.". To me, they're so original, they mix so many instruments into their songs, trully expanding hip-hop into a new world. They have cheesy synths, classy beats, superb flow, everything and above all, it all goes smooth together. Yeah, they're cLOUDDEAD. Their compilation can be yours by clicking here - but please buy their compilation by clicking this shortcut to eBay.


The first part of the first single can be heard right below:

Death in June "The Guilty have no Past"

Death in June is probably one of the most important bands of the neofolk genre, a sub-genre of the more famous Industrial movement. Founded in the 80s by Douglas Pierce, which had previously a punk band called "Crisis" (draining its sound to a mix between the extreme right political movements and the post-punk music). This previous band evolved to a more melancholic, but still (as we hear in this album) which post-punk influences. Take into consideration that this album collects songs since 1983 to 1993 and almost all of them are from their early performances.
You can download the album here.

This is the 4th song from their album:

Gig review: "Designer Drugs at I.S.T. / Técnico, Lisbon 09"

It's kind of hard to say they didn't rock... they were epic! Although I've only seen Michael Vincent Patrick there, it was quite a good rave. There were also some portuguese playing too, before and after Designer Drugs: RISKODISKO, Blasfemea and Dirty Dave.
The party was held at Técnico (more specifically at the Students' Association cantine), an university located in Lisbon. It was quite funny, there were Eristoff and some other bottles placed at the cantine, instead of some cookies or whatever should've been there earlier.
When their famous song "Zombies" played, it was instant success: the crowd became one person with an incredible shout. There was some crowdsurf held at the same time, which I took part of.

There was for sure a good environment.


Michael from Designer Drugs showing us how it's done.


Typical Electro party, as you can see.

You can see a part I filmed of the rave:

Jóhan Jóhannsson "IBM 1401, a user's manual" part 1 videoclip

I made a videoclip for one of the songs featured in Jóhann's "IBM 1401, a user's manual". You can check it out on youtube, if you want to. I'll post the video down here, to ease things up:


I hope you enjoyed it... and yeah, it sucks.

Julia Kent "Delay"

Julia Kent is a spectacular canadian cellist that has played in various notable musical groups: Rasputina (an all-cello group, that started in Brooklyn, New York, in 1992), Antony and the Johnsons and Larsen (which I've seen her play live at Galeria Zé dos Bois, along with the whole Larsen band and Little Annie / Annie Anxiety).
Her first solo album, Delay, was released in 2007 and is an excellent audible masterpiece: "Cello music for the emotionally weary traveler" says a reviewer of KFJC radio. It was released on Important Records, which is also the record label of the italian group Larsen. Like the cover points out, this music seems to pick up influences from the tiring routine of a traveler, jumping from airport to airport, with some jet lags to blur the hours of a musician's tour. It has various interludes, which I presume are recordings of people walking by and speaking on airports, you can hear steps, shopping carts, and other objects recorded accidentally (or not).
This album surely portrays the disorienting feeling of being in transition yet going nowhere. That can be renamed as "Delay".

Her album is available here.
Try visiting her myspace and twitter.
You can hear a song featured on her album below:

Ganglians "Monster Head Room"

The first cd of the band "Ganglians", made in California, is a great step for this group of recognized recent artists.
What's the meaning of their name? I surelly don't know.
Mixing lo-fi, folk, Beach Boys' influence and other peculiar and unique sounds with beautiful frequencies, this cd is a good bet of this year. They have a song called Violent Brave, that has been catalogued has one of this year's best new songs. Even Pitchfork loves them.
A funny coincidence is that Wavves were "born" in the same label where the Ganglians are right now: Woodsist.
They promiss us more good stuff, I can assure you.
You can get this album -"Monster Head Room"- here.

Below you have a music from their debut album:

Tor Lundvall "Ice"

I only found out about this artist when searching some music items on eBay. Tor Lundvall had a magnificente picture disc for sale and I began to feel curious about his works.
Later, I got to know that his also a painter! He does the covers of his albums. He first started painting, afterwards creating music.
I'd label this album has prominently ambient music. Soft, dark and cold music, is what you'll hear: now you see the reason why the album has its title.
Download it: part 1 and part 2.

Frank Zappa "Lumpy Gravy"

Frank Zappa was [and still is] a genius. His first solo album is "Lumpy Gravy"- unfortunately I don't understand the meaning of its name. Its a bit inconsistent, as Zappa describes it. The album is divided into 2 parts.
The track "Duodenum" which is featured in part 1 is plainly brilliant: exciting, ironic and beautiful at the same time (an awkward piece, for sure).
Wikipedia says the following: "On first listening, the album may appear to have no musical structure. But after repeated listening the album's unique flow begins to make more sense.". It's a pitty that I still haven't found the "album's unique flow"- and no, I'm not being sarcastic (I think that Zappa thought about what he was making, not a complete random collage of samples or noise).

You can hear the track "Duodenum" when seing this clip on youtube that I found out some minutes ago:

Perry Blake "Still Life"

Today I got to see Leonard Cohen play live here in Lisbon. I filmed it but the image wasn't still, it kind of sucks. I mentioned Cohen here because he's one of the influences of Perry Blake.
Perry Blake is an awesome artist. His downtempo masterpieces drag you onto a world of melancholic loneliness, swirling your ears with slow sounds and beautiful lyrics. This is his second album and has got lots of songs that I admire: "War in France", "Give me back my childhood" and "This Time it's goodbye".
You should hear his music. Try it here or by clicking the image.

Down there I show you a video of his song "War in France":

Telepathe in Portugal pt1

Telepathe visited Portugal some days ago: they arrived here on 18th and went to Milan 21th July (at least I think so). I got to see two shows out of three shows they gave here. The first one I saw was in Lisbon (18th July) and the other one was in Coimbra (20th July). I'm editing some video series of these shows. Currently, there's only on youtube the gig they gave in Lisbon, at Galeria ZDB. You can watch pt1, pt2, pt3 and pt4.
I'll try to edit the Coimbra series of videos as soon as I can though.


I got the opportunity to take a picture with them. They're seriously (and probably) the nicest people I've met in a band.

Jóhan Jóhannsson "IBM 1401, a user's manual"

In case you didn't know, this man that I'm speaking of has collaborated with Marc Almond, Barry Adamson, Pan Sonic, The Hafler Trio, Magga Stina and many, many others.
Jóhan made this album using real peculiar "musical instruments": he used a computer made in 1964 called "IBM 1401 Data Processing System". It was one of the very first computers to arrive in Iceland and also one of the first affordable, mass produced digital business computer.
His father had created a way that could force this machine to produce astonishing sounds: melancholic and powerful sine-wave tones. He also gave one of these computers to him, so it made it possible for us to hear this album that Jóhan would make later then.
Divided into 5 parts, each with its own name, this bohemian musical masterpiece can surely afford your ears good sine waves and other types of more complex sounds. Melodramatic at times, relaxing, I don't know in what genre it fits... ambient music?
You can try finding that by yourself (downloading the album), by clicking here.

You can hear Part 1 next (and check out the cool videoclip):

Thom Yorke does a new song

Thom Yorke, the worldwide famous Radiohead vocalist, has done recently (10 days ago or so) a new song - actually it isn't "new", since it's a cover. The musical piece is called "All for the best" and is a Miracle Legion's cover. I have got the opportunity to hear the original version and I assure you that both are undeniably good.

Hope you like Thom's new song:

Low- their studio albums

Low are a great band hailing Duluth, Minesotta, and were formed in 1993. Coined as the one of the main bands of the "slowcore" genre, although they dislike this term. By the way, a synonym of "slowcore" is also "sadcore". If you live in Portugal, be sure to check them out at the famous music festival "Sudoeste": they are playing 8th August there.
Next I will give you a this link that redirects you to a blog where you can download almost their entire studio albums.

One of my favourite songs of this band is called "Words" and is featured on their first album named "I could live in hope": hope you like it.

Otto Von Schirach "Maxipad Detention"

Imagine a gangster clown on the streets of Huntington Beach boosting sounds with his subwoofs, having a blast. People had their kidnies desintegrated due to the intense frequencies of the mad bass that this music offers us. Yes, I'm speaking of Otto Von Schirach. An amazing breakcore and IDM artist he is.
With this review, my target is his album released on 2006, which is called "Maxipad Detention". Even though I've heard better sounds of him on his myspace for sure, I really enjoy the glitches, the irony, the intense spasms that these waves sent to our ears.
Kind of somewhat dark, agressive in his own way, this album is great for IDM fans. It's like he's a gangster side of Aphex, that can feature more laughable horror in his music. Otto's a great artist, that's what I can assure you. He'll give you as much pleasure as neurotic headaches, that you'll salivate for more.
Let your ears bleed and enjoy this album. Click here.

Watch him below getting dirty

Daniel Johnston "Fun"

Daniel isn't only recognized by his music. He's one of those artists who are constantly categorized as genius or insane. He got to make this album, I think, on Atlantis Records because at that time (1994) Kurt Cobain was wearing all the time a t-shirt about one of his albums- see the image here. And I don't want to offend anyone, but Daniel Johnston isn't clearly very stable, psychologically - he has a bipolar disorder /manic depression.
Labeled as folk rock and simultaneously "outsider music", his sonic adventures are catchy and feature remarkable lyrics. Lyrics that not only speak of his experiences, but also show us another side of a person who's got a disease: this kind of thing just adds more emphasis to the artist's work (just see Ian Curtis' epilepsy, Roky Erickson's schyzophrenia, Cobain's drug adiction, Jim Morrisson's acid trips, etc.).
Now this album isn't an occasional one that I feature here: it was given to me by my cousin yesterday, when I went to Coimbra to see Telepathe [again]. I've been hearing it and so I thought that I hadn't made a good post lately and I see there are many visitors around here.
This isn't imparcial, but who cares after all? Pitchfork has the same attitude towards its reviews and criticism. My favourite songs are: Life in Vain (2- this song is exceptional, I love the guitars and violins that appear here, so nostalgic), Happy Time (5), Foxy Girl (8), and Rock 'n' Roll / EGA (18). Actually, I haven't heard this album so many times that I can point out the songs I like more. Oh, and it's the first Daniel Johnson's album I hear too... Sorry if I make some mistakes during this review.

You should also check the documentary that was made about this fascinating man: "The Devil and Daniel Johnston".

Try listening to the album by clicking here.

Here's Daniel holding a Beatles record.

Stockhausen short video

I found this rather interesting Karlheinz Stockhausen video on Youtube. If you don't know him, I suggest you this wiki article about him- click here. He's debating with another person the "humanism" that exists or not in electronic music and how humanism is envolved with art. He has got an intelligent point of view on these subjects.

New York Gong "About Time"

Daevid Allen decided to go to New York in 1979 and moreover he formed New York Gong: his "Gong" band influenced with punk and psychedelia, a mix he did with influences of the CBGB scene.
The text written next to these words was taken from the booklet that's included in this CD:
"Arriving in New York, he [Daevid] was greeted there by a new world that focused around the CBGB's, the epicentre of post-punk artiness. Emotionally fragile, unsure of where he fitted in, Daevid found this unobtrusive collective of artists, actors and freeform musicians welcoming. It was a creative hotspot where anyone on the fringes of artistic society fitted in, and a perfect place for Daevid to rekindle, and update, his Gong mythology.
Old time cohort and manager Giorgio Gomelsky was running a rather strange and beguiling event in New York called The Zu Manifestival. Daevid, sensing a minor revolution, got involved. It was through this assortment of odd-ball jazzers and free spirits that Daevid met Bill Laswell (...).
Together, Maher, Laswell and Beinhorn became the axis of Gomelsky's all-purpose Zu Band, backing up Daevid Allen at the Zu Manifestival and embarking on a ten-city tour. Even at this stage, the Material-to-be group was already playing musical chairs. As well as playing together at the Zu Band, Laswell played with the other three groups on the tour, Maher with two and Beinhorn with one another. (...)
The result of the riotous amalgamation of Allen-goes-Stateside was the 1979 album "About Time". Reflecting their chaotic live performances, it's an odd hybrid of psychedelia ("Preface"), new wave ("I am a Freud") and punk ("Much too old"), with a lyrical sentiment reminiscent of early-'70s Gong ("Jungle Window"). The album opens with an effects-laden recording of Allen reciting his "trippy" poetry. Some of the compositions, like "I Am a Freud," bleed quickly rhythms and melodies resembling the work of the League of Gentlemen and Talking Heads whilst "Materialism"and "Strong Woman" feature Allen's glissando guitar, which sounds pretty much a forerunner to the sound Fripp and Belew were to employ on their early-'80s King Crimson Projects. "Materialism", penned by Laswell, is the album's standout track, with its dominating bass relentlessly driving home to the groove.
Daevid stayed in New York for another year, experimenting with cut ups, electronic music and performance art, all of which culminated in his 'Divided Alien Playbax' album and its accompanying live shoes. Throughout this period he revelled in uncommercial creativity, heightened by his sense of the absurd and anti-capitalist politics and succesfully avoided becoming an ageing hippy."
These excerpts let us have a good vision of how New York Gong was formed and what it actually is. I haven't listened to Gong actually, so I can't compare them with New York Gong.
However, I admire this "About Time" album, which is quite fine and is original in its own way.

If you want to download the album click here or click over the cover.

Next follows a link to one of their songs on this album (although it's not my favourite, you should hear it before downloading the album):