Sunday, January 26, 2014

Space Pirate Radio

Today, appropriately falling on a Sunday, marks Guy Guden's Space Pirate Radio's 40th Anniversary.
I was an avid listener back in 1974 to his Sunday midnight to Monday morning show to which I was inspired and driven to complete my art assignments 'til sunrise in Santa Barbara, CA.
The radio show's host, Guy Guden was the best company one could have in a small one room studio then, and the music he played (transmitted through a mono clock radio) was my soundtrack to create to.
Music from Japan to Finland; Progressive, Experimental, Electronic, Rock to Alternative ol' Scots  Ivor Cutler.
He spun the latest imported vinyl releases, most's first time ever aired on American radio,
would 'phase' two records of the same on the dual turn tables, collage movie/TV sound bites and mix in his own
  'Sir, Real-ly?' commercials on yes, a non-commercial show.

I've given Guy a few props on past posts, mainly because he introduced me to nearly half of my music collection and still 40 years later, remains a good friend.


     Cheers Guy.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Meanwhile, Back in the Jungle...

Russian Circles, a trio from Chicago (guitar, bass n' drums) with no vocals, rocks me ear goggles.


Other American instrumental rockers that have caught my ear;

                             If These Trees Could Talk from Akron, Ohio,

Caspian from Beverly, Mass.
and again from Chicago,
Pelican.

Might hav'ta break out some good ol' Kentucky Bourbon n' revisit Louisville's
 Slint

Some beautiful, somber story telling through whispers n' screams...
Thanks, Joe Dean ('back in '91 when we started jammin' again?)

                                                                                                                                                       Reflectin'
Wit' not a speck of cereal.




Sunday, January 19, 2014

Collaborations

Lately listening to instrumentals, words get in the way.
Going back to the edge of 2000, 14 years ago, a collaboration of 'East meets West' began between Japan's founding member of Acid Mothers Temple Makoto Kawabata and France's  Jean-Francois Pauvros.

'Extreme- Onction'; the first encounter between the two experimental guitarists, takes me back to my first ear-encounter with the Cosmic Jokers' collaborations of Gottsching and Schulze of Ash Ra Tempel... once played as the intro/outro of Space Pirate Radio.
Bon-sigh.

Here's Kawabata Pauvros live.






Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Sound Bites n' Chewy Centers

My first experience with sound sampling was Steve Reich's 1966 piece, 'Come out'. Reich looped an audio recording, creating a rhythm and phasing, way before hip hop sampling became popular.
note: Captain Beefheart's 'Moonlight over Vermont' from 'Trout Mask Replica' repeated the phrase, 'Come out to show them'.
My next 'ear encounter' was that of Can's Holger Czukay's solo effort, 'Movies' and Brian Eno and David Byrne's, 'My life in the Bush of Ghosts'. These albums, came out back to back in '79;
experimenting and mixing recordings from radio preachers, movie audio clips, to Iranian singers...
'Persian Love' is still one of my favorite pieces of Holger Czukay.
                Above is A.K. Klosowski and Pyrolator's cassette apparatus the duo created
   to produce 'Home Taping is Killing Music'... which they credited every musician/group used in their mix.
The cover photo is one of my all time fav's... 
a bolsa boom box.


From Canadian composer John Oswald comes, 'Plunderphonics'. 

'A plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded. Whistling a bar of "Density 21.5" is a traditional musical quote. Taking Madonna singing "Like a Virgin" and rerecording it backwards or slower is plunderphonics, as long as you can reasonably recognize the source. The plundering has to be blatant though. There's a lot of samplepocketing, parroting, plagiarism and tune thievery going on these days which is not what we're doing.'
Oswald's 'Plexure' is true audio-mix madness...

...REM (rapid ear movement) that takes sound biting to the next level. 

Sunday, January 5, 2014

So Apropos



Hopefully fulfilling a third reunion... last seen at 'Spaceland' in Silverlake, L.A. 2007, it was?
  Moebius and Roedelius' Cluster collaboration, 'Apropos' of '91 is one of my favorites.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Reconnecting

The first time I was introduced to Brian Eno was in 1972, Roxy Music at Hollywood's 'Whiskey A Go-Go'... did Uriah Heep open?
An alien 'transgenderishlich' musician behind keyboard and mixing knobs; no eyebrowed Eno raising feathered shoulder pads gained more attention than the group's frontman Bryan Ferry for me.
I followed Eno's solo career, 'Here Come the Warm Jets'... but his collaborations with Robert Fripp of King Crimson and others caught my mind's ear more.

Later being introduced to the German experimentalists on Space Pirate Radio, a new collaboration was yet to unfold, Cluster and Eno.
Now listening to Eno with the New Composers of Russia takes me back to those warm 70's nights and evening stars.
(it's 46 degrees and starless here in Flo)