Experimental Recomendations

JLemmon

All,

Anyone care to recommend some music to the group?
It depends on people's idea of experimental etc..
but I'll throw out some suggestions to get the ball rolling.

Tortoise - Millions now Living...
Tortoise - TNT
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient works Vol 1
Autechre - Incunabula
Devo - Are we not men? We are Devo
Can - Tago Mago
Neu! - Neu!
Cluster - Cluster 71
(Not strictly Music) The Conet Project
Edgard Varese - Complete Works

Now can anyone tell me more about
Oval - 94 Diskont

And What's the general opinion on Noise? Wolf Eyes etc...


J

Ghost Rider

I happen to have Oval's "94 Diskont" right in front of me at work.

It's glitchy. Very, very glitchy. But it's also very "musical" once you get your head around the constant bobbing of the sound level. There are definite refrains, riffs and other structural elements there, although the organisation of these doesn't always resemble that of conventional songs.

All the track titles seem to have some connection to the world of commerce and consumerism, and several of the tracks themselves have a whiff of muzak, albeit muzak played back by someone with their finger constantly pressing down on the fast-forward button of a CD player.

It's as a demented Dunnes Stores manager is desperately trying to find the one tune that will nudge people towards buying up all the remaining cauliflower.

JLemmon wrote:

All,

Anyone care to recommend some music to the group?
It depends on people's idea of experimental etc..
but I'll throw out some suggestions to get the ball rolling.

Tortoise - Millions now Living...
Tortoise - TNT
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient works Vol 1
Autechre - Incunabula
Devo - Are we not men? We are Devo
Can - Tago Mago
Neu! - Neu!
Cluster - Cluster 71
(Not strictly Music) The Conet Project
Edgard Varese - Complete Works

Now can anyone tell me more about
Oval - 94 Diskont

And What's the general opinion on Noise? Wolf Eyes etc...


J

JLemmon

Hi

Interesting must try get my hands on it sometime
read about it first in Wire magazine

Thanks
J

NotInventedHere

John Moran "The Manson Family an opera" is excellent saw him in Dublin on wednesday

John

I've really been enjoying some CDs by Coelacanth these days. The Glass Sponge especially. Very abstract noise and soundscapes.

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

Skinny Puppy - VIVIsectVI

Probably their most abrasive, experimental album and the hardest to get into, and I it.

cornbb

Some of my favourites

Aphex Twin - Druqks
Autechre - ae
Squarepusher - Do You Know Squarepusher?
Godspeed You Black Emporer - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennae to Heaven
Morton Feldman - Coptic Light
Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die

nickcave

always a good idea to keep an eye on netlabels too, for some fresh new stuff. Insub are pretty good:

http://www.dincise.net/insubordinations/home.html

The Christian Graf + Diatribes album is excellent. The links section there should keep you occupied for a while.

JC 2K3

This Oval - 94 Diskont sounds very interesting, I'm looking for it atm. I just read that Jim O'Rourke, the guy who was in Sonic Youth for a while recently, prooduced it?

Ghost Rider

Did he? I didn't know that. His name doesn't appear anywhere on the CD case, liner or disc.

JC 2K3 wrote:

This Oval - 94 Diskont sounds very interesting, I'm looking for it atm. I just read that Jim O'Rourke, the guy who was in Sonic Youth for a while recently, prooduced it?

JLemmon

In 1995 Jim o'Rourke was invited by German experimental electronic label Mille Plateaux, oval's label, to conduct an extended remix of their entire back catalog. Oval are on Thrill Jocky in the US, so the version on the cd you saw
is probably the version after Jim had a go at it, which probably ended up being better considering Jim's abit of a legend, but the difference is only probably very slight. I assuming it was a remix of the album proper, in the production fashion, not just sticking beats on top of the existing material, in the dance\club fashion.
Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A ghost is born are worth checking out too
for Jim's touches, as well as the Sonic Youth (Murray Street) material and his own of course.

J

Ghost Rider

His album "Eureka" is worth checking out too.

JLemmon wrote:

In 1995 Jim o'Rourke was invited by German experimental electronic label Mille Plateaux, oval's label, to conduct an extended remix of their entire back catalog. Oval are on Thrill Jocky in the US, so the version on the cd you saw
is probably the version after Jim had a go at it, which probably ended up being better considering Jim's abit of a legend, but the difference is only probably very slight. I assuming it was a remix of the album proper, in the production fashion, not just sticking beats on top of the existing material, in the dance\club fashion.
Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A ghost is born are worth checking out too
for Jim's touches, as well as the Sonic Youth (Murray Street) material and his own of course.

J

JC 2K3

Ah, I understand.

My torrent's stuck on 95%, but I have 5/7 tracks 100% complete. Do While is amazing. I'm really liking it. Might even buy the CD. Availability?

Ghost Rider

It's on Thrill Jockey so it shouldn't be too hard to find. I got my copy in Tower. Check out City Discs and Road Records too.

JC 2K3 wrote:

Ah, I understand.

My torrent's stuck on 95%, but I have 5/7 tracks 100% complete. Do While is amazing. I'm really liking it. Might even buy the CD. Availability?

sonic juice

Four tet-Rounds

Sonic Youth-Goodbye 20th century

Lou Reed-Metal Machine Music

Squarepusher-Hard/Normal Daddy
{new album out October I cannot wait!!!!}

Prefuse 73-Security Screenings

Steven Reid Ensemble-Spirit Walk

also check out kid koala,he toured with radiohead for a while.

PsychForm

All of the names I have seen here are pretty mainstream....Some of the more underground and specific experimental projects were and are:

Nurse With Wound
irr.app.(ext.)
Zoviet France
Mlehst
Rnzelstirn & Gurgelstock
Wolf Eyes
Dead Machines
Broken Penis Orchestra
Hirshe Nichts Auf Sofa (HNAS)
Caroliner
Sudden Infant
Crank Sturgeon
The New Blockaders
Mixed Band Philanthropist
Bladderflask
Mirror
Christoph Heemann
Merzbow
Negativland
Nihilist Spasm Band
Smegma
Fe-mail
Rowenta/Khan
Grillhaus
Climax Golden Twins
Sun City Girls
The Haters
AMK
Biota
Spastic Colon
Boredoms
Violent Onsen Geisha
Nocturnal Emissions
Smell & Quim
Brume
Contagious Orgasm
Schimpfluch Gruppe
At Jennie Richie
Panicsville
Black Humour
John Wiese
Noggin
Pork Queen
Ear Venom
Yellow Swans
Midmight
Hans Grusels Krankenkabinet
Masonna
Gastric Female Reflex
Du Hexen Hase
Blue Sabbath Black Cheer
Sixes
Loachfillet
Tarantism
Red Squirrels
Portland Bike Ensemble
Gerritt
Metalux
Monos
Ora
Nobuo Yamada
Double Leopards
Hive Mind
Cherry Point
Organum
Asmus Tietchens
Andrew Chalk
John Duncan
Amps for Christ
Genocide Organ
Deutsch Nepal
Silligum S
The Hafler Trio
Cyclobe
Jim O'Rourke
Mimir
Lasse Marhaug
Vertonen
Rubber O Cement
Withdrawal Method
Purient
Plethora
Broken Human Machine
Tovah Olson
Hair Police
Pop Culture Rape Victim
Dead
Dead/Bird
Nihilist Assault Group
Scribble Seven
Volcano The Bear
Aranos
Earth Monkey
The Bran Flakes
Evolution Control Committee
Wayne Butane
Big City Orchestra
Frank Rowenta
Dr. P. Li Khan
Colin Potter

AND SO MANY MORE!!!!

John

I consider myself clued in and I only recognise about half your list! Some great recommendations there.

PsychForm

Hey John, Stan here. I run a few independent experimental record labels PsychForm Records, PsychoChrist Productions & Gnarled Forest.

Started PsychoChrist to put out my own stuff and other local no names, any where from 5 to 100 copies, CDRs and cassettes, hand made pakaging, the works. When I started meeting and working with bigger and better known artists, I up'd the annie and started PsychForm which releases vinyl and CDs. Just recently started a new band of my own, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, and gave it her own label, Gnarled Forest, to release it's thing on...cause it's a whole different thing....but thats a different story...

My labels specialize in experimental musics of all kinds, noise, drone, dark ambiant, collage...whatever...if its wierd and strange and smells like dada rotten surrealism...it's for me.

I just happend to come accross this board when randomly searching for new experimental music forums. Looks like you have a nice thing started here.

I have several other bands I am in as well, all of them in different viens of the experimental world. The Broken Penis Orchestra, Plethora, Broken Human Machine and Blue Sabbath Black Cheer.

We are always looking to connect with other artists and fans in this genre, make new connections and dream up new collaborations. Looking forward to meeting new friends here on your board.

Stan Reed
PsychForm Records
Eclectic Listening

JLemmon

Excellent gettin some good info here, thanks lads

Anyone going to the sonic youth curated All Tomorrows Parties?
Be interesting, some underground bands on the list

Re: Metal Machine Music, Mad or Genius?

J

Ghost Rider

Not going to make ATP unfortunately, but I'd love to see Nurse With Wound.

JLemmon wrote:

Anyone going to the sonic youth curated All Tomorrows Parties?
Be interesting, some underground bands on the list


J

PsychForm

Yes the Nurse With Wound shows that happend in San Fran in June were absonlutely amazing. As was the Scribble 7 performances as well. It is very very good to see Steven getting out and playing more. e seems to be enjoying the hell out of it too. HOpefully there will be many more NWW and related events to come. Stapleton is also DJing the Brainwaves fest in Boston in Nov.

Psych

JC 2K3

JLemmon wrote:

Excellent gettin some good info here, thanks lads

Anyone going to the sonic youth curated All Tomorrows Parties?
Be interesting, some underground bands on the list

STOP, SHUT UP!

DON'T REMIND ME!



sigh....

John

PsychForm wrote:

Stapleton is also DJing the Brainwaves fest in Boston in Nov.

I was meant to be going to this (I review for brainwashed.com) but as I have juse started a PhD and now have commitments of both time and money which means I can't go to Boston

If you go, be sure to let me know what it was like. Jon Whitney's put a lot of time and effort into this and from the little hints he drops it sounds like there's going to be some really special moments throughout the weekend.

PsychForm

Yeah, wish I could go to, but we just threw our big fest here in Seattle known as The Wooden Octopus Skull. It has left me without the $ needed to go to Boston....waaaaaaaaaaaaah! The irr.app.(ext.) performance that will be on the same day is going to kill people....Matt Waldron REALLY has gotten his act together with the live show. They play the Skull here for the 2nd time and literally blew me away. Man I wish I could go!!!!!

Psych

Fnord

This is a curious collection with some real gems:
http://www.windworld.com/emi_images/gravichords_abridged.jpg

gurubananas

hi I'm new (here)
Soft Machine - kings of canterbury (in its time!)
Nazi Experiment Camp - Vegetarian

Also most Stereolab stuff I've heard...

Ghost Rider

Nazi Experiment Camp? I must confess I've never heard of that particular outfit. What's their buzz?

gurubananas wrote:

hi I'm new (here)
Soft Machine - kings of canterbury (in its time!)
Nazi Experiment Camp - Vegetarian

Also most Stereolab stuff I've heard...

gurubananas

Ghost Rider wrote:

Nazi Experiment Camp? I must confess I've never heard of that particular outfit. What's their buzz?

Kind of cheap sounding - and humourous.(In my opinion!)

Ghost Rider

Are you in them?

gurubananas wrote:

Kind of cheap sounding - and humourous.(In my opinion!)

gurubananas

Ghost Rider wrote:

Are you in them?

No but I know 2 of them really well. ( I also work with one of stereolabs musicians).

Anyway - thought of more experimental recommends -
Stockhausen (name-checked by McCartney - Big Beatles fan so had to check him out. Paul always said he was the arty one,not John) A soulful, emotional noise.
XTC's experimental music - they did a "Homo Safari" series in the early eighties which was put out on b-sides - very out there but in a hummable kind of way...(I've a feeling they may have released this on CD as a collection of experimental works quite recently)

Ghost Rider

I wouldn't mind hearing Stockhausen's "Helicopter String Quartet":

http://www.stockhausen.org/helicopter_intro.html

(Check out the hilarious photo, by the way.)

gurubananas wrote:

No but I know 2 of them really well. ( I also work with one of stereolabs musicians).

Anyway - thought of more experimental recommends -
Stockhausen (name-checked by McCartney - Big Beatles fan so had to check him out. Paul always said he was the arty one,not John) A soulful, emotional noise.
XTC's experimental music - they did a "Homo Safari" series in the early eighties which was put out on b-sides - very out there but in a hummable kind of way...(I've a feeling they may have released this on CD as a collection of experimental works quite recently)

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

Am I only the one who just doesn't get Stockhausen? I always found his works incredibly boring...

John

Depends on the piece and the performer, sometimes it's deadly, sometimes it's a load of balls. I've heard more balls than deadlies though.

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

Anyone want to recommend me stuff that's like SPK's Zamia Lehmanni (Songs of Byzantine Flowers) album? I'd be eternally grateful

pig on the wing

animal collective - feels

lookitup

John

Ugh, Animal Collective, one of the most overated bands I've ever come across.

pig on the wing

tell that to the 50 people who own an animal collective album.

anti-venom

Acid Mothers Temple ...Japan
ruins.............Japan
Les Ralliez Denudes.....Japan
L.............Japan
Kawabata Makoto..........Japan
KK Null............Japan
Circle..........Finland
Phaoraoh Overland..............Finland
Amon Duul..........Germany
Guru Guru........Germany
Kinski.........U.S.
Tarantula Hawk.......U.S.
Subarachnoid Space......U.S.
Gravatar..........U.S.
Farflung.......U.S
Jack Rose.......U.S.
Stockhausen...........Germany
Faust............Germany
Jean Francois Pauvros.......France
Je Suis France
Six organs of Admission......U.S.
La Bradford



Check some of these acts out. You may be pleasently surprised......or not.

John

pig on the wing wrote:

tell that to the 50 people who own an animal collective album.

I have and I will again should they ever be foolish enough to cross my path again.

anti-venom wrote:

Acid Mothers Temple ...Japan
ruins.............Japan
Les Ralliez Denudes.....Japan
L.............Japan
Kawabata Makoto..........Japan
KK Null............Japan
Circle..........Finland
Phaoraoh Overland..............Finland
Amon Duul..........Germany
Guru Guru........Germany
Kinski.........U.S.
Tarantula Hawk.......U.S.
Subarachnoid Space......U.S.
Gravatar..........U.S.
Farflung.......U.S
Jack Rose.......U.S.
Stockhausen...........Germany
Faust............Germany
Jean Francois Pauvros.......France
Je Suis France
Six organs of Admission......U.S.
La Bradford



Check some of these acts out. You may be pleasently surprised......or not.

Great list. I recognise most of them but will have to check out the unknowns as they must be good to be put in the same company as LES RALLIZES DENUDES. An awesome band if ever there was one.

Executive Steve

subtle audio are a limerick based record label who have been releasing some interesting stuff... it's a drum and bass label with a firm emphasis on a return to the more forward thinking aesthetic that dominated the genre in the mid nineties...

in particular i have to big up boston producer Sileni...

"bouncing octagonal fragments" [on subtle audio]

"blue green texture jam" [on pieter k's excellent "thermal" imprint"

"twitchy droid leg" on new yorks "offshore" label [notable also for the graphic remix of ezekiel honig's "love session" - more unsettling ambient breakbeat glitchy weirdness]

are all excellent pieces of weird fragmented fractured craziness...

the guys over at www.subvertcentral.com [originally a drum and bass board, recently a hub for everything from bulgarian choir music to jazz to gabber techno - they got a mention in the wire year in dubstep review as well] run a non profit no publicity vinyl label and featured three Sileni tracks on their last release, "daytime jackhammering" in particular is well worth a listen.



i must say, this board is turning into a fantastic little community, i had very low expectations after years of being depressed by the dance / electronic section up the road... but there's lots and lots of stuff i'll be checking out from this thread; my new years resolution was to move out of my leftfield dnb / dancehall / jazz comfort zones and this thread is going to be a big help i reckon!

GoToGate

anti-venom wrote:

Faust............Germany
..
You may be pleasently surprised......or not.

Totally agree. Faust was one of the first true avantgarde-rock bands, and they have continued theire experiments on and off over the years. I heard rumours that they will release a new album this year produced and/or mixed by Steven Stapleton!

John

GoToGate wrote:

Totally agree. Faust was one of the first true avantgarde-rock bands, and they have continued theire experiments on and off over the years. I heard rumours that they will release a new album this year produced and/or mixed by Steven Stapleton!

Not quite true, Stapleton is going to be with them for some gigs. I wouldn't be surprised if he did do studio work with them (which would be fantastic) but for the moment it's just touring.

Speaking of live shows and Steve Stapleton, I'm booking my tickets for Nurse With Wound in London tonight, I can't wait!

bconniffe

John wrote:

Not quite true, Stapleton is going to be with them for some gigs. I wouldn't be surprised if he did do studio work with them (which would be fantastic) but for the moment it's just touring.

afraid you have that the wrong way round. quite a bit of studio work between nww and faust has already been completed (and sounds fantastic: like a cross between the self titled first faust and "so far" albums). a taster is available at: http://www.thewire.co.uk/web/mp3specials.php

steve stapleton (with the assistance of colin potter) is mixing, producing, reworking the new faust album, essentially filling the role that uwe nettlebeck played on the classic faust albums. it is not yet confirmed if there will be live work.

as for my own "experimental" recommendations, the following are all superb albums that i cannot recommend highly enough:

Nurse With Wound: Soliloquy For Lilith
Coil: Love's Secret Domain
Throbbing Gristle: Second Annual Report
Whitehouse: Bird Seed
Cyclobe: The Visitors
Current 93: In Menstrual Night
John Duncan: Phantom Broadcast
Mirror: Mirror Of The Sea
Can: Tago Mago
Sand: Golem
The Hafler Trio: Masturbatorium
Faust: So Far
Cromagnon: Orgasm
Robert Ashley: Automatic Writing / Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon / She Was A Visitor
Coil: Time Machines
Comus: First Utterance
Captain Beefheart: Trout Mask Replica
Cosey Fanni Tutti: Selflessness
Brainticket: Cottonwoodhill
Irr. App. (Ext.): Dust Pincher Appliances
William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here Now But The Recordings
Holgar Czukay: Canaxis
Chris Carter: E.A.R. 3
Frank Zappa: Lumpy Gravy
Ora: Aureum
Bernard Parmegiani: De Natura Sonorum
Carter Tutti: Cabal
Monos: The Black Sea / Generators
Nature And Organisation: A Dozen Summers Against The World
Elaine Radigue: Biogenesis
Merzbow and Christoph Heemann: Sleeper Awakes On The Edge Of Abyss
The Residents: Third Reich And Roll
Andrew Chalk: Blue Eyes Of The March
Darren Tate and Andrew Liles: Without Season
Smegma: Glamour Girl 1941
Alvin Lucier: Bird And Person Dyning
Amm: Ammusic
Jonathan Coleclough: Cake
Mnortham: A Great And Riverless Ocean
V/A: Electroacoustic Music vol 4: Sythesiser ANS (1964 – 1971)
Basil Kirchin: Quantum
Organum: Vacant Lights
Phill Niblock: Touch Works For Hurdy Gurdy And Voice
C-Schulz: 5 Flicker Tunes
Luc Ferrari: Unheimlich Schön
Aube reworks Maurizio Bianchi vol 1
Tony Wakeford and Matt Howden: Three Nine
Gavin Bryars: Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet

John

bconniffe wrote:

afraid you have that the wrong way round. quite a bit of studio work between nww and faust has already been completed (and sounds fantastic: like a cross between the self titled first faust and "so far" albums). a taster is available at: http://www.thewire.co.uk/web/mp3specials.php

steve stapleton (with the assistance of colin potter) is mixing, producing, reworking the new faust album, essentially filling the role that uwe nettlebeck played on the classic faust albums. it is not yet confirmed if there will be live work.

Oh right, I'm just going on this from the NWW page:

In other NWW-related news, Steven Stapleton has been asked to join the three original members of Faust to be part of their touring ensemble

I hadn't heard anything about studio work but this is a welcome surprise

As for your list, very nice selection and you're obviously a NWW fan considering I noticed a fair few artists from the NWW List. Will you be going to London?

bconniffe

John wrote:

As for your list, very nice selection and you're obviously a NWW fan considering I noticed a fair few artists from the NWW List. Will you be going to London?

i am not sure yet if i will make it to london, it will be worth it though: a performance of "salt marie celeste" after christoph heemann is sure to be a wonderful thing...

John

Agreed. After hearing Soundpooling I decided I had to see NWW at least once in my life. San Francisco was out of the question and Donau/Barcelona are a bit too far so I jumped on this. I'm pissed about the Donau festival though, such an amazing line up. Heemann and NWW will soften the blow though

Scratch Acid

I've been listening to Diamanda Galas quite a bit lately. I suppose she falls under "experimental". I have The Litanies of Satan and Divine Punishment which are pretty interesting to listen to, and are indicative of what most of her work sounds like, I imagine, but the album La Serpenta Canta is goddamn fantastic. It's her interpretations of various blues songs and other stuff, on solo piano and voice. The cover of Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman is pretty incredible, she sings Ornette's sax part. The whole album is great, but the Screamin' Jay Hawkins covers stand out, as well as Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down, which is the best thing I've heard in a good while.

Anyway so, if you've been meaning to check her out or whatever and don't want to start with the weirder stuff, this is a good album to get.

John

I say dive right in with Diamanda, if you're not able for any of it you shouldn't be listening at all