A recording from All Hallow’s Eve, 1991, on KPFA in San
Francisco. Chains and hooting, drums, crowing. A witches’
speech from Shakespeare is played –
bubblebubblebubbletoilandtrouble and all that. Eye of newt,
et cetera. Much incantation. Mark of the devil – Mark of the
devil! From the trailer to the film of the same name. “The
rack…the claw…the tongs! Devices that made death a
welcome pleasure! Every torture device authentic – actually
used at one time!” There is a certain theatricality and
showmanship that has been missing from experimental
music, in several corners.
“Where is the love to be found?” And with showmanship
comes sentiment – which is not necessarily a bad thing –
especially concerning six eyes from hell. Following this is the
answer to the question “What is death?”. Invaluable
information – another hallmark that has ceased in release, to
a great degree. The inserts and leaflets accompanying such
early recordings – where are they now? And putrefaction
begins. A treatise on psychotechnology follows. Synthetic
sounds smoke the background, wafting hither and that, never
overwhelming the provocation of thought from words
transmitted. Melody over a feminist chant. And the womb is a
happening place, you fucking stud! “Don’t believe in witches?
You’d better believe in the Virgin Witch – she’ll blow your
mind!”
The strange thing is that we speak so seldom to each other
about this often-lonely business of experimental music – but
recognition of these sound samplings = well, we must have
some kind of common ground! Some final comments about
the performance, and then two tracks from 1980 in England.
As with any historical document, the impact – the direct
impression – is difficult to gauge in the dark light of day. Today, at least. Leeds Ripper Song. First/Last. At last.
-David CotnerCcru – Nomo
Label: Syzygy Format: CD
Created for the Syzygy project at The Beaconsfield in South
London in Spring 1999, Nomo shows all the signs of having
been created under the influence of one of the more amous
semi-legendary creations of this century, none other than
Great Cthulhu himself. Opening with a cod-prayer to Nomo,
the CD proceeds to delve into the watery abyss with a
soundscape of creaks, drips and murmured vocal fragments,
conjouring the fog-bound reaches of a Lovecraftian marine
horror story. The injection of suitably ominous samples on the
subject of sub-aqua, subterranean dwellers in darkness adds
to the atmosphere in an effectively spooky manner.
Dreamlike washes of sound, layered booms and attenuated
descriptions of lurking horrors abound in the run up to the
materialisation of a pulsing electronic beat which develops
some tumbling breakbeats among the recursive echoes – it’s
rather as if some of the moody collages of NoN or The Hafler
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Trio had been remixed; which can only be a good thing. When
the boom-box Dub clatter kicks in properly, the effect is darker
than most Drum & Bass, which is still geared towards the
dancefloor in some manner – this is more concerned with the
primal aquatic threat of immersion in various forms, even
bringing in the Millenium and its discontents along the way.
There seems to be some relation between this project and
notions of the Black Atlantic, the history of the middle
passage and the African Diaspora, linked in with aspects of the
Capitalist system as a all-devouring, lurking manifestation of
Cthulhoid monstrosity, demanding sacrifice in the water to
feed its own desires. Whatever the intentions, the results are
quite effective in their murky evocation of gloom and (even)
doom, in the sense of fate, and the resulting interplay of
darkling shadows as represented by the babel of disembodied
voices, gurgling wet sounds and abstracted trails with the
organised rhythms of the beat which keep the primal Chaos at
bay – while never quite disentagling itself from the fascinating
pull of the unheimlich.
Contact Katasonix for ordering details.
-Freq1CJames Chance And The Contortions – White Cannibal
Label: ROIR Format: CD
In the late Seventies and early Eighties there was
The Pop Group to brink the Funk to Punk in
Britian; but in New York the beandleader of the
Wave alongside No which brought Jazz and
other grooves into the wake of three-chord noise and upfront
attitude was Mr James Chance and his backing band, the
rather special Contortions. For this collection, originally
released on cassette as Live In New York in 1981, the group
consist of members of Ornette Coleman‘s ensemble and
Defunkt – not forgetting the Discolitas on backing vocals.
Overall, the quality of these recordings captures what must
have been a fearsome live experience. This fire doesn’t so
much as express itself in the noisiness or intricacies of the
playing (though there is some of the former and plenty of the
latter) as through the whole created under the raggedly
soulful vocals of James Chance. Above all, the essential feel of
a live show is conveyed – this is not a selection of studio
recordings captured faithfully on stage, but a full-on, in the
room sound which takes on the qualities of documentary and
time(less) machine as appropriate.
What’s even better is the group’s take on “I Feel Good” and
“That Old Black Magic” – standards made fresh in the rawness
of the sound itself, and the distinctly anarchic interpretations.
Where Funk had sometimes got itself locked into a
commercial groove at this time, here the emphasis is on
pushing the boundaries while keeping the feel and rhythms
one the one at all times. When a track stops, the need for
more is suddenly apparent – a mark of quality if ever there
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