R.I.P. Sleazy

It came as quite a shock when I went to Simon Reynolds' blog: his latest entry is a video of Coil and at the bottom, he wrote r.i.p. sleazy...

Sleazy, both as one of the founding members of Throbbing Gristle and Coil (with Balance who passed away a few years ago), had been one of the most influential figures in the alternative/underground/industrial/rave scenes for the past few decades. Coil and TG are two of the first few acts which re-wired my psychological, mental and musical paradigms, as well as urging me to constantly keep vigilant about my personal take and stand on culture, aesthetics and politics in general. May him and Balance rejoin in the after-world (if there is one). Their creation will, hopefully, continue to create, subvert and amuse us for a long time to come.

P.S. His death was confirmed to be 24 November 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand

2010 in Review

Yes another year has almost gone by and it's my list of the year to sum up the year in (counter)culture:

1. Aural Fit's new slab of psych-out-overdriven-noise-rock simply emerges as one of the tops of the year, at point sounding very much like Derek Bailey's noise rock project with Bill Laswell and others in Arcana's The Last Wave. Essential.

2. Seijaku, Keiji Haino's new project post-Fushitsusha, has been a blast long awaited for... a double whammy assault of distorto-outsider blues, on doubtmusic.

3. Another Haino must-have: Fushitisusha electro-shock pulsing through the double vinyl set which sends shivers down one's spine.

4. A slew of re-issues and first-time-available CD/vinyl from the fertile pre-punk/post Velvet scene of Columbus, Ohio: a lethal stew of Lou Reed, Avant guitar action, goofy no wave mindset and mid-West rock lineage inform these batch of excellent rockers/punkers. Blistering.

5. Two Hypnagogic Pop labels of Not Not Fun and Olde English Singing Bee: An unending stream of hypnotic retro-inform futuristic pop for the NOW - Forest Swords, Julian Lynch, Rangers, Pocahaunted, LA Vampires/Zola Jesus, Outer Limits Recordings and Sun Araw. Mind-melting.

6. Emeralds' rise and rise this year will guarantee them seminal and influential status in the years to come: a potent amalgamation of cosmic Kraut, retro-machine age vibes and noise to lull you and then wrap your brains all over.

7. Oneohtrix Point Never's new one for 2010: starting with a blast of electrical sandstorm and then proceeding to churn one's consciousness to bits.

8. A memorial for Shizuka who passed on beginning of the year. Powerful, cathartic and mystifying. Japanese psych at its most lunar.

9. Arthur Doyle released two head-clearing blasts of sax blurts on plastic. One of the few Fire Music proponents left today, and he is punk to the max too.

10. Long time coming but worth the wait: Steve Underwood of Harbinger Sound bringing us the first ever Noise Culture Magazine with chock-ful of interviews, reviews and articles on Noise of all sorts and beyond. I am already anticipating eagerly for issue number 2.

11. Los Angeles Free Society getting its recognition in London recently in October plus this year also see releases of both archival and new to update us on the latest adventures and past legacy of these bunch of underrated but essential collective of weirdness, freakdom and esoterica (in the best sense).

12. A masterpiece of the history of visionary artistes and musicians tapping into the Great Albion Spirit (both imagined, historical, re-shaped and futuristic as well as Utopian and Dystopian) by ex-Wire editor, Rob Young. More such texts please (David Keenan, when will your sequel to England's Hidden Reverse be out???)

Les Rallizes first (?) legit/semi-legit (??) re-issues on Phoenix Records of previously CD-R format. Widely available and generally good sound-wise but what a great way to introduce the pagans out there about this great band.

13. Acid Archives: what can I say? This is THE bible for anyone remotely keen on the deep psych underground, private press, ignored major label acts, outsiders and Incredibly Strange.

14. A year of great re-issues for these bunch of misanthropes and heavy punk-metal outsiders. An evil smile will emerge across your face whenever you listen to them.

15. Swans's latest album (as Michael Gira says Swans has been re-activated but not reformed) is a 21st century upgrade of post No-Wave post rock: anthemic, soaring and spiritual.

16. Sun City Girls last studio project which makes us wonder if they had not disbanded... Eclectic, other-worldly and rocking all at the same time.

17. Blixa Bargeld meets Carsten Nicolai: a blend of electronically-fuelled tone poem, adventurous vocal acrobatics (courtesy of Bargeld) and muscular and angular execution. One of the best works of the year.

18. Xasthur's last: featuring Marissa Nadler's ghostly vocalisations which fitted the hallowing songs well and rejecting all generic postures of buzzsaw guitars etc.

Some Thoughts on Reading the Acid Archives (2nd Ed.)...

Have been trawling through the massive tome of the record collectors' bible, The Acid Archives (2nd Ed.) and came to a few conclusions:

1. The guys back in the 1960s through to the early 1980s really love their music to go through the trouble of self financing the release of such gorgeous private press releases like Vulcan's Meet Your Ghost as compared to today's ease with PC/laptop recording software and simply uploading into the ether space

2. The never-say-die vinyl condition of the record as a format for not just the music but, the ideas behind the music (in the inserts, design of the sleeve and on the vinyl itself) and tactile relationship between the beholder and the object of art
3. And go get the book as you will not regret it; reading the book is like stepping into the multitude of Hakim Bey's Temporary Autonomous Zones, which in the 21st century is even more necessary than ever. A labour of love from the writers and the editor, Patrick Lundborg.

Don't wait too long as the stock is running low all over the world and you wont want to pay loads of cash for it later.

New Minimalist Masterpieces Unearthed

Have gotten hold of two never-released-before lost classics of underground Minimalist pieces: a lavishly produced set of a CD and a book by Die Schachtel - Catherine Christer Hennix's The Electric Harpischord and a vinyl release from Yik Yak by Yoshi Wada's(whom I have mentioned in one of my earlier blog entries) son, Tashi Wada, entitled, Alignment.

Unlike the now populist Minimalist works of Steve Reich, John Adams and Philip Glass, the two works here still ooze vibes aplenty of the Other: for Hennix, the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s, and the staunched influences of Sri Pandit Pran Nath, one of the key gurus of such Minimalist masters like Terry Riley and La Monte Young. For details of the story of Hennix, you may want to check out The Wire, issue 320 (October 2010). To me it is another slab of deep listening hymn which gently pulsates through the listener and affecting him/her profoundly if given the right context.

Tashi Wada, on the other hand, is right on with his understanding on Just Intonation (check out Tony Conrad, one of the vital proponents). The violin makes him even closer to Conrad it seems but the resemblance somehow stops there. The two side-long works sound punky at times, like some private press vinyl press of a home-made composer who digested fully the principles behind Just Intonation and in a sitting blast out these two pieces of drone-swirls.

Do yourself a favour, check them out. By the way, Minimalist works work best on vinyl, not CD or digital.

Alan Moore's Underground Missives

Just read the first 2 issues of Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic magazine: a blast basically. This is his attempt with his comrades-in-arm to re-claim the Underground in the 21st century after the demise of such key 'undie' rags like International Times, Zap Comix and Oz. This is a continuation of his key ideas from "V From Vendetta" about hoisting and rallying under the black flag.

 
I love Moore's articles on the history of Anarchism and the Underground Press (which served as his raison d'etre for Dodgem Logic. I am waiting to start on issue 3 which has an article on the Decadent writers which should be good. Savage Pencil has two delicious cartoon strips in the 2 issues too. Go buy them now (issue 6 is out now) and hold something solid in your hands than just clicking and dragging, staring into the blinking screen 24/7...