Wim Mertens ‎– A Man Of No Fortune & With A Name To Come (1986)

Style: Contemporary
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Les Disques Du Crépuscule

Tracklist:
1.   Casting No Shadow
2.   A Tiels Leis
3.   Hirose
4.   You See
5.   Multiple 12
6.   Naviamente

Credits:
Engineer – Werner Pensaert
Other [Piano Bösendorfer By] – Knud Kaufmann
Piano [Bösendorfer], Voice, Composed By, Producer – Wim Mertens

O que este flamengo tem feito pela edificação de uma corrente minimal independente assume já um valor incalculável. Ora criando a mais rigorosa e nova música lírica de câmara ora expondo toda uma fragilidade interpretativa sem que a sua arte disso se ressinta, Mertens prova em dois discos de eleição porque é o maior compositor actual da Europa Continental. 

Ricardo Saló / Blitz (1986)

Wim Mertens Performed By Soft Verdict ‎– Maximizing The Audience (1985)

Style:  Contemporary
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Les Disques Du Crépuscule

Tracklist:
1.   Circles
2.   Lir
3.   Maximizing The Audience
4.   The Fosse
5.   Whisper Me

Credits:
Bass Clarinet, Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone – Dirk Descheemaeker
Cello – Monique Laperre
French Horn – André Van Driessche
Percussion – Marc Bonne
Piano – Hans François
Viola – Kris Van Severen
Violin – Geoffrey Maingart
Voice – Ine Van Den Bergh, Minne Pauwels, Valerie Koolemans-Beijnen
Composed By, Arranged By, Producer, Piano, Voice – Wim Mertens
Engineer, Recorded By – Werner Pensaert

Wim Mertens' first album after dropping the group name Soft Verdict, the double-disc Maximizing the Audience consists of the music for Jan Fabre's play The Power of Theatrical Madness, which premiered in Venice, Italy, on June 11, 1984. This is Mertens' first foray into extended compositional forms; the pieces on earlier Soft Verdict records had been between two and nine minutes in length, but aside from the four-and-a-half-minute "The Fosse" and the 12-minute title track, all the pieces on Maximizing the Audience are close to 20 minutes long. Either the length or the music's function as a theatrical background makes these five pieces some of the most traditionally minimalist music of Mertens' career. For example, "Circles," featuring a single soprano saxophone over a bed of overdubbed interlocking clarinets, is pure process music in the tradition of early Steve Reich. "Whisper Me" is similar in compositional style, but its more traditional chamber music orchestration -- cello, viola, French horn, and piano -- gives the piece an entirely different texture. Mertens reaches back to earlier Soft Verdict compositions on Maximizing the Audience. "Lir," which like "The Fosse" takes its name from one of Ezra Pound's Cantos, is a piece for two pianos that incorporates the 1982 composition "Gentleman of Leisure" for one of its sections. Similarly, the title track quotes extensively from 1983's "Inergys." The results sound less like self-plagiarism than evidence of a desire to revisit earlier work with the added compositional complexity evinced throughout Maximizing the Audience.

Stewart Mason / AllMusic 

Sonic Youth ‎– Bad Moon Rising (1985)

Style: Avantgarde, Indie Rock
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Geffen Records, Blast First

Tracklist:
01.   Intro
02.   Brave Men Run (In My Family)
03.   Society Is A  Hole
04.   I Love Her All The Time
05.   Ghost Bitch
06.   I'm Insane
07.   Justice Is Might
08.   Death Valley '69
09.   Satan Is Boring
10.   Flower
11.   Hallowe'en
12.   Echo Canyon

On their first LP Confusion Is Sex, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, and Lee Ranaldo established their reputation—noise-obsessed, acerbic, in thrall to subversion and half in love with nihilism. So it came as a surprise that they followed it up with a pitch-black, punishing take on Americana titled after, of all things, a Creedence Clearwater Revival song. Its timing was ripe, arriving amidst the culture wars of the Reagan era: Gordon and Moore cast a shadowy portrait slicked in sweat and blood, not unlike the nightmarish caricatures of American institutions you often saw on the cover art for hardcore bands. 

But the band’s fury ran deeper than that. As Gordon recalls in her recent memoir Girl in a Band: "I ... preferred to sing about the darkness shimmering beneath the shiny quilt of American pop culture"—more specifically, "the westward pull, the American romance with death," as well as the collision of this all-American death-drive with the hopeful ecstasies of the hippie generation. Where Time Life Books was busy commemorating and canonizing Woodstock, Gordon and Moore raised up the leering specter of Charles Manson, highlighting the thin lines separating free love from violent sexual anarchy, and how such spaces are often exploited to attain power. 

Bad Moon Rising is obsessed with sex and power, specifically with how one informs the other. It is the band’s most explicitly sexual album, and among its darkest. "I Love Her All the Time", "I’m Insane", and "Halloween" (a bonus track that’s since become standard on all CD versions of the album) develop female subjects as supplicants to male authority figures, ceding their bodies (and therefore, their identities) to them as if there’s no other choice. "She’s on my side," Moore coolly says of his strung-out paramour on "I Love Her All the Time", repeating the song’s title with the unsavory enthusiasm of a cult leader who’s finally cracked the code. On "Halloween", Gordon struggles to identify just what it is that makes her succumb to a man’s wiles, finally theorizing "it’s the devil in me": the female sex drive, corrupted. 

Bad Moon Rising is not so much a collection of songs as it is an extended, unending uproar, seamless in sound and theme.  This is partially due to the band’s recording strategy, which translated the ebb-and-flow of their live show at the time into a singular composition. At this point in their career, Sonic Youth didn’t have guitar techs to assist during shows, and long stretches of feedback between songs allowed them time to tune. On the album, this approach lends itself well to a constantly shifting tableau of American nightmares, beginning with the primordial fury of "Brave Men Run (In My Family)" and barreling towards its final destination: Manson’s Death Valley and the terror of Helter Skelter. 

In Bad Moon Rising’s world, the country’s loss of innocence—and its sexual corruption—began with an assault, chronicled in the terrifying "Ghost Bitch". Moore sounds possessed on the following, mournful track, "I’m Insane", a sinister piece assembled entirely of fragments from pulp novels like "a steaming swamp," "murdered angels," and the head-scratching "inside my head my dog’s a bear." It’s less a song and more the no wave aural equivalent of refrigerator magnet poetry, but it functions remarkably well within the album’s overarching narrative. 

But what happens when women reclaim their bodies and fight back? Years before riot grrrl, "Flower" (a bonus track released after Bad Moon Rising alongside "Halloween" on 12” and added to the album in subsequent reissues) encapsulated the sex-positive sentiments, as well as the noise, of the forthcoming movement. Gordon's chanted manifesto, delivered over a paranoid, unstable rumble, urges us to "support the power of women" by "us[ing] the power of man." The nature of this power, of course, is sex, but Gordon’s vision encompasses more than the act itself; her culminating directive of "Use the word/ FUCK!" commands a recognition of women as carnal, sexual beings. "The word is love," she adds, completing a circular logic proof of sorts: Power is sex, but sex is love; love is universal, so universal recognition of sex has the ability to empower all. Granted, "Flower" might scan as slightly hippie-dippy next to Kathleen Hanna’s acerbic prose, but its mangled punk instrumentation and feminist politics set a precedent. 

Bad Moon Rising reaches both its climax and conclusion with the Manson-inspired madness of "Death Valley ’69", Moore’s infamous duet with Lydia Lunch, and the closest the album comes to producing a viable single. A tortured yell drags the record out of the doldrums of the preceding "Justice Is Might" and into a busted-up Chevy parked in Death Valley on some dead night, in the Summer of Love. Moore and Lunch don’t try to harmonize or sing on key, because their minds aren’t on the melody; they wail over and under one another like coyotes in heat. A single glance over the lyrics suggests another instance of male-on-female violence ("She started to holler/ I didn't wanna/ But she started to holler/ So I had to hit it"). And yet, the ecstasy with which Lunch vocalizes all but says "This is a game, I’m trying to get you, and I’m winning." The balance of power shifts once more as Lunch unleashes that orgasmic shriek at song's end: a brilliant imitation of the whimpering guitars, a final paean to chaos before the fade to black. 

Despite its compelling aesthetic, Bad Moon Rising suffers from a few technical shortcomings which become more evident in this remastering, specifically Bob Bert’s tom-heavy approach to the drums. They play a critical role in conveying the primal energy coursing through "Brave Men Run (In My Family)" and "Society Is a Hole", but the atmospheric boost quickly wears thin: not just because he sounds like he’s drumming with crab mallets, but because he can’t be bothered to beef up his fills or do little more than the bare minimum. One can’t help but long for the frenzied kit work of Steve Shelley, the hardcore-schooled, improvisatory percussionist who succeeded Bert. Additionally, your mileage may vary where vocal melodies, particularly Moore’s, are concerned; his grating refrains on "Society Is a Hole" and "I Love Her All the Time" show he hadn’t yet developed the tightness and control he would exhibit later. That said, this dissonance is a defining aspect of early Sonic Youth albums, and some might find it refreshing compared to the straitlaced sound of, say, "Incinerate". 

Since its release, Bad Moon Rising has left behind many legacies. Thanks to the mangled mass of the guitars, as well as the lack of anthemic verse-chorus-verses structure that dominated Daydream Nation and Goo, the LP is regarded by many as Sonic Youth's most "difficult" album. Fans of contemporary acts like Swans (who Sonic Youth toured with prior to the Bad Moon Rising sessions) might find in the record’s structure a source of catharsis and narrative strength. Those who became fans post Daydream Nation, meanwhile, will need to re-acclimate themselves to the pitch-black soundscapes. And while the task may seem imposing, it’s also immediate and engrossing; after being immersed in this album's world, it’s jarring to return to the real one—and perhaps, by extension, Sonic Youth’s subsequent catalog, which never quite revisited the sheer alienation of Bad Moon Rising.

Zoe Camp / Pitchfork

Laibach ‎– Opus Dei (1987)

Style:  Modern Classical, Industrial, Experimental
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Mute

Tracklist:
01.   Leben Heißt Leben
02.   Geburt Einer Nation
03.   Leben - Tod
04.   F.I.A.T.
05.   Opus Dei
06.   Trans-National
07.   How The West Was Won
08.   The Great Seal
09.   Herz-Felde
10.   Jägerspiel
11.   Koža (Skin)
12.   Krst (Baptism)

Slovenian act Laibach have always been a controversial group, appearing sometime in the early 80's as part of the Neue Slowenische Kunst art collective throughout their career they have flirted with all kinds of provocative and confusing political statements that have had them accused of both left-wing and right-wing sympathies at times. Whether through adopting a camp totalitarian aesthetic to their image by wearing uniforms, performing live shows as political rallies, subverting the themes of western pop music through their unusual covers or the Wagnerian influence over their music Laibach has always thrived on being a provocative force. 

Opus Dei is perhaps the groups most well known release, primarily on the strength of its title single (a cover of Live Is Life by pop group Opus) and it's incredibly camp music video which if anything goes to great lengths to prove one thing: nothing will ever be more epic than caribou on the mountain. Watch it and see. Every track here is an exceptionally strong exercise in martial industrial and neo-classical, from Geburt einer Nation (a cover of Queen's One Nation) to F.I.A.T to The Great Seal (later adopted as the official NSK state national anthem, long story) the militaristic feel of Opus Dei in it's pounding drums, crowd chants, use of classical samples and the throaty, deep vocals of Milan Fras manages to be both hilarious and captivating all at once. 

Leben heißt Leben is the German language version of the English cover of Live Is Life, distinguished by well, being spoken in German and having a natty guitar solo towards the later half. Geburt einer Nation kicks some serious ass, with an iconic organ sample, a crowd chanting and the sound of gunfire a stomping military march of an unrelentless rhythm ensues. Leben - Tod has a similar kind of tone but is a little more restrained with a chugging riff driving it. F.I.A.T. is one of my personal favourites, opening with an incredible classical section the main rhythmic part of the song is very moody in tone, with a lone sample speaking of the desolation of war - 

"You are in black darkness and confusion
You have been hugger, muggered and carom-shotted into a war, and you know nothing about it.
You know nothing about the forces that caused it,
or you know next to nothing.
You are not to win this war.
Yon cannot win this war." 

It is a very atmospheric track. The rest of the music on offer here showcase the prowess of Laibach in conjuring up militaristic sounding industrial compositions, spiced with enough of a hint of classical pompousness to sound almost cartoonish in delivery but also something else, passionate. The Great Seal is an important track not only for Laibach but for the cultural art movement of Neue Slowenische Kunst they grew out of enough to be adopted as it's official anthem, capturing their whole philosophy in just a few lines. 

"We shall go on till the end,
We shall fight on the seas and oceans,
We shall fight with growing confidence and brave strength in the air,
We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on the beaches,
We shall fight on the landing grounds,
We shall fight on the fields and in the streets,
We shall fight on the hills...
We shall never surrender." 

Heavy stuff. The swell of strings that follows these lines is some of the most heartfelt, gorgeous music I have ever heard.... and so ends the album. Unless you have the edition with a few extra bonus tracks, all of which range from not bad to good. I won't judge Opus Dei by these however. Opus Dei is a masterpiece of its genre. There is no band quite like Laibach, and assuming a love it or hate it type of relationship the average listener will find with this group they are at least worth checking out once.

Meatplow / sputnik music

Kruder Dorfmeister ‎– The K&D Sessions™ (1998)

Style: Downtempo, Dub, Trip Hop
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Stud!o K7, G-Stone Recordings

Tracklist:
Part One
1-01.   Roni Size / Reprazent - Heroes (Kruder's Long Loose Bossa)
1-02.   Alex Reece - Jazz Master (K&D Session™)
1-03.   Count Basic - Speechless (Drum 'N' Bass)
1-04.   Rockers Hi-Fi - Going Under (Main Version) (K&D Session™)
1-05.   Bomb The Bass - Bug Powder Dust (K&D Session™)
1-06.   Aphrodelics - Rollin' On Chrome (Wild Motherfucker Dub)
1-07.   Depeche Mode - Useless (K&D Session™)
1-08.   Count Basic - Gotta Jazz (Richard Dorfmeister Remix)
1-09.   Trüby Trio - Donaueschingen (Peter Kruder's
1-10.   Lamb - Trans Fatty Acid (K&D Session™)
Part Two
2-01.   David Holmes - Gone (K&D Session™)
2-02.   Sofa Surfers - Sofa Rockers (Richard Dorfmeister Remix)
2-03.   Mama Oliver - Eastwest (Stoned Together)
2-04.   Bomb The Bass - Bug Powder Dust (Dub)
2-05.   Kruder & Dorfmeister - Boogie Woogie
2-06.   Sin - Where Shall I Turn? (K&D Session™ Vol. 2)
2-07.   Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - 1st Of Tha Month (K&D Session™)
2-08.   Kruder & Dorfmeister - Lexicon
2-09.   Knowtoryus - Bomberclaad Joint (K&D Session™)
2-10.   Rockers Hi-Fi - Going Under (Evil Love And Insanity Dub)
2-11.   Strange Cargo - Million Town (K&D Session™)

Do you have an album that always used to be playing in the background somewhere" You don’t know anything about it, and you can only remember little bits of it. It’s the album you try to describe to someone, so you can find it, but it’s no use. Maybe some of you haven't found it, but I have. A couple years ago, I ventured into my mum's cd collection. I found a card-case CD, and I put it in. I realized that this was that long-lost album, for which I had that vague recollection. From the very first second of the very first song, I instantly knew that this was the album I had been looking for for years.  

I was going to call The K&D Sessions electronica, but I suppose it is trip hope because it so down-tempo. Entroducing and Mezzanine are often credited as the heights of trip hop, rightly so, but I've felt for a while now that this cd has been overlooked. It doesn’t rank with DJ Shadow or Massive Attack in terms of popularity, so obviously that’s a reason. But still, I feel that this album needs to be listened to by everyone who is into trip hop or electronica. I also felt that there needed to be some information on sputnik about it. 

Basically, the K&D Sessions is a 2-disc remix album, with notable original artists Roni Size, Rocker's Hi Fi, Depeche Mode, and David Holmes. It would not be fair to say that the K&D Sessions isn’t a true work of music from Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister. The majority of the songs may be remixes, but it isn’t exactly just mixing a few things around. I have downloaded some of the originals, and it’s fair to say that Kruder and Dorfmeister completely reinvented the songs, not just reanimated. 

One of the stand-out tracks is Speechless, originally by Count Basic. It is the ultimate demonstration of how trip hop transcends so many different sounds and vibes. It had an almost Wild-Western theme to it, yet there is ethnic percussion (whatever that means). After four minutes or so, there is an amazing trumpet solo. I suppose it sounds most like Spanish trumpet. It soars high, joyful and beautiful, with the dark bassline continuing in the background. Certain moments on this album meet the frenetic energy of some drum n' bass and jungle; wild and somehow primal (think of Basement Jaxx' affiliation with apes). 

The next best song, and one of my personal favorites, is Bug Powder Dust, which was by Bomb The Bass. Bug Powder Dust is most likely my favorite hip hop (or at least hip-hop rooted) song out there. It’s purely impeccable. I find it joyful, but not simple, and also humorous at times. One of the lines goes, 'Never been a fake and I'm never phony
I got more flavour than the packet in macaroni.' Maybe it sounds like something Insane Clown Posse, but in a completely different vein.  

I once mentioned to classmate that I liked Moby, and he said, 'Dude, techno sucks.' I didn't even bother to try to tell him the difference between techno and electronica/trip hop. Even Eminem thinks that Moby makes techno. The reason is, when most people think of electronic music, they think of simple music you mind find in Party Boy's cd collection. You know, that 'uhn'sah uhn'sah' rubbish. The K&D Sessions, although it can be considered trip hop, truly spits in the face of the musically ignorant. 

This is because the music is everything but simple. The amount of work and effort that went into this album is astounding. Not only is the K&D Sessions technically proficient, but it is also very atmospheric. It easily creates certain moods. The overall tone of the album is pretty mellow, but there are different kinds of chillout songs. Some are happy and soothing, like Brian Eno's work. Going Under, on the other hand, is very dark. It could be considered a chillout song by some, but it has a very paranoid sound to it, especially the second version of the song found on disc 2. "I'm going under, going under, I’m going under and I can’t turn around" creates a sinking feeling, that lasts for the whole song.  

The K&D Sessions is composed so flawlessly, in my opinion, that it easily ranks in my top 5 albums. I could not recommend it more, and I only wish that it could be heard more than it is. So now that I have found that mystery album, the one I could never put my finger on, I rate it a 5/5 without a doubt.

ocelot-05 / sputink music

Hare, Hunter, Field: The Secret Passion Of Rudolf Peterson - A compilation Of Sad Love Songs (1992)

Style: Abstract, Experimental, Ambient
Format: CD
Label: Johnny Blue

Tracklist:
01.   Hélène Sage - Press Release
02.   The Grief - Trying To Fix A Pipe Dream
03.   Von Magnet - Malhaya (Saeta)
04.   Katharina Klement - Piano Piece
05.   Syllyk - La Chute
06.   Das Synthetische Mischgewebe - 3:40
07.   Jon Rose - The Future Looks More And More Just Like The Past
08.   Durutti Column - The New Fidelity
09.   Asmus Tietchens - Wenn Die
10.   Bel Canto Orchestra - Ti Amo
11.   Alfred 23 Harth - Be Chamel Di Funghi
12.   Elizabeth Schimana - Peter
13.   Tenko & Kenichi Takeda - Spiral Pain
14.   Architects Office - Saudade From Faust's Other: An Idyll
15.   Violence And The Sacred - Mille Regretz
16.   Muslimgauze & Hesskhe Yadalanah - Zarm

Perhaps the most interesting & varied album in this series has been released on CD - a rather more deserving medium - the others ought to follow suit as vinyl, good as it is, doesn't really do them justice. Many of the tracks are gelled together by an ambient soundtrack of insects serenading summer nights. The album opens with the curious "Press Release", a short montage of spoken word by HÉLÈNE SAGE - very strange use of deep, slowed male voice, female voice & sampled infant - has a good sense of humour without overstating the fact. "Trying To Fix A Pipe Dream" by THE GRIEF comes next - a post-Industrial cumbersome series of thudding grey/brown machine groans, off-White Noise, sparkles of distant metal and a bass guitar whose movements would attract the attentions of a passing policeman - a disquieting atmosphere of re-heated desolation. VON MAGNET come next with the longest track on the album (at 6'16") - "Malhaya (Saeta)" - a hauntingly beauteous, mysterious thing with harmonic voices floating like smoke waves over a terra firma of scrap odds & ends, mostly hidden, some bared to view - a hybrid, Catholicized call to prayer whose emotional charms occasionally rip to show the rawness of true passion beneath. It concludes in an Industrial rhythm - a collaboration of man & machine. Following instantly on it's heels, "Piano Piece" by KATHARINA KLEMENT is a cold, stark piece of music - lonely & angular, hauntingly strange - a dusty memory from a parallel childhood. "La Chute" by SYLLYK is another strange thing - the actual musical backing is a huge, shifting greyness, moody, dramatic but basically benign. Offsetting this is a voice - maybe human, maybe animal, but chillingly outre, nevertheless. It moves into an Industrial, machine-like labyrinth of sounds, the squeaking of springs, distant echoing of large objects. DAS SYNTHETISCHE MISCHGEWEBE bring us the next track, moving from harsh, sharp, piercing sounds to minimalism, this can only be described as experimental - Concrete Music maybe, with pitch-shifted tapes of metal sounds, strange ambient noises, as of someone working in a toolshop - minimal, metal & wood, crumbs of disjointed sound. This falls somewhere around the RUNZELSTIRN & GURGELSTØCK area. JON ROSE brings us "The Future Looks More And More Just Like The Past" is more musical, by the barest margin. Opening with the distant ambient sound of passing traffic, this soon reveals itself as a post-LAURIE ANDERSON composition, combining spoken voice (often sampled) & a high, mischievious violin, running alongside each other - it's a fascinating little work which stretches & plays with the human voice in odd ways. Next comes a breath of surprisingly normality - DURUTTI COLUMN with a wholly wonderful little track "The New Fidelity" - a collaboration of fast, EuRock sequencer with VINI REILLY's guitar describing beauteous, colourful pictures over the top. I've never really rated them as a group, but this makes me want to seek out more - a calm mood piece with underlying excitement - worth the price of the album alone. Composer ASMUS TIETCHENS comes next, with his "Wenn Die", which is built upon a dark moody drum-machine-and-sequence grizzling underlay. Sounds echo out into the distance while the dark, low body of sound throbs &warps beneath. Female voice & brighter sounds appear overhead, adding the right ingredient to the song. Perhaps the most surprising track on the album is the toyshop tinkling low-tech "Ti Amo" by BEL CANTO ORQUESTRA which, for all it's pre-set plasticity & cheapness is nevertheless a catchy & thoroughly enjoyable little instrumental. I doubt I could take a whole album's worth, but it breaks tthe dark mood & injects a certain happiness - a welcome cuckoo in a Surreal nest. ALFRED 23 HARTH takes us back into realms of the strange with "Be Chamel Di Funghi" - a combined instrumental of ungrounded electronics & more traditional Jazz instruments - sax, piano & keyboards. Despite it's flaunting any degree of rhythmic structure, it remains surprisingly together - this is the way Jazz should be moving! SCHIMANA ELIZABETH give us the weird voice-heavy "Peter" which combines samples with minimal instruments - flagellation? But it's the voices - harmonic, grating, moaning, humming, spoken which make this track the bizarre Artwork it is. TENKO & KENICHI TAKEDA collaborate to bring us "Spiral Pain", again using human word - in this case TENKO' strong female voice, they combine metallic sounds with KENICHI's HENDRIX approach to Taisho-Koto - taking it far FAR beyond it's designed musical abilities. This places them amongst any of their Western experimental contemporaries - it has to be heard, but I guess there can be almost no more sounds a Koto could make. An Oriental FRED FRITH. Those reliable bizarros ARCHITECTS OFFICE bring us "Saudade From 'Faust's Other: An Idyll'" - the French Horn playing 'doublestops' while bounced percussive sounds blend with various sound snatches & electronics & 6-year-old TREVOR HAERTLING sings in surprisingly suitable form over the top. It's weird, disconnected stuff - just what we've come to expect. VIOLENCE AND THE SACRED bring us "Mille Regretz", following on the previous track's tail rather well. It is a much more melodic thing than the album - a Medieval instrumental built on harp/sichord with dark monk-like voices offering harmonic but slight discord over the top. Electronics pick up the tune in a more shattered, broken way. The final track on the album is a collaboration between our old friends MUSLIMGAUZE and HESSKHÉ YADALAMAH called "Zarm" - typical of their druming style, it has a more laid-back feel to it - a gentler, passive atmosphere through which the various tones suggest the East. Harmonic keyboards fly overhead while various voices talk or wail in the background. Warm & colourful, this lacks the slight political edge of earlier works - a song for peacetime?
As with the other albums, this stands as a fascinating work on it's own, as a starting point to hear those groups you've only read about, or a hunting ground for the completeist. I for one hope JOHNNY BLUE will keep pumping out albums of this style & quality for years to come. Very much a recommended item. 

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.

bonnicon / Discogs

Test Dept. ‎– The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom (1986)

Style: Industrial, Noise, Tribal
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Ministry Of Power, Some Bizzare

Tracklist:
01.   Fuckhead
02.   51St State Of America
03.   Comrade Enver Hoxha
04.   Fist
05.   Statement
06.   The Crusher
07.   Victory
08.   Corridor Of Cells
09.   The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom - Face 1
10.   The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom - Face 2
11.   The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom - Face 3

Credits:
Bagpipes – Alistair Adams
Organ – Max
Producer – Ken Thomas, Test Dept.
Programmed By – Phil Erb
Engineer – Ben Young

Primeira passagem à pratica do velho, estafado e nunca aplicado slogan «a classe operária avançará pelos seus próprios meios» (martelos, bigornas, bastões, etc). O Sindicato dos Metalurgicos  rubrica assim o seu primeiro facto socialmente relevante. A «poesia toda» (do ferro) está no «Blitz» nº 90.

 Ricardo Saló / Blitz (1986) 

 

Back in the day, the term "industrial" applied to the noisy grinding of non-instruments, clamorous beats, and genuinely scary shrieks—and not to the anemic bastardization of metal and dance music that goes under the name today. Early industrial outings were released by small labels like Great Britain's Some Bizarre; among the bands on that label was Test Department, a British group that mashed the listener's face into the grindstone that was its music. From its opening track on, 1984's Unacceptable Face of Freedom is a battle cry for people of all races lost under the weight of free-market imperialism. Test Department's musical assaults are set up to counter what it saw as the intangible everyday assaults of the state. For example, on one of the album's more effective tracks, "The Statement," a real-life striking Welsh miner recounts his story of a peaceful picket line being broken up by police thugs; in the background, the band provides a muted soundscape of blows, cries and sporadic drum beats. The Unacceptable Face of Freedom is a classic which should not be kept from any fan of industrial, political or aggressive music. Test Department also appears on If You Can't Please Yourself, You Can't Please Your Soul, a Some Bizarre compilation that features The The, Cabaret Voltaire, Psychic TV and six other bands. Every track is coated with seething anger, which is released in either machine-gun outbursts or, in the case of Marc Almond's "Love Amongst The Ruined," cabaret camp. If You Can't Please Yourself is a good snapshot of industrial music in its prime. Noisy, angry and melodic, it's bound to obliterate the idea that Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails are the alpha and omega of industrial music.

jgarden / AV/MUSIC

Material ‎– Hallucination Engine (1994)

Style: Dub, Acid Jazz, Experimental, Downtempo, Ambient
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Axiom

Tracklist:
01.    Black Light
02.    Mantra
03.    Ruins (Submutation Dub)
04.    Eternal Drift
05    Words Of Advice
06.   Cucumber Slumber (Fluxus Mix)
07.   The Hidden Garden / Naima
08.   Shadow Of Paradise

Credits:
Bass – Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Jonas Hellborg
Drums – Sly Dunbar
Electric Piano, Organ – Bernie Worrell
Ghatam – Vikku Vinayakram
Ghatam, Congas, Percussion – Aiyb Dieng
Guitar, Sitar, Baglama – Nicky Skopelitis
Kanjira, Tambourine – Michael Baklouk
Ney – Jihad Racy
Oud – Simon Shaheen
Sampler, Programmed By – Bill Laswell
Synthesizer – Jeff Bova, Nicky Skopelitis
Tabla – Trilok Gurtu, Zakir Hussain
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Wayne Shorter
Violin – Shankar, Simon Shaheen
Voice – Fahiem Dandan, Liu Sola, William S. Burroughs
Zither – George Basil
Arranged By – Bill Laswell
Mastered By – Howie Weinberg
Producer – Bill Laswell

Some albums come along without any real intention other than to be what the are yet, without any fanfare, completely change the possible ways music can be perceived, felt and created by those lucky enough to hear them. Today's Rediscovery is one such album, a record that wasn't just ahead of its time when it was released in 1994; it seems still ahead of its time today, more than twenty years later.  

Initially a loose collective of musicians that, with bassist Bill Laswell and keyboardist Michael Beinhorn at its core, centered around New York City's avant-edged downtown scene, by the time of Hallucination Engine the No Wave group had really become synonymous with Laswell alone, having moved through everything from disco-tinged R&B (with singers Nona Hendryx and a very young Whitney Houston) and jazz-rock fusion to reggae-tinged funk and non-idiomatic free improv.  

But while Laswell's increasing interest in music from many cultures had already begun to surface, with Hallucination Engine he brought together a disparate bunch of musicians—from saxophone giant Wayne Shorter, P-Funk bassist Bootsy Collins, Indian violinist Shankar and tablaists Zakir Hussain and Trilok Gurtu, to in-demand Jamaican session drummer Sly Dunbar, P-Funk/Talking Heads alum keyboardist Bernie Worrell, longtime Laswell collaborator, guitarist Nicky Skopelitis, virtuosic electric bassist Jonas Hellborg and Naked Lunch author William S. Burroughs—for an album that truly transcended all attempts at classification.  

With a total of twenty participants, Hallucination Engine merged music that might have seemed incompatibly disparate into a seamless whole that makes nothing less than perfect sense; not fusion as the term has come to be accepted, but fusion in the truest sense of the word as, with Laswell at the helm providing bass, beats, loops, samples and overall direction, the album's eight compositions prove that music can, indeed, be a universal language without borders or stylistic definers.  

Case in point: "Cucumber Slumber (Fluxus Mix)," where the funkified tune from Mysterious Traveller (Columbia, 1974)—one of the best tracks from one of the best albums by fusion supergroup Weather Report, co-founded by Shorter, Joe Zawinul and Miroslav Vitous in 1971—is sampled and, expanded with thick layers of tabla, drum kit, other percussion and additional composed sections. The end result is something that actually realizes Zawinul's increasingly fervent desire to turn a group initially predicated on impressionistic music and improvisation of the most electric kind into one whose primary raison d'être was to be a pan-cultural mélange; the only difference being that Laswell actually achieve that goal far more successfully.  

That's not to suggest a negative connotation for the now-departed Zawinul; only that, because he was as much a performer as he was a conceptualist, his work was inherently driven by the stylistic and sonic parameters of his own playing. With Laswell as much a producer as he is a performer, his voracious musical interests could be realized on a much broader soundstage, and with Hallucination Engine Laswell created quite possibly the most expansive, stylistically unfettered and culturally unbound music he'd ever made...or, perhaps, would ever make.  

Few musicians would be able to conceive the bringing together of original music of near-cinematic expanse with one of John Coltrane's most memorable ballads, "Naima." Or, in collaboration with Shorter, create a piece like the album-opening "Black Light" that—bolstered by Skopelitis' shimmering chords and an unshakable groove driven by Laswell and Dunbar—revolves around Shorter's relatively simple but absolutely perfect melody and equally spare and considered improvisational foray.  

Hallucination Engine never achieved the popular acclaim it truly deserved, but those familiar with this wonderful cross-pollination of jazz, funk, dub, Indian music and more into something truly greater than the sum of its many parts were forever changed by Laswell's innovative vision. Hallucination Engine still feels ahead of its time 21 years after its release, rendering it the quintessential Rediscovery. 

John Kelman / All About Jazz 

The Durutti Column ‎– The Return Of The Durutti Column (1980)

Style: Abstract, Indie Rock, Post-Punk
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Factory

Tracklist:
01.   Sketch For Summer
02.   Requiem For A Father
03.   Katharine
04.   Conduct
05.   Beginning
06.   Jazz
07.   Sketch For Winter
08.   Collette
09.   In "D"
10.   Lips That Would Kiss
11.   Madeleine
12.   First Aspect Of The Same Thing
13.   Second Aspect Of The Same Thing
14.   Sleep Will Come
15.   Experiment In Fifth

Credits:
Guitar – Vini Reilly
Bass – Pete Crooks
Drums – Toby
Electronics [Switches] – Martin Hannett
Engineer – Chris Nagle, John Brierley
Producer – Martin Hannett

It would be hard to think of an album less in line with the majority of Factory's output in the late 70s than The Return Of The Durutti Column. The Column, were originally put together as a ‘proper’ band by Factory founders, Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. But by the time this album became fact (hoho) Wilson’s wilful disposition had seen to it that it was just guitarist Vini Reilly who held onto the name. Oh, and a producer by the name of Martin Hannett. 

Hannett’s idiosyncracies are well documented. His bullying and cajoling of Joy Division to invest in electronics was the tip of the iceberg. The deeply personal vision of this troubled man only found voice when he sat behind a mixing desk. Having mined the possibilities of digital delay on Unknown Pleasures, he saw, in Reilly, a fellow traveller who could indulge his passions for more abstract fare. 

Reilly himself was a devoted student of the six stringed kind of ambience that had more to do with the krautrock stylings of Ashra’s Manuel Gottsching than anything that emerged from a Detroit garage. This was (originally) an album of singularly pretty instrumentals, drenched in reverb and chiming in some kind of delicate, yet still somewhat chilly imaginary space. 

The two men worked as co-musicians on this project, and it was hannett’s synth washes underpinning Reilly’s arpeggios that anchored the work which in future years become more ethereal and less rooted in grim Noerthern reality. 

The Return a bloody-minded contradiction of everything Factory stood for at that time. As if to underline its refusal to sit happily with its playmates, initial copies came housed in a sandpaper sleeve that would rub horribly against its neighbours: A situationist trick that, while as arch as the band’s name (appropriated from the Spanish civil war), still signalled Hannett and Reilly’s extreme faith in their vision. Hannett’s wayward nature would prove his undoing, while Vini merely kept on spiralling into some crystaline alternative universe. The Return is a perfect meeting of minds…

Chris Jones / BBC Review

Microdisney ‎– Everybody Is Fantastic (1984)

Style: Pop Rock, New Wave
Format CD, Vinyl
Label: Cherry Red

Tracklist:
01.   Idea
02.   A Few Kisses
03.   Escalator In The Rain
04.   Dolly
05.   Dreaming Drains
06.   I'll Be A Gentleman
07.   Moon
08.   Sun
09.   Sleepless
10.   Come On Over And Cry
11.   This Liberal Love
12.   Before Famine
13.   Everybody Is Dead

Yes, I agree that this is a five star album. The vocals are stunning, the lyrics deeper than nearly any in rock history. That's not hyperbole. Cathal Coughlan doesn't deliver a single tossed off line. Every line has depth and meaning, and show an almost frightening insight into what it means to be human. And the music provides just the epic grandeur the lyrics deserve. This disc is Sean O'Hagan's crowning achievement as a musician. But what frustrates me is that I'm not a music critic, nor do I want to be. But I do know this is a life-changing work of art and to hear some informed insights as to why that might be would be very welcome. I've been forced to the conclusion that Microdisney and Cathal's later work with the Fatima Mansions, as well as solo, were wilfuly ignored because, at some level, we're frightened by what he had to say. It's always perfectly expressed and his conclusions are not optimistic. In both miniature encounters and sweeping overviews, he has painted a picture of our civilization in the process of a collapse both irreversible and deserved. No one likes confronting this brutal truth. So maybe if we ignored Coughlan he'd go away. And so, it appears, he has. But that doesn't make what we see in the mirror he held to our face any less true. It boggles my mind that there are those out there who'd endow a selfish, abusive blowhard like Jim Morrison with the title 'poet', when the real thing was blazing before our eyes for nearly two decades. Rather than look straight at what Coughlan's visionary power and gift of expression showed us -the ugly truth - we swooned over him and those like him. The only lyricist who comes close to Cathal Coughlan was Ian Curtis of Joy Division. He saw the same reality and made the informed decision to end his life.

Ted Lesser / AllMusic