Grindfather Productions – GF476
One of the only metal records I heard this year and its dry production
and speed feel older than it is, but the drumming and composition
reminds me of the great The Kill.
HOUKAGO GRIND TIME is the brainchild of one man grindmaster Andrew Lee
(RIPPED TO SHREDS, SKULLSMASHER). The debut full length is a collection
of anime and manga inspired goregrind tunes that will appeal to fans of
REGURGITATE, DEAD INFECTION, old CARCASS, PIG DESTROYER and the likes.
Documenting Sound – 18
Original isolationist Lasse Marhaug assumes his natural disposition in
an incredible, dread-filled snapshot of life recorded April 1st and
dialled in from Oslo for our Documenting Sound series.
A behemoth in the Norwegian Metal, noise, jazz, electronic and
experimental scenes for nearly 30 years, Marhaug is something of a
polymath - appearing and collaborating with countless artists (Sunn
O))), Carlos Giffoni, Merzbow, Maja Ratkje, John Wiese and many, many
others), he’s a highly sought-after producer with credits on records by
Jenny Hval, Hilary Woods and Okkyung Lee, as well as a photographer,
visual artist, writer, magazine publisher - basically he’s done - and is
doing - it all.
Lasse was born and raised above the Arctic Circle and made his name up
there via the international mail-order scene before moving to Oslo, so
he clearly knows a thing or two about life communicating from under
virtual lockdown or isolation. His tape here documents an hour of music
recorded on April 1st 2020 (and later deftly edited) that provides a
glimpse of just how deep his talent runs, using a stripped down set-up
of guitar, turntable and synths in much the same grizzled and intuitive
way that’s practically unchanged from his formative, teen-aged days in
the cold, cold north.
Lasse’s free-ranging taste for raw, crumbling noise textures and
scowling drone scuzz is in strong effect on four skull scraping and
apocalypse-baiting works. Whether describing huge glacial events and a
lack of Vitamin D in the noisy transition of ‘Exiles’, or more
sensitively evoking a sense of ambient sehsucht recalling Kevin Drumm’s
classic ‘Imperial Distortion’ on ‘Family', or plainly baiting the
apocalypse with the magisterial string drones of ‘Perfect Places’,
Lasse’s music conjures scowling moods that enact a solidarity for
outsiders as much as a frank admission that life’s always been a bit
crushing, and we just have to get on with it.
Scavenger Of Death – SOD-04
While I rarely felt like the Carbonas lived up to the echelon at which
so many of their fans tended to regard them, one thing that always
impressed me was that they never stopped getting stronger as a band.
That forward momentum has happily continued in the output of lead singer
Greg King. Now operating under the somewhat ridiculous GG King handle,
he’s allied himself with key former Carbonas and others for a bracing
minimalist punk attack that shreds the approach of that prior band down
to its stone-cold gut.
A relentless, anxious frenzy pumps these rapid-fire outbursts, inciting
rocket-feet and beer spillage. I’m not enough of a punk rock authority
to try and namecheck whatever obscure bands GG King draws from, but it’s
safe to say there’s a lot of ’70s UK touchstones in Greg’s record
collection – and if not, there should be! There are group backing vocals
that sound like a howlin’ wind about to sweep you skyward. The guitars
slash ‘n’ stab in a self-contained street rumble. The bass thuds and
chugs like a belligerent drunk that won’t step down. The drums rattle
and pound until they don’t, stopping on a dime. King’s vocals often
remind me of Pete Shelley in the early Buzzcocks, or Colin Newman in
early Wire, where you’re dizzy by not only the breathless thrust of the
delivery but also the giddy pop undercurrent of it all. And early
British punk band Johnny Moped gets a nod with a fine cover of
“Incendiary Device.”
Driving the point home, Esoteric Lore‘s artwork uses that classic cheap
black & white, cut ‘n’ paste, scribble ‘n’ scramble aesthetic so
common to punk and hardcore since before Never Mind the Bollocks. It’s a
clichéd look now, but it’s still effective, I have to admit. And since
the lyrics are scrawled and typed into the inner sleeve layout, it lets
you catch up with some of the words that may’ve zoomed by in the flurry
of impact. My favorite is probably “Bored of Breathing”: “You’re always
acting like you’re bored of breathing/ But no one is telling you to keep
on living.”
Scavenger Of Death – SOD-07
When the Carbonas died, Atlanta wept. Mothers and children, left
orphaned by the deceased, wandered the streets with tears streaming
mottled faces. Strong and silent men struggled to maintain composure,
and they retreated to basement workbenches, biting lips, cracking
knuckles, running hands through thinning hair, sullenly wondering:
"Why?" Skies darkened. A palpable feeling of devastating loss plagued
the city. Nay, the world.
Thankfully, ex-frontman Greg "GG" King wasted little time in yanking up
his knickers and pursuing new noise. He wrote a series of tunes not
unlike those he contributed to the Carbonas “ that winning mix of
hyperstrummed '70s Europunk and brawny stateside r'n'r pummel intact“
and amassed a crew of friends and former bandmates to help him flesh out
the din. He released a handful of solid teaser singles, played a number
of good shows. He reasserted himself as one of Atlanta's greatest
exports.
Scavenger Of Death – SOD-27
The king returns to the game after a three-year absence, but he's not
empty handed. He's got a baby and three brand new tracks. "Another
Dimension" revisits a track from Unending Darkness, making full use of
the hotshot (read: not inept) backing band GG had at the time, giving
the track 100% more dimension. "Make a Movie" is GG King at the pinnacle
of his psychedelic hip hop phase, the lyrics inspired by his years in
the film industry, where he learned the hard way that Weird Al is not
interested in a biopic. "Gilliam Park" is one long, indolent, cosmic
hook that builds until it disappears down a wormhole. Unlike many acts
whose music suffers in the harsh light of clarity, King really shines
with a competent recording.
Scavenger Of Death – SOD-34
While I rarely felt like the Carbonas lived up to the echelon at which
so many of their fans tended to regard them, one thing that always
impressed me was that they never stopped getting stronger as a band.
That forward momentum has happily continued in the output of lead singer
Greg King. Now operating under the somewhat ridiculous GG King handle,
he’s allied himself with key former Carbonas and others for a bracing
minimalist punk attack that shreds the approach of that prior band down
to its stone-cold gut.
A relentless, anxious frenzy pumps these rapid-fire outbursts, inciting
rocket-feet and beer spillage. I’m not enough of a punk rock authority
to try and namecheck whatever obscure bands GG King draws from, but it’s
safe to say there’s a lot of ’70s UK touchstones in Greg’s record
collection – and if not, there should be! There are group backing vocals
that sound like a howlin’ wind about to sweep you skyward. The guitars
slash ‘n’ stab in a self-contained street rumble. The bass thuds and
chugs like a belligerent drunk that won’t step down. The drums rattle
and pound until they don’t, stopping on a dime. King’s vocals often
remind me of Pete Shelley in the early Buzzcocks, or Colin Newman in
early Wire, where you’re dizzy by not only the breathless thrust of the
delivery but also the giddy pop undercurrent of it all. And early
British punk band Johnny Moped gets a nod with a fine cover of
“Incendiary Device.”
Driving the point home, Esoteric Lore‘s artwork uses that classic cheap
black & white, cut ‘n’ paste, scribble ‘n’ scramble aesthetic so
common to punk and hardcore since before Never Mind the Bollocks. It’s a
clichéd look now, but it’s still effective, I have to admit. And since
the lyrics are scrawled and typed into the inner sleeve layout, it lets
you catch up with some of the words that may’ve zoomed by in the flurry
of impact. My favorite is probably “Bored of Breathing”: “You’re always
acting like you’re bored of breathing/ But no one is telling you to keep
on living.”
Thankfully, GG King isn’t bored yet, and neither are we.
Label/Cat#: NYCTaper
Among the bounty of riches at every Hopscotch Music Festival is the
variety of punk shows that get put on, both throughout the day show
circuit and during the official evening events. Out of a particularly
good crop this year, one of my very favorite punk acts was the Atlanta
band GG King, who played both this official evening set at Kings and
then a day show set at Neptune’s (the downstairs room of the same club)
the following day.
This set shows the band at its best, playing high-velocity,
hardcore-inflected punk. Frontman Greg “GG” King hails from the defunct
hometown favorite the Carbonas, who were at it from 2001 to 2009, and
his eponymous band continues many of the things people loved about his
last band. In particular, both had a certain pop sensibility that,
without making either act cheesy or soft, give them appeal beyond their
core audience. This night’s song selection should satisfy both the new
fan and the veteran alike; you can hear many of the studio versions on
these rehearsal demos streaming on their label’s bandcamp page. Once
you’re done here, I recommend you stream your way over to Scavenger of
Death Records and discover the rest of what GG King has to offer.
I recorded this set with MBHO microphones into the warm n’ fuzzy Aerco
preamp. My man Dave Schwentker was kind enough to track this one out so
we could present it to you. Enjoy!
Recorded by acidjack
Produced by David Schwentker
MBHO MBP603/KA200N (at SBD, PAS)>Sound Devices MixPre6>24/48 WAV>editing by David Schwentker>FLAC>MP3
Caprice Records – CAP 21827
Absolutely stunning, super rare deep, deep spiritual jazz album from Don
Cherry. This has to be up there with our all time best records ever
(yes its good). Recorded in 1972 in Sweden, this record is perhaps the
first ever 'world' music record - a subtle, organic fusion of sounds
that really is out there on its own for grooviness. This record is
released here for the first time in 40 years by the Swedish state record
label Caprice. It is done with love and we want to spread that love to
you too.
Cosmic, spiritual, deep, amazing!
Black Sweat Records – BS058
An amazing document of the life experiment that was the Organic Music Society. This super quality audio, recorded by RAI (the italian public broadcasting company) in 1976 for television, documents a quartet concert focused on vocals compositions and improvisations. Here, Don Cherry and his family-community’s musical belief emerges in its simplicity, with the desire to merge the knowledge and stimuli gained during numerous travels across the World in a single sound experience. Don's pocket-trumpet is melted with the beats of the great Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, the Italian guitar of Gian Piero Pramaggiore, and the tanpura drone of Moki. A pure hippie aesthetic, like in an intimate ceremony, filters a magical encounter between Eastern and Western civiliziations, offering different suggestions of sound mysticism: natural acoustics in which individual instruments and voices are part of a wider pan-tribal consciousness. A desert Western landscape marries Asian and Latin atmospheres. Indigenous contributions with berimbau explorations find fossil sounds of rattles and clap-hands invocations. Influences of Indian mantra singing are combined with eternal African voices or with folkish-Latin guitar rhythms , while flute and drums evoke distant dances. In the Organic Music everything becomes an act of devotion and love, an ecstatic dwell in the dimension of a sacred free-rejoice.
Born Bad Records – BB136
In 1963, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia won seven Oscars. Launching its
actors to stardom, including Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif who played
Prince Ali Ibn Kharish at the age of thirty. The latter incarnated the
West’s vision of the Middle East which was simultaneously elusive,
refined and elegant. His fiery stare, impeccable mustache and immaculate
haircut had something to do with it: the Egyptian actor was a sex
symbol of an era passionate for James Bond and OSS117 spy adventures. In
the Jordinian desert, he fascinated an audience that was in search of
an escape and the thousand and one nights. This appetite for a colorful
and fantasized exoticism, was also prominent in France’s music of the
sixties. The country that welcomed Omar Sharif's first feature films
outside of Egypt (Goha, La Châtelaine du Liban) produced a delirious
amount of music of Latin or Middle Eastern inspiration, grouped behind
the genre named “typical” .
This “typical” production is enough to scare away the most motivated and
adventurous of listeners: overabundant and often blurry versions,
anonymous performers (often accompanied by the same arrangers) and only a
few noteworthy songs. Venturing into the moving waters of orchestral
music undoubtedly causes disappointment, but here and there, springing
up in the middle of a vast ocean, one can find a few cha-cha-cha pearls
played in a Cuban or Middle Eastern style. The French equivalent of
Exotica records (Les Baxter, Yma Sumac, Martin Denny etc.) for North
Americans who were fantasizing about Hawaiian Tikis and the Pacific
Islands, the oriental cha-cha-cha fueled dreams of the Middle East and
Northern Africa. To rum-based cocktails sipped in a Polynesian setting,
the French were to prefer couscous and mint tea. Carrying them across
the Mediterranean to nearby Maghreb and even further on to the more
mysterious Anatolia. Orientica in short.
The context is somewhat paradoxical: decolonization, especially of the
Maghreb was not an exactly smooth process. After Morocco and Tunisia in
1956, Algeria acquired its independence in 1962, leaving a gaping wound,
still partly open, on both sides of the Mediterranean. Pied-noirs
returning to the regions of Paris and Provence with a mixed culture
(dishes, humor, etc.). The Cuban missile crisis took place that same
year, a paroxysmal moment in the Cold War. Europe was split between two
camps. “When will the Russians throw nuclear warheads at us”? But there
was also reason to rejoice and be optimistic: the economic growth and
baby boom. Reconstruction was in full swing. French families were
dreaming of tourism and airplanes. A method of transportation that was
still reserved for the elite was developing rapidly. The French sky had
been opened to competition. Caravels, the first mass produced civilian
twin-jet planes had entered the airspace. The French were discovering
Italy, Spain by car and starting to dream of far more distant regions.
Records thus offered the average person an easy escape with an extra few
puns in there and a little ole-ole, making the product all the more
attractive. On Saturdays, young adults took part in ballroom dance
parties (dancing the cha-cha-cha, bolero, foxtrot, tango), although
physical distances were chaste the spirits were more mischievous than
they appeared. Sundays were then spent at the airport, listening to the
Boeings chanter là-haut (Boeings singing in sky). The Loukoum - Cha Cha
au Harem compilation offers a tender vision of pre-sexual revolution
Gaullian France. Including all the stereotypes on exotic countries;
culinary specialties (couscous, Turkish coffee, baklava, etc.), sensual
oriental dances, exaggerated accents, bewitching chants performed on
minor Hungarian scales by European instruments accompanied by percussion
of an unknown origin.
Aside from being a simple postcard, this music embodied a form of
innocence and naiveté, both touching elements to access in these cynical
and judgmental times. Catchy and tastefully arranged, the genre’s best
tunes contain a delightfully old-fashioned charm. Bob Azzam, an Egyptian
singer of Lebanese origin, made it popular in 1960 with Mustapha and
Fais-moi du Couscous, Chérie (Make me Couscous, Darling). The musician
who started his career in Italy in the late fifties really came to fame
in France thanks to these two songs. About twenty LPs were to follow,
not all as successful, maybe due to his sometime lack of mastery in
terms of quality and productivity. Léo Clarens the French-born Caliph of
Francophone oriental Cha-Cha-Cha is omnipresent in this compilation,
under his various stage names. Born Louis Tiramani Coulpier in Marseille
in 1923, the clarinetist formed his first orchestra at the start of the
Second World War. Stranded during part of the war in Algiers, he ended
up being promoted to conductor of the 2nd Armored Division! When Paris
was liberated, he went to the capital looking for work. There, he
recorded his first records (covers of American standards) for the
Philips label in the 1950s thanks to the famous Jacques Canetti, one of
the greatest French artistic directors of the 20th century. Apart from
his recordings under various pseudonyms (Kemal Rachid, the Kili-Cats),
the Marseille musician became a popular arranger, in particular for
Michel Sardou. He also assisted Paul Mauriat for many years. Later on
working with Laurent Voulzy and Jean Jacques Goldman in the seventies
and eighties.
Léo Clarens was not the only one to give in to oriental cha-cha-cha. A
number of musicians threw themselves to the task, most often with
mediocre results, but with a few nice surprises such as Benny Bennet or
Los Cangaceiros. Benny Bennett is an American musician of Venezuelan
origin who lives in France. He recorded many albums and 45 rpms mainly
for Vogue in the late fifties and early sixties. A jazz drummer, he
discovered Cuban music through his first wife Cathalina. From then on,
he recorded mambos, calypsos, boleros and cha-cha-cha including their
oriental variations with the excellent Couscous and Ismaëlia. Los
Cangaceiros were a Paris based band led by Yvan Morice. They released
four albums in the early sixties some of which were also published in
the United States, as well as a dozen 45 rpms. Under his real name, Yvan
Heldman became a prolific lyricist for films such as Le Vicomte Règle
Ses Comptes (1967). We can thank him for the classic Dick Rivers Le
Vicomte song. The omnipresence of percussion and drums on Oriental
Express gives us some indication of Roger Morris' favorite instrument:
the drums. However, literature and the internet are stingy with details
on his career. At most, one can find out that the musician published
half a dozen EPs, mainly for the Homère label, as well as two albums,
one typical of the early sixties (Surprise Party 2) and a second,
Library at L'Illustration Musicale. Raymond Lefèvre's career was much
better documented! Present on this compilation thanks to his
reinterpretation of the Lawrence of Arabia theme written by the great
Maurice Jarre (father of Jean Michel) in a Bolero style,he was a
soundtrack regular. Composing over 700 arrangements, he was especially
well known for his participation in Dalida’s Bambino and for the
Gendarme of St Tropez soundtrack.
On that note, it's time to sit back and relax in your lawn chair, smoke a
hookah (to keep the clichés going) and discover Loukoum - Cha Cha au
Harem!
