BLOG TO COMM

Apologies apologies apologies. Or should I say screwups, screwups, screwups! Here I go placing an order in to Forced Exposure for a number of freshly-minted goodies to grace my hungerin' ears and soothe my glaucoma'd orbs, and what should I do but forget to click the special li'l box sayin' that if  a certain item was not in stock to just send what was available post haste like! Thusly, the recordings that were supposed to brighten my weekend did not arrive and I will probably have to wait until I hear back from 'em (of course I writ FE as soon as I discovered my faux pus about two minutes after sending in the order and haven't heard a thing since!) before I can get everything like straightened out and dissertate about something current, fresh and exciting for once! Not to mention the latest edition of UGLY THINGS (see left for a link to their new blog, and boy is it a wowzer!) which is pretty old by now but since I didn't get my EXPECTED FREE ISSUE for being a devoted contributor I have to dish out hard-begged moolah to obtain my very own copy, which is something I don't exactly relish in these cash-strapped times!

But don't worry your pretty little head off, for I was able to scrape together a buncha reviews by doin' a li'l pickin' and proddin' in the collection and finding some items of worth after all.. As you can see I've finally gotten around to tackling the new Fadensonnen platter as well as the batch that Bill Shute gave me, plus there were a few offerings that I either won via ebay or fell between the cracks (as opposed to fell into the "crack"...singular) that you probably wouldn't mind knowing about, so let's not go 'round thinking this particular weekend ain't gonna be as bang-up as they usually tend to be! Oh well, if this post in fact does not live up to anybody's expectations then how does this sound to ya..."just wait until NEXT time!!!!"

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Mick Farren-TO THE MASTERLOCK CD (Captain Trip, Japan)

Dunno how this 'un slipped by, but it did for a good five year and boy and I ashamed about it! This particular 'un courtesy the usually in-gear Captain Trip label's got our favorite Deviant live in Japan back in 2004 grunting out old familiar tuneage along with some new-to-mine-ears wonders, and not only that but Mr. Farren's actually backed here by the infamous latterpsychaday band Marble Sheep (or at least a good chunk of 'em) along with some guy called Nabeh from an act called Slunky Side whom I gotta admit I've never heard of before. Waddeva, MASTERLOCK is a solid live set showing Farren at his growliest (didn't know that weed could affect your voice like that...mebbee they shoulda mentioned this in those anti-pot PSA's I used to see when I was a kid!) while the Sheep/Slunky Side backing's more than in-tune with Farren's overall hard-attack ideals even if their backing vocals aren't.

But seriously folks, it's sure great listening to live versions of such Deviant standards as "I'm Coming Home", "Rambling  Black Transit Blues" and "Slum Lord" done radically different-like even if they may be as downright burning as the originals, plus the covers of "Waiting For My Man" and "Trouble Comin' Every Day" seem directly aimed for the heart of your inner being or whatever hippoid jargon might just happen to suit'cha here in the post-everthing teens. The all-new material is engaging even if it ain't as potent as the familiar rant, plus there's a hidden track which I know you, if not Michael Weldon (hint!), would want to know all about!!! Anyway, you can find worse ways to spend your twenny dollars, cantcha?

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Fadensonnen-BLACK EP CD (see blog link on right for ordering information)

The third and last in the Fadensonnen trilogy keeps up the high-powered amped up electronic rock of the first two delivering more of that total eruption free music that I kinda thought went out of business around the time REM began replacing Chrome as a template for youthful rockist exuberance. Echoing a variety of hot eighties underground flashpoints I remember (the MX-80 O-Type and Half Life spinoffs come to mind) and don't (well...maybe Mark Hanley's Sister Ray side project Room 101), Fadensonnen really know how to take the basement recording situations so prevalent in the days of cassette kultur and update the entire shebang for the present, not quite an easy task considering just how vague the notion of "the present" is. This ain't "industrial" or any real variation thereof, but some mighty engrossing underground rock and roll that takes the best moments of the past fiftysome years of sound exploration and runs wild over the hills with 'em! Only hope that this ain't the LAST we're going to hear from  Fadensonnen!

If you haven't been able to get these very limited (100!) edition Cee-Dees and would like to hear what you're missing, go to Fadennonsen's blog (see link up on left) where not only have the entire contents of the last three releases been posted, but videos along with them making for a particularly stimulating audio/visual excursion if you ask me. Actually, don't ask, because I haven't even had the opportunity to see them yet! Who knows, maybe they consist of nothing but the same cover graphic staring you in the face without any change in the picture or variation whatsoever just like every other upload which might be good for the ears but boring for the eyes. If I were you and I wanted to hear this amazing screech I'd head for this blog right now!

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Richard Youngs-INCEPTOR CD-R burn

Faddensonnen send me a copy of this 'un, presuming that I would like this prolific musician's guitar excursions which are supposed to be of the freeform feedback-drenched variety. Or something like that. Or nothing even, but after doing some research on this Britisher and discovering that he had a rather prolific "career", an extensive discography and played a number of instruments with varying degrees of  proficiently one would think I figured why not spend the next thirty minutes of my life at least giving this 'un a listen. Which is exactly what I dood, as Red Skelton might have once said.

Turns out this Youngs fellow does pretty well turning the standard electric guitar into a total scronk-slinging weapon, kinda reminding me of Loren Connors at times even though the two of 'em are pretty far apart with regards to approaching their particular musical visions (smart, hunh?). Nice atonal spree here that fits boldly within the realm of recent "outsider" "loner" offerings of a similar nature, especially when Youngs starts singing along in this whining garbled moan. I am reminded of a number of early-nineties releases that I totally rejected worse than a fetus out of Yoko Ono's womb until I suddenly recall that...this really is a lot better than any preconceived notions I might have had (which at times were conceived after givin' 'em a listen!) regarding the new experimental music! Make a truce with your subconscious and give this 'un a try if you so desire!

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Sean Gadoury-ARC LIGHT; Andreas Brandal-MINUS teeny weeny CD's (Kendra Steiner Editions)

Sorry Bill, these are the only two Cee-Dee's of yours that I've been able to get at what with real life and the lack of spare time to contend with. But what a great batch of Cee-Dees they are, mostly consisting of "sound sculptures" (at least that's what I think they used to call 'em back in the seventies) created by a couple of interesting new upstarts on the avant garde scene who make music that at some points reminds me of the eerie Mellotron dirges on "Sisyphus Part Three" (UMMAGUMMA) or perhaps some of the noisier aspects of eighties "cassette culture"  when the creators of such musicality weren't exactly letting their youthful exuberance get the best of 'em. Varied to say the least, and if they last long enough a great buy at five dollars postage paid. Guaranteed to "offend" the less expressive members of the BLOG TO COMM community, but then again in this day and age I'm sure getting offended by everything in life left and right, and maybe it's about time you did a little bit of shudderin' yourself!

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Destroy All Monsters-LIVE IN TOKYO + OSAKA CD (Compound)

Considerin' how I never play the "original" DAM's other live reunion disque and kinda think that any DAM release w/o Niagara ain't really a DAM disque at all, I did have my reservations about purchasing this particular platter. But even though this "reunion" of the original group sans the presence of their chanteuse and de-facto leader/frontwoman (recorded in Japan, which knows a good scrunch when it hears it!) might seem like Coke and aspirin without the aspirin I found myself enjoying the swirling sounds of homemade electronics and classic tributes to rock both classic (Yes?!?!?!) and not (Seeds) as much as you would. Great Smegma-ish vibe here too mixing the artistic (Futurism) and the vulgar (cheap knotty-pine basement rock) with wonderful ease. May be hard to take in one sitting, though if you're particularly nerve-frayed I will admit this could be the soundtrack to your life!

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IN OTHER KULTURAL NEWZ: Stuff seen but not heard (because it's silent!), Dovzhenko's EARTH (1930), one of those Soviet avant garde films which brainy film historians continue to praise to the rafters consistently voting it "Best Film of All Time" (or at least amongst 'em!) which only goes to show you that most film historians never saw BOWERY TO BAGHDAD. If you're wondering why I actually viewed this particular piece of Stalinist dribble (and it sure was, considering how this 'un paved the way for the extermination of thousands of "kulaks" who were getting in the way of Stalin's collectivization of the Ukrainian farms)...well, it was on the same (borrowed) DVD-R which also houses 33 1/3 REVOLUTIONS PER  MONKEE, a tee-vee special from the post-series years of Monkeedom which will probably be the subject of a future edition of this blog but anyway, if you like Soviet avant garde films from the days when the communists actually put on a good face pretending that high class art was the way to win over the lumpen proles well then, go for it! As for me,  I must admit that the camera work was rather spectacular with those waves of grain blowing about and the puffy clouds, but other'n this being just another excuse to justify the liquidation of the kulak class and celebrate tractors there really ain't much to it at all. The print seen here does feature some surprisingly explicit female nudity complete with mad and lust-filled self-tit-squeezing passion which caught me by surprise (I think the events leading up to the reason why there was nudity in this flick in the first place were cut out because---for the life of me I don't know why they included those shots in the first place!) but frankly, would you REALLY want to look at a nude RUSSIAN woman? I mean she coulda tried out for the shot put team if it weren't for that suspicious bulge. Russian woman---sheesh!

Getting some chairside airplay this evening's the Kosmic Daydream's PSYCHOSOMATIC PLAYGROUND CD, which as you can tell I reviewed a few years back and still holds up as far as under-the-cover En Why See rock and roll groups went, or perhaps go. Oddly enough it has a great 1974 feeling only done a good three-plus decades after which only goes to show you that the spirit of seventies rock lived on for quite a longer time than any of us would have thought. If this came out in '74 it would have made for a great 1976 cutout I'll tell ya!

I guess that pretty much sums it all up...who knows, maybe by next week at this time there will be enough new gunch to fill out at least a halfway-decent post. Personally I doubt it given the lack of true stimulation that is available these days, but I think I've been wrong once before and I just might be again! Whatever,  I'll see what I can stir up for you blab-wise next weekend that just might be as life-reaffirming as I can get at my best, but until then tune in for the usual mid-week tittilator.