Reissues/Archives/Compilations of 2014

Another great year for ye olde music. In this list are only things I missed first time round (or 2nd or 3rd or 17th) ie. it doesn't include Blue Bell Knoll, Doolittle, Spiderland, Cannibal Ferox, Cannibal Holocaust, Friday The 13th, Led Zeppelin Vols. 1, 2, 3 or 4 etc. Oh...and no Bedhead or Mogwai because they were..er...shite. Then there's the never really owned category ie. I've only ever had taped copies of The Sunnyboys and Since The Accident or crappy mp3s of Electricity, The Boogey Man, Forbidden World, Chopping Mall etc. so they're included. 2014 was a hell of a year for cult horror synth score reissues! It's like all the soundtracks I've been looking for were all released at once. Labels like Soundway & Finders Keepers continue to unearth fabulous music. Death Waltz, Waxwork, One Way Static, Luxury Products & Superior Viaduct are the new(ish) labels on the block giving us what we want from the esoteric archives as well. So here's 20 great old records.

Sunnyboys - Sunnyboys
The sound of my childhood and my older brother's record collection. One of The classic Australian rock debuts. The Sunnyboys were young, charismatic, troubled and so alive. Their first record is some of the most exciting guitar music from 1981 or any other year for that matter. It came with a bunch of bonus tracks but who needs em with an LP this fanfuckintastic?!

Axemen - Derry Legend
The Axemen reissue program continues. After their 1986 mangled pop masterpiece Three Virgins came the follow up Derry Legend which has been long out print. This LP has gained (Derry) legendary status in my brain. Derry Legend is The Spotlight Kid to Three Virgins Trout Mask Replica if you get my drift ie. it's a more accessible pop version of the band yet still retaining all their strange awesomeness. 80s NZ rock doesn't get much better than this.

Andrzej Korzynski - Man Of Marble OST
Groovy soundtrack from Poland 1977. A psych synth disco classic. Soo good....Finders Keepers have done it again!

Boards Of Canada - Hi Scores
Two years before Boards Of Canada released their magnum opus Music Has The Right To Children came the Hi Scores EP which is similarly awesome idylltronica.

Caustic Window - Caustic Window
Strangely unreleased but excellent LP from Richard James aka Aphex Twin from his golden era 1994. Why on earth did this get shelved? A timely reminder of where all your favourite electronica (remember that 90s term?) comes from.

Peter Jefferies - Electricty
He of classic underground 80s NZ group This Kind Of Punishment and Bruce Russell's right hand man at Xpressway Records. He's so idiosyncratic only Peter Jefferies sounds like Peter Jefferies and the world's a better (If slightly darker) place for it.

Severed Heads - Since The Accident
A key LP from Sydney's early 80s experimental scene. Still pretty much ignored here in their home country to this day. Wake up Australia!

Susan Justin - Forbidden World OST
The cultiest synth soundtrack of them all. Issued for the first time since Web Records released it in 1982! A one off unique blend of electronics, pop and soundtrack motifs. Death Waltz continue their roll.

Chuck Cirino - Chopping Mall OST
More cult Carpenter-esque synth soundtrack gold from the 80s. Waxwork Records is all about quality not quantity.

John Harrison - Creepshow OST
I finally got a copy of Creepshow after like it's 5th or 6th reissue. More 80s psycho synth sounds from 1982.

Ralph Jones - Slumber Party Massacre OST
Possibly the best of the post Carpenter cult Horror synth scores from 1982.

Tim Krog - Boogey Man OST
Now this one was rare until now. A much coveted 1980 horror synth score from Tim Krog, a UCLA film composing graduate. Horrortastic!

Bruno Nicolai - All The Colours Of The Dark OST
Italian Giallo score from the great Bruno Nicolai. Nicolai was a frequent collaborator with Ennio Morricone. It doesn't get much better than this for spooky Italian 70s soundtracks.

Bruno Nicolai - The Case Of The Bloody Iris OST
This is from 1972 as well (see above) and it's another slice of Italian horror soundtrack weirdness. Haunted yet bizarrely jaunty at the same time.

Hungry Man - Keyboard
More crazy keyboard action from West Africa in the late 70s. If you thought William Onyeabor was the last word in spazz synth psych afro funk you were wrong. Some of the best sounds ever squeezed out of a synth and put to tape. Is there more of this shit yet to be discovered? I hope so.

Various - The Sound Of Siam 2
A splendid second serving of Luk Thung & Molam tunes from Thailand. This time from 1970 through to 1982. Incredibly distinguished, beautiful and laconically groovy.

Heldon - II: Allez Teia
More tripped out 70s space frog prog from Richard Pinhas and co.

Pye Corner Audio - Black Mill Tapes
4 albums worth of horrorological atmospheres and old eerie synthesiser goodness. Perfect to while away wintry afternoons.

John McCallum - Surf Nazis Must Die OST
Classic 80s drum sounds, synths in overdrive and anthemic guitars. There's even a wayward noisy sax at one point. It even becomes poignant and a little melancholy at certain stages. Surely this is where Mark McGuire got all his ideas from.

Various - Suburban Base Records: The History Of Hardcore, Jungle, Drum & Bass 91-97
Hardcore you know the score and if you don't check out this compilation from one of the best labels of the era.

*Other Years
2013
2012
2011

Boards Of Canada-Tomorrow's Harvest

The opening of the new record Tomorrow's Harvest seems funny to me. They have a little logo tune or is it a logtone? An Ident? I don't recall them having used one before and to me it seems like a nod to the people they've influenced ie. The Belbury Poly, The Advisory Circle and the rest of the GhostBox crew. Then there are hints of John Carpenter that I don't recall being referenced before on their previous records, which could possibly be a nod to Pye Corner Audio or even Umberto. One wonders whether they keep up with all this stuff or it's just a coincidence.

Tomorrow's Harvest does seem a lot darker and not as lovely* or gorgeous* as previous efforts. The beats seem to trudge and appear quite inert. It's still unmistakably Boards Of Canada with no sign of the guitars used on The Campfire Headphase.  The Jury is still out for me as I'm only half a dozen listens in. Still it must be alright even if I've played it that many times. I remember playing Music Has The Right To Children about 5 years ago to someone who only listened to trance and he said it was like electronic funeral music. He didn't even think you could chill out to it. So the darkness thing was always there but now we're splitting hairs over its minute shades.

*Lovely and *Gorgeous are two terms, I learnt yesterday, that announcers on a certain Melbourne independent radio station are never supposed to use on air about the music they are playing. Guess what all you prince's and princess's of darkness nice is nice! The Black Crow King obviously still wields influence in Melbourne town.

Old Geezers!

A quick look at recent releases reveals it's not just Bowie, MBV, Daft Punk & Boards of Canada making comebacks this year.
Texas
Goo Goo Dolls
Ben Folds Five
Barenaked Ladies
Jimmy Eat World
Garbage
Tangerine Dream with Brian May(?)

John Fogerty
Alice In Chains
Sebadoh
Billy Joel
Iggy & The Stooges

Melvins,
Rod Stewart
Megadeath
Black Sabbath
Anvil
Alison Moyet
Alannis Morissete
The Orb
Skinny Puppy
The Pastels

And many more all have new LPs for you to listen to in 2013!

 Who's listening?

Tangerine Dream with Brian May-What the fuck would this be like? I'm almost tempted to listen to listen to it but... not quite!

I must say I'm slightly intrigued at the Skinny Puppy LP. Didn't one of them die?

What makes me listen to the new Boards Of Canada album over say the new Black Sabbath er.. hang on Boards Of Canada have really not released a bad record ever and well how many good records have Sabbath produced since like 1974? Am I gonna listen to that Orb record though? I dig The Orb and their first few LPs. But I don't think I'm gonna check out the new one. Why? It might be cool. We are fickle aren't we. Do I wanna just leave The Orb in their early 90s heyday? Why not leave BOC in the late 90s/early 00s though? I loved that John Fogerty comeback album in like 1985 Centrefield. What's another 30 years difference gonna make? ....er probably quite a bit to me and Mr Fogerty. Alison Moyet anyone? Surely she's the original Adele doncha reckon? Didn't all the Alice In Chains people die? Or was it just the singer? Me and the Mrs couldn't even come up with a Texas song, she could however sing me a Goo Goo Dolls song and I recognised it. Barenaked Ladies had the song about a Chinese Chicken I think......

The Fog is back again.

Boards Of Canada

This is comin out in June so maybe there will be two good records from 2013. Then again the big guns this year haven't really inspired ie. MBV, Broadcast, Jimmy Ferraro etc.

Loving that cover already. I could go on about BOC forever but so can most people and most people have and it is all on the interweb. A bit like the Triffids in the 80s people just love to bang on about them. So much so that it becomes cliche. Both groups are very evocative I guess. If I were Boards of Canada I'd almost be tempted to make the cover with the most digital and crass image I could find. Perhaps they're lulling us into a false sense of security with the art work and inside is the most angry hateful impenetrable shite you've ever heard. I'm tying to think, what is the opposite of Boards of Canada?

This could be their vaguest music to date.

Energy Flash/Hauntology

Here is a quote from page 164 of Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave & Dance Culture written by Simon Reynolds and originally published in 1998 but this is a 2012 edition.

'Imagine the theme music for a 50s Government film about Britain's new garden cities: serene, symmetrical, euphonious, evoking the socially engineered for a post war New Order.'

Here Mr Reynolds was referring to some of the music that Aphex Twin was making early in his career. I wonder if Boards Of Canada were reading this but didn't they already exist? or if the GhostBox crew were taking notes because it sounds like Simon Reynolds invented Hauntology 6 or 7 years ahead of its time, well the theory and subtext to it anyway. When I first heard BOC I thought shite they remind me a little of Seefeel & Aphex Twin, which to me was in no way a bad thing! I wonder if Simon is aware of this portentous quoted passage or realises his complicity in the entire idea/genre? I know he is a big fan of the whole thing and has scribbled many words on the topic via his blog and in an article for The Wire magazine many moons ago.

Life On Earth

Now I've got the hatrick: book, soundtrack and now the 12 hours and 5 minutes of the original groundbreaking BBC telly series of Life On Earth from 1979 for cheap on dvd. Alert!!!! Sir David has Jeans. Who knew? Also was he always old?  Three years in the making. It's got that awesome late 70s film stock look about it. A kind of faded but in all its clarity still blueish green colour. Like the sound of Boards of Canada if you know what I mean. I'm loving it. Alert!!!! Sir David says 'a females sexual opening'. Who knew spiders had so much sex. Alert!!!!Sir David blows shit up with like dynamite! He says sexual in a funny way and a lot! Hipster checked cowboy shirt alert!!!! Sir David still manages to make it look daggy thank god! The world is still in order. All I need is the badge, poster, sticker and t-shirt. I actually think this trio will do till I see the great man in a week and a half. Expecting very baggy harry highpants in non descript colour, don't mind so much about the shirt. I'm guessing light blue long sleeves. I'll keep you posted.

My Bloody Valentine

There isn't anything to add to the discourse about this legendary band is there? I doubt it. Their new reissue ep's 1988-1991 has arrived and it contains 2 tracks I've never been able to find. The Isn't Anything LP was originally issued with a bonus 7" containing 2 instrumentals which have become legendary(in my mind a least). I had the CD so never had these 2 tracks and have been waiting for them to turn up. I'd heard they were more of a precursor to the Glider EP than anything off Isn't Anything. Indeed instrumental no 2 is v ahead of its time, it makes you wonder what MBV could have become. It's kinda spooky psychedelic looped dubby hip hop. Instrumental no 2 is Seefeel's template 5 years early. Actually you know what? it could be a Boards of Canada track. This track is that sublime. Then Instrumental no 1 is what you would expect from MBV circa 1988 ie it fuckin rocks and does so inna fine stlylee.

 

There are 3 previously unreleased tracks as well. No info on these, no session dates etc. They could be rough demos from anytime during this period really. They're welcome raids on the archive if not brain meltingly revolutionary. The long version of Glider is here too along with Sugar the b-side to Only Shallow but no Soon remix (Which I find odd).

*Should I just rename my blog Retromania?