Reality Bath-Nice Strong Arm (1987)

Now here's a record that is truly lost. Nobody talks about it, it's forgotten. It's in my record collection and I've barely considered it as anything. I was reading a blog (sorry forgotten the name) the other day and there it was with a little spiel and a dead download link from like 7 years ago. In Melbourne in the early 90s I picked up a stack of records on the Homestead label for next to nothing in a bargain bin . Live Skull, UT, Great Plains etc. I'd heard or heard of those bands but I'd not heard of these guys, I bought it anyway (probably due to the cover). It sat alongside my Live Skull record as a good noisy LP but it couldn't really compete with you know...er... who could it? So it rarely got played. Well that's what I thought.

So I pulled out Nice Strong Arm's Reality Bath after over 20 years of ignoring it and guess what? It's a little lost gem from the 80s underground. They obviously loved their Joy Division and MX80 Sound. They didn't sound unlike their peers Flipper, Bailter Space etc. Nice Strong Arm also predate/influenced Pavement, Trumans Water, Unwound, Drive Like Jehu and in particular Polvo. Looking through what info I could find on the interweb, one common criticism aimed at the group was that their songs were directionless. Their songs are definitely not directionless. Like Throwing Muses circa mid/late 80s Nice Strong Arm's guitars just took a different route to the rest. The guitars turn down strange paths exploring uncharted nooks and crannies, then new harmolodic vistas open up seemingly out of nowhere. This is the most compelling aspect of the band. You get the feeling the critics and public alike (including myself) missed the point. Sure the name Nice Strong Arm has got to be one of the most pox names ever for a group, so that can't have helped their chances. They moved from Austin to New York after this album and recorded 2 more records before breaking up in 1990 which is all news to me. Reality Bath never got issued on cd and isn't even a cult record as far as I can tell.

Special Comments

I just recently had my 65 year old father in law from Wales come and stay at our house in the middle of an insanely hot Australian summer. Every night when he'd go to bed he'd grab a cd off my shelf to listen to on his DiscMan (no shit he had one). The following morning I'd get his thoughts.

The Insect Trust-The Insect Trust
"Ha haha ha ha ha yeah they're great musicians though"

Master Of Reality-Black Sabbath
"I listened to a very weak Black Sabbath album last night. It was poor. It wasn't heavy enough."

Pacific Ocean Blue-Dennis Wilson
"It went on and on and every time I thought it was over another song started. There was one fantastic song in the middle though, ahead of its time."

Funhouse-The Stooges
"I listened to the first 3 songs."

UHF-Hacker Farm
"I listened to an instrumental group last night. Hahaha it was just muffled noises wasn't it?"

Persona-Son

Persona-Son

Loving this cover from Brasil in 1975. 

Good record too, top shelf outre experimental psych.

New Wave Australiana Intros For The FM Airwaves

Here we go with atmosphere! I love a bit of Fairlight to get me goin. Then those synthy drums at 0.18 followed by that new wave bass just before Iva Davies goes into his Aussie Bowie/Numan shtick.

Now a bit of evocative didgeridoo before those cavernous drums kick in and that bendy bass. At 0.20 the best guitar lick Lindsay Buckingham never wrote enters before Shane Howard comes in with his right on lyrics at 0.32. Another song from my preteens that's a bit haunting. If I'd been older maybe I'd have found it cheesy but these songs stick with you.

Another one from 1982. Beautiful synth (I assume a Fairlight) soundz here that sets up the excitement for the rest of the song. Then that classic riff kicks in at 0.25 followed by some double snare hits and Hutch is at the mic at 0.48.

This ones a coupla years later and in a totally different class. Jill Burt on the oh so beautiful keys. Bass drums and high-hats from MacDonald. That "2, 3 ,4......" whisper from Dave McComb at 0.15 sends a a chill down my spine every time as does the accompanying  bass ever from the great Martyn P Casey. Then at 0.26 the drum rolls start and the song swells up with Dave's guitar, Jill's keyboards and Evil's pedal steel all chiming in just before the first verse at 0.39. Classic production from Gil Norton pre-Doolittle. The rest is awesome too.

Simon Says Intros

The new year's topic is intros see here. I'm just goin with my definition of an intro which is before the proper singin starts. First thoughts were Marquee Moon, The Stones, A Hard Days Night but I thought everyone would have those so here's my first one Teenage Riot from Sonic Youth. It starts so clean with just one guitar until 13 seconds in.  Then comes Kim's murmurs and whispers.  By the 45 second mark it sounds like about 5 guitars plus sporadic drums and I think Kim's chanting "speed desire." It's all very sensual until 1.22 when one of the great riffs revs up and by 1.47 it's in full flight along with Shelley's crackin drum beat. By 2.05 Thurston's at the mic and well the rest is pretty good too.

Then on the same record Daydream Nation there's Candle. This starts with some of the most lovely clean spidery guitar you are likely to ever hear. At 0.48 the drums kick in and the guitar takes an anxious turn down a dark lane. By 1.10 the vibe's picked up and the riff and beat's changed to a chug just in time for Thurston to step up to the mic.

Rock peaked here didn't it?

Can't Deny Mr Kim Kardashian

The Best Song of 2013 & The Worst
Which is which?........

And then there was the best thing on YOUTUBE this year. Cherry Moon On Valium was hipped to me earlier this year by a blog I've forgotten the name of now. Then FACT & Reynolds ran with it despite it being like 2 years old! I love the sound and vision. It's really hard not to watch the whole thing, I can't look away. So the soundtrack is a bunch of 90s Belgian hardcore and Gabba tunes but they are slowed right down. I think they got a bunch of original people from the Gabber community to do the old school moves, of course slowed right down to suit their age. Or were they dancing to the original speeds and the video's been slowed? The mum & dad dancers seem to have brought up their child with a healthy respect for gabber. This is a version of retro I can dig.

It's fucking gold innit?

2013 Best LPs

eMMplekz - Your Crate Has Changed
Semi lucid ranting over hallucinatory electronic dub splatter.

The Focus Group - The Elektrik Karousel
A spooky and disorientating trip out to melt your mind.  Psychedelia for now and never.

Ensemble Skalectrik - Trainwrekz
Transmissions from.....somewhere or nowhere.

Gesaffelstein - Aleph
Beautiful paranoid urban atmospheres, bangin streamlined EBM and cold rushes.

Primitive Calculators - The World Is Fucked
More confrontational than ever. Age has not mellowed Australia's greatest post-punk band!

Tim Hecker - Virgins
The ghosts of 20th century's monumentalism.

Umberto - Confrontations
The soundtrack to match the alien invasion movie in your mind.

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
It was hard to resist those tunes on the back half of this album in the end. Get your singin & dancin shoes on.

House In The Woods - Bucolica
Rural isolationist journeys into sound.

Lieven Martens Moana - Music From The Guardhouse
Dolphins Into The Future's main man delivers another warped environmental electronic masterpiece. He's on an oceanic roll.

The others I also liked

Skull & Shark - Lazerhawk
Ooga Boogas - Ooga Boogas
New Dark Age Of Love - Xander Harris
Fire Funmania - The Horrorist
Cold Mission - Logos
Cortex Meridian - Panabrite
Devesham Dub - Ekoplekz
Earl Grey Whistle Test - Robin The Fog
Secret Songs Of Savamala - Howlround
The Harbinger Of Spring - Children Of Alice
She Beats - Beaches
Testpressings 1-3 - Demdike Stare
Watching Dead Empires In Decay - The Stranger

The others that I didn't

James Ferraro - Cold,
James Ferraro - NYC Hell 3am
Stellar Om Source - Joy One Mile
Grouper - The Man Who Died In His Boat

On The Fence

Tomorrows Harvest - Boards Of Canada
I dunno if this is great, just ok or a complete waste of time (and I love their other records).
A Fondness For Hats - Moon Wiring Club
Only got it today, I'll get back to you on that.
Night Slugs All Stars Vol. 2 - Various
It's good and all that but it sounds more like the recent past than the future (as many claim it to be). Then again it's good though....or is it?....
Living In The Past - Manix
Well the title says it all but when those mentasm stabs kick in towards the end it's a little bit awesome.
Empty Avenues - John Foxx & The Belbury Circle
A charming new pop direction for GhostBox or 'sounds a bit like Nik Kershaw singin over a crappy library record?'

Stay Away From My Eardrums Pleaz

Lorde
Lilly Allen
Arcade Fire
And most of what's on my Channel V ie. 10,000 of Mumford's sons.

Best Of 2013 - Archives, Compilations & Reissues

I think I'll start my end of year lists here as we are in the Retromania age.  I don't have to tell you 'new music in 2013 is just as good as in any era.' in a desperate tone to protect my brand so as to not lose my advertisers. I'll leave all that to those online magazine types. I guess it must be disheartening to be a youth in times such as these, you know, late in the epoch and atemporal etc. They have to try and make themselves believe that their culture is vibrant, alive and theirs because otherwise what have you got?  It's been a thin year for new musical output. Even in the experimental, dance and other usually exciting zones the good stuff is coming less and less. Hey I expected innovation and forward momentum in music to continue on until long after I was gone, I'm gettin ripped off too. So here's a list of great stuff from time.*

Conrad & Sohn - Conrad & Gregor Schnitzler (1981)

What the fuck is this? You may ask. Conrad the legendary German electronic pioneer did a one off LP with his then teenage son Gregor on bass and acid/sci-fi vocals and its fucking great. This is the best album you've never heard. (Yeah I know it's been kickin round the interweb for years but it never sounded this bloody good!)

Silber - Conrad Schnitzler (1974/75)
Another classic from my favourite German electronic guru. This is from the same era as the masterpiece Blau.

School Daze - Patrick Cowley (1973-81)
Porn soundtracks from the disco maestro who gave us the 16 minute extended version of Donna Summer's I Feel Love.

Purple Snow: Forecasting The Minneapolis Sound - Various
Sweet soul sounds and new wave funk of the late 70s/early 80s from the land of many lakes and er....Prince Rogers Nelson. Every once in a while a soul/funk compilation comes along and makes me think why would I listen to any other genre?

The Lost Tapes - Rodion GA (1978-83) 
Unreleased gold from Romania. These are the coolest Eastern European cyber-prog jamz you've n/ever heard.

Fragments Of Light - Sensations Fix (1974)

You gotta love a bit Italian space-prog from mid 70s Florence don't ya? Features Franco Falsini on guitar and synth.

It's You - Don Muro (1977)

Perplexing to say the least. Who'd have thought there was a missing link between Big Star and Tangerine Dream and that it'd be good?   

Celestial Music 1978-2011 - Laraaji (2013)

Every ones fave electronic zither player plays tunes for your spiritual enlightenment. 

I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age In America 1950-1990 - Various (2013)
Meet me on the astral plane.

Celestial Soul Portrait 1975-85 - Iasos (2013)
Meet me in the dimension beyond the astral plane. 

Re-Animator OST - Richard Band (1985)

Ever wondered what Bernard Herman would have sounded like with synthesised drums?

Solaris OST - Edward Artemyev (1972)

Awesome synthesiser score to Russia's most famous space movie. 

De Natura Sonorum - Bernard Parmegiani (1976)
20th Century French electronic composer gets his 70s classic reissued and then a few weeks later passes away. RIP.

GRM Works 1957-1962 - Iannis Xenakis (2013)

I've never heard a bad Xenakis record.

Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings From the 1970s & 80s - Various (2013)

I thought maybe the 70s Afro/beat/disco/psych/funk/rock well may have dried up but no, Soundway move from West to East and bring us more unheard gold.

Who Is William Onyeabor? - William Onyeabor (2013)

Funnily enough I've been asking myself that question since Strut released that seminal Nigeria 70 compilation in 2001. That irresistible keyboard sound is total Guttertronics innit?

Half Dead Ganja Music - Vox Populi (1987)
Experimental ambient psychedelia from France in the 80s. This sounds like it could have come out of today's cassette underground and I mean that in a good way.

The Alchemist: The Best Of 1992-2012 - Goldie (2013)
Rufige Cru,  Metalheadz & Goldie give us drum n bass gold. Disc 1 in particular is da bomb.

⥋⥋⥋⥋⥋⥋⥋

Best 2013 Mixtapes/Mixes/Podcasts etc....

Electro Chaabi for Avant-Guard Lovers - Various @ Soundcloud
Egyptian revolutionary jamz & stuff. Mixed by CLF.

Ketchup - DJ Mustard with Various Artists @ datpiff.com 
The sonic document of 2013. Ratchet = the future of rap and R&B or at least the exciting present.

1017 Thug - Young Thug @ datpiff.com
The coolest and most bizarre rapper ever.

Up/Down - Various @ ASoundAwareness
2 Choice mixes of Italian Library/Soundtrack music from David Thrussel, the man behind Omni Recording Corporation.

The Gold & Silver Dream (1971-82) - Various @?
Tribute to Daft Punk's Random Access Memories.

I Can't Beleive How Dark It is - Various @blogtotheoldschool
Old school darkside mix from Dev/null.

Dawn Of The Synth - Various @ EdiaboliksWorldOfPsychotronicSoundtracks
Synth Soundtracks mix.

Fact Mix 380- Various @FACT
The Black Dog present old school bleep and beyond.

Midnite in Europe Mix - Various @?
Moon Wiring Club Mix of 90s electronica.

Orange Dawn - Various @SonicRampage
90s Tech-Step mix from Pearsall.

Actual Pirate Material - Various @SonicRampage
Mid 90s jump up jungle mix by Pearsall.

The Brood

I should be doing my end of year list thing which is usually fun to do and is actually popular. At the moment I can't be arsed with it. Maybe Its a mood or maybe its something more. I can't even be bothered analysing why. Hopefully I'll get around to it next time.

I watched David Cronenberg's The Brood for the first time the other day and was blown away at how good it was.  I love some of his other films Existenz in particular but also Videodrome & The End Of Violence.  The Brood had become quite a mythical film for me and I thought well I better watch it.  When my wife was a small child of around 5 or 6 she was exposed to this film.  She then had nightmares for a very long time following that, with good reason (The Brood is v demented). She never knew the name of the film but her and her sister referred to it as Alien Space Babies.  One day in a high school film studies class a clip of The Brood was featured.  Finally Emma knew what the film was.  Anyway it was many years later when she was working in a certain cafe in Richmond in Melbourne that she served a bespectacled gentleman with a Canadian Accent.  This man praised her coffee making abilities saying something like "That was the best coffee I've ever had in my life." Minutes later the cafe owner pulled her aside and asked "Do You know who that was?" She replied "No." Then he said "That was the film director David Cronenberg!" She was shocked that she was face to face with the man who'd traumatised her childhood and she didn't even know it was him.  Suffice to say she didn't watch The Brood with me the other night.

Spoiler Alert! The alien space babies wreak havoc on Candice's school teacher and granny after popping out of her mums tummy due to bad thoughts! Now that's entertainment. Cindy Hinds who plays Candice the 5 year old is particularly good as are the evil brood.  Oliver Reed's character, Psychotherapist Dr Raglan, is incredibly creepy. Also loved Robert A Silverman as the disturbed but right on Jan Hartog. Not forgetting the performances of Samantha Eggar and Art Hindle as Candice's parents. Don't ever be persuaded to have Psychoplasmic Therapy otherwise you may spawn a brood of killer alien space babies of your own.  I'm pretty sure they got the idea for Alien right here as well things like Childs Play.  Upon finishing viewing of the movie I referred to Leonard Maltin to see what his verdict was.  He gave it a rating of a bomb giving me new found respect for anything in his movie guide that's awarded this rating.  What should it have some shit about Rosebud or some trite message to get it its deserved 4 stars Leonard?  Fuck off Maltin!

It must be nearly Christmas....

Moon Wiring Club always release their albums just before Christmas which usually means I've barely listened to them enough to include them in my end of year round up. Last year's Today Bread, Tomorrow Secrets would have been in my top 5, fo shizzle, if I'd heard it more than twice. So this is the new one, cool artwork again. Two different formats, this time a cd and a tape which are the same but different or something....