v/a Life Is A Problem (Mississippi Records, 2007)...

"Compilation of raw electric guitar-based gospel recorded between 1949 & 1976. Hard to find & unreleased gospel that makes most rock & roll sound weak & contained. Features Utah Smith, Rev. Lonnie Farris, Sister O.M Terrill & many lesser known artists. 14 tracks in all." -Mississippi.

HERE

Hatewave s/t (Tumult, 2000)...

First and possibly last release from this mercenary group of metal assassins from Chicago, known as Hatewave. Hatewave spew forth totally crushing math/speed/avant/noise/metal/grind. This recording documents Hatewave at their peak, in all their demented fury. Whirling riffs collide with obtuse time changes, shrieking howls are obliterated by frantic blast beats while ultra precise rhythms desintegrate into waves of entropic dissonance - Tumult.

HERE

DNA - DNA on DNA (No More, 2004)...

All the decent DNA tracks compiled onto one album including the Taste of DNA E.P. making the post below a bit pointless i suppose. The unreleased studio tracks 'Grapefruit,' 'Police Chase' and 'Young Teenagers Talk Sex' are heard here for the first time as well as live versions of the unreleased songs 'Nearing' and 'Surrender.'

HERE

DNA - A Taste of DNA (American Clavé, 1981)...

6 track E.P...
DNA were formed in 1978 by guitarist Arto Lindsay and keyboardist Robin Crutchfield. Rather than playing their instruments in a traditional manner, they instead focused on making unique and unusual sounds. Their music was described as spare, noisy, and angular and was compared to some of Captain Beefheart's output and even to Anton Webern. The abrasive and destructured sound of DNA can remind of the greatest hours of the Velvet Underground and has been forged by great names such Arto Lindsay (guitars and vocals), the Japanese percussion wizzard Ikue Mori, here on drums, Tim Wright, previously bassist of Pere Ubu who in DNA took the place of keyboardist Robin Crutchfield. The group was to have a decisive influence on people like Thurston Moore, John Zorn or acts like Blonde Redhead.

HERE

Sonerien Du - Gwerz Penmarc'h (Arfolk, 1978)...

Folk music from Brittany, France...
They take their name "Black Sonneurs" (Black Bell-ringers), from an unfortunate episode in the rivalries and misunderstandings between Bigoudens and Glaziks, when two pipers whose peculiarity was always to dress in black and came to Pont-l'Abbé to celebrate a marriage and were found drunk in a recumbent position in a ditch after the wedding, falsely accused and hanged for stealing money, in a notice to the city.

HERE

Unholy Grave - Ethnocide (Nuclear BBQ Party, 2001)...

28 track 'best of' compilation from the Osaka Grind-Kings.

HERE

Lazy Farmer - s/t (Songbird, 1975)...

The roots of the English folk scene are traceable to a few remarkable individuals. Paramount amongst them is Wizz Jones. Bert Jansch says, "I think he's the most underrated guitarist, ever." "We all used to follow him around," says John Renbourn. "Him and Davey Graham. He's the great granddaddy, an excellent guitarist." Inspired by American folk blues and wanderers in the Guthrie / Elliot / Kerouac tradition, Wizz began to play guitar seriously in the late 1950's. Versed in the arcana of American blues lore, possessing a right hand worthy of Big Bill Broonzy, Jones was a legendary figure even in the pre-dawn of Britain's folk explosion. Between 1968 and 1977 Wizz played and recorded mostly with a small coterie of friends or a band called Lazy Farmer that he and his wife, Sandy formed with ex-C.O.B. flautist, Joe Bidwell. The sole album that Lazy Farmer cut under their group name was released in Germany, and that is where Wizz' career flourished from the mid-70's onward.

HERE

Bunalim - s/t, 1970-1972 (Shadoks, 2007)...

The name Bunalim apparently means either Depression or Frustration in Turkish, fitting for a band hailing from a city, Istanbul, who defining mood is melancholy (according to Nobel Prize winning novelist Orhan Pamuk). You can hear both the energy of frustration and the sadness of depression in their music, which consists of blistering, Iron-Butterfly-heavy hard rockers mixed up with the style of traditional Anatolian folk dances and songs. Ballsy bombast and beautiful balladry both.-AQ

HERE

Pink Turds In Space, The Complete (Rejected Records)...

Thrash from Belfast, Ireland.
"They are highly political and highly anti-authority. They're tired of the kings and peasants game. They want to feed the starving and help the poor. Thats what they'd do if they had the resources to do so. Because they're part of that group they call trash, they're people that they call out of work trash. They would like to turn the tables on the rich just so the other half would know just how it really is. They're just totally punk. They live it. They're full punk. They're more of a punk band too, i mean they have a nice metallic-edged HC guitar but their arrangements are like high speed punk. Totally brutal, you'll know. Its not like Rorschach or Born Against which is just a fierce foundation of heated fucking steel with ultra-power over the top. You'll know. They're real brash and hateful. You can just tell. And they prove themselves without state of the art equipment."- Eric Wood (MITB) 1990.

HERE

Hellias - Closed In The Fate Coffin (Luciforous Art, 2004)...

Thrash Metal from Kraków, Poland formed in 1987...
Vicious and wicked, Hellias do not play fun thrash made for crossover wimps. This is metal made to summon the darkness and annihilate the light. The riffs are fast, heavy, and played with precision and nothing is overly distorted or intentionally obscured. The vocals and lyrics are intensely evil approaching a sound reminiscent of the earliest Black Metal. The end result is a sound that sears the mind and rips the flesh.

(1-11: Closed In The Fate Coffin rec. in 1991/92
12-18: Noc Potepienia EP rec. in 1988)

HERE

Ninnixu - Collection 2001-2007 (Non Compos Mentis, 2008)...

Bass only lo-fi thrashy kvlt black-metal filth from Boston Massachusetts.

..."consists of old school, mid-paced black metal straight out the first wave of the ‘80s, and, at other times, completely dives off the deep end of sanity as if a collision between Beherit, Black Funeral, and Abruptum were taking place in slow motion while your head caves in from the absolute horror of it all. The songs, which are ordered from 2001 to 2007, definitely show a progression of sorts (or descent into insanity as the case may be) with the older material decidedly within the realm of ‘80s-style black metal, albeit some haunting keyboards make appearances, and then becomes increasingly disordered and disturbing up to the present day with the latter material descending into black noise/ soundscape structures with a wholly unsettling vibe."

HERE

Dropdead / Unholy Grave split 7" (MCR COMPANY, 2003)...

The Dropdead tracks were recorded live at Sunlight Studio, Stockholm by Thomas Skogsberg back in 1998/99. Kurt Ballou reworked them at God City in February 2003. The Unholy Grave tracks were recorded at their rehearsal studio "Music House" by Takaho, November 2002.

HERE

Second Layer - World Of Rubber (Cherry Red, 1981)...

HEAD HERITAGE REVIEW

HERE

Bruce Haack - The Electric Lucifer, (Columbia, 1970)...

(not the Omni re-issue)

HERE

Joakim Skogsberg - Jola Rota, 1971 (Tiliqua , 2008)...

Swedish-forest-folk hippie ritual mixed with droned-out psych guitar. Truly strange, and captivating, vocal mumble (“Jolor”, a special singing style with roots in an ancient Swedish tradition of folk music). And, get this, it was actually mostly recorded out in a forest, on portable reel-to-reel gear! Once out of the woods, the recordings were overdubbed (Skogsberg being responsible for all sounds on this album) in studio, but remain quite raw, the mystery and majesty of northern landscapes, dark shadowy places, placid lakes, tall trees and moss-covered rocks utterly alive in the music of the nature-loving Skogsberg - AQ

TILIQUA RECORDS

HERE

Leo Kottke - 12 String Blues / Live At The Scholar (Oblivion,1969)...

INFO

HERE

Xibalba - Ancients (Guttural, 2007)...

This is Black Metal distilled to its most primitive essence. “Ancients” features the 1992 “In Lucescitae Tristis Hiei” demo as well as a rehearsal recording from 1994. While drawing their musical inspiration from the same sources as the Norwegian Black Metal pioneers of the early 1990’s (Bathory, Hellhammer, Sodom, etc.), Xibalba turned toward the ancient traditional Mayan culture for guidance in their rejection of the Catholic plague infesting Mexico. The result is Raw Black Metal perfection similar in some ways to their contemporaries, but still distinctively Xibalba. While technically simple, Xibalba focus on chord progressions so distinctive and clear that the listener is instantly captivated. Rather than overdrive the recording with heavy distortion and a blown-out mix, the instruments are all clear and crisp thus allowing the chords and notes to blend seamlessly to produce a lush and pure and, at times, epic sound not dissimilar to Darkthrone. Furthermore, Xibalba rely heavily on rudimentary heavy rock riffs that keep the music firmly grounded in the metal traditions that originally spawned the Black Metal movement. The vocals, however, often delivered in the tongue of their Mayan ancestors, evoke a sinister hostility that summons the valiant warrior spirit of the ancients to avenge the deaths of the majestic ancient cultures at the hands of the puny and wretched christian vermin that spread through the land leaving behind their legions of weak-minded slaves.

Forget about your sunno)))verload or your 1 week lifespan noise cd-rs and get this...

HERE

Odal - On Old Paths (Klaxon, 2007)...

After a load of limited cassette and vinyl releases this is the first c.d. release from S.F. Bay Area primitive Black Metal label Klaxon Records run by the Bone Awl duo. This revisits the early raw recordings from German Black Metal band Odal, which is out of print material: the demo, 1st and 2nd e.p.s with a track from a compilation 10"...

HERE

INFO

Furdidurke / Bone Awl...

Furdidurke / Bone Awl Split E.P. (Klaxon, 2006)

plus...

Furdidurke - Nov 2005 Reh Demo (Klaxon, 2006)


HERE

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty(excerpts)1970

Lee Ranaldo - Amarillo Ramp (for Robert Smithson)1997...

HERE

v/a Art of Field Recording: Volume I (Dust-To-Digital,2007)...

Archivists Art and Margo Rosenbaum spent half a century recording obscure artists from the backwoods: parlour tunes, church hymns, slide blues, chain gang songs, Southern gospel and creepy country ballads. Complete with scholarly tome, the result is a riveting document of an all-but-vanished culture. The recordings are amazing, super intimate and personal, many of them a cappella, lots of them including the various bits of conversation that took place before and after, making it feel like you were sitting right there on the porch. The collection is divided into four discs, each with a particular focus, instrumental and dance, blues, religious, and one disc that is a sort of sampling of all of the above and more, even including some Mexican folk, a German traditional, and other songs that maybe didn't fit perfectly into those genres.

Disc 1:Survey
Disc 2:Religion
Disc 3:Blues
Disc 4:Instrumental and Dance

INFO

Harmonia - Live 1974 (2007)...

A live document of a now legendary show on March 23rd, 1974 at Penny Station in Griessem, Germany. Not that it really matters that this is live, as their is no applause or chatter to clue you in, just bits of mumbled talking as the songs wind down at the very end. Harmonia members attribute this to there being only 50 or so people in the audience most of which were either too stoned to clap or too unsure at what points the songs begin and end. Doesn't seem to matter to the band anyway as we've already seen their backs were to the audience the entire time. But for a live document the sound quality is impeccable and what's even better all of the tracks performed weren't on any of their recordings, giving us, thirty-three years later, 5 new vintage Harmonia tracks to pore over. Most of which are over 9 minutes long.

HERE

v/a The Tone Of The Universe (=The Tone Of The Earth) (PseudoArcana, 2007)...

This compilation arose out of an online discussion about the news that astromoners have discovered a galaxy - far far away - that is resonating in a steady B flat drone. Due to this drones inaudibility (not only is it remote but it is also something like 50 octaves below an audible pitch...) it was decided that a compilation of 'cover versions' was in order.
That is not to however imply that the tone b flat is neccesarily present in all of these tracks...
Featuring: Blithe Sons, Peter Wright, Keijo, Eugene Carhesio & Leighton Craig, CJA, Anla Courtis, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Hands of Satisfaction, A.M/Uton, The Moglass, Neil Campbell, Birchville Cat Motel, The Skaters, seht, Of, 1/3 Octave Band, The Nether Dawn, My Cat is an Alien

HERE

Witch - Lazy Bones!! (Shadoks, 1975)...

Zambian garage psych in the style of La Revolución de Emiliano Zapata or Four Levels of Existence—definitely not "African" sounding. Killer wah and lots of leads over simple rhythms with a rad "Zuma" meets Link Wray vibe.

HERE

Burmese - A mere shadow and reminiscence (Tumult, 2003)...

Pounding militaristic beats demarcate vast expanses of throbbing feedback, guttural growls, tarpit washes of bowel loosening low-end and 16 rpm grindcore. Things do speed up occasionally into blurry bursts of static and skree, but even then, they eventually devolve back into some sort of primordial and glacial caveman stomp, all murky thud and swampy roar, thick and suffocating and massively heavy.

HERE

Nirvana - Body of Consciousness/Uguiya to Jeep by Iguana Greenwave (New Age, 2007)...

Another hit from James Ferraro of The Skaters.

HERE

v/a Radio Phnom Penh (2005)...

HERE

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES

Lamborghini Crystal - 1992 Cool Runnings Holiday (New Age Tapes 2007)...

HERE

Teotihuacan s/t (New Age Cassettes 2004)...

More Skaters related weirdness...
Recorded in Tijuana, Mexico and the desert outskirts of El Cajon, California. 1983 Ufology convention. Music for the desert temples of extraterrestrial light.

HERE

v/a I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore 1927-1948 (2007)...

As good as it looks!

INFO

GET YER GREEEZEE FINGERS ON IT THEN

Pekos / Yoro Diallo (2007)...

First release from Drag City sublabel Yaala Yaala, a Sublime Frequencies style series of West African musics culled from field recordings, found sounds and tapes purchased at flea markets. And much like Sublime Frequencies, these mostly low fidelity recordings are allowed to remain mysterious, no liner notes, very little information about the artists, just a brief bit of text, mostly about the discovery of the music itself, and one can only assume, no system in place for providing the artists with royalties? Yoro Diallo is from Mali and is a well known singer and here is paired up with Pekos, who plays a guitar-like lute, an instrument whose sound is absolutely mindblowing, a fierce buzzing rhythmic riffing, crunchy and heavy, warm and resonant and so so powerful. Strummed and struck, picked and rubbed, weaving a totally hypnotic groove, on the first track it takes the form of a raw blues jam, the melody looped and repeated mantra like while Diallo, wails over the top, his voice deep and intense, as powerful and raw as the music beneath it - Aquarius

HERE