Before Music

Lonnie Holley works with found materials to rebuild the broken and reconsider the discarded before breaking down and rebuilding what he finds there. His process of artistic destruction and rebirth initially recalls that of the Tibetan sand mandala rituals, though Holley insists that he's working with dust rather than sand: "It’s taking from this earth the dust of all the dead. All the wars and all that humans had to deal with has become the dust. The earth is the grave, it’s the biggest graveyard that has ever been." Musical dust rather than physical dust, Just Before Music evokes the old and forgotten sounds of label Dust-to-Digital's output, while at the same time appears odd and spontaneous, Holley's concerns contemporary (our irresponsible embrace of the notion of technological progress- leaving the physical and mental relics of lives, deaths, and tragedies behind in our wake). Undoubtedly strange, yet remedial, and disarming in its absolute sincerity.

B

try / buy

Sun City Girls - Torch of the Mystics (1990)

Sun City Girls belong to a fictional school of weirdo rockers I just invented called the 'post-Troutmask, post-Locust Abortion school of weirdos,' where they specialize in unpredictability, blending influences, and destroying rock and roll. Torch of the Mystics is a special record because it has the band blending psychedelic rock, 'world' music, punk, exotica, and folk without trying too hard to crack jokes, piss the listener off, or destroy any of the aforementioned influences. In fact, it's all pretty straightforward in its kaleidoscopic insanity. Space Prophet Dogon transcends their weirdness and lo-fi sensibilities because it's so beautiful. Burial in the Sky moves past 'world' appropriations and avant-garde intensity because in 38 minutes they earn genuine catharsis. All the weirdness of a band who looked back at Troutmask Replica's disemboweled rock through the scope of Locust Abortion Technician's new-psych mindfuckery, Torch of the Mystics is also as mysterious, exotic, and moving as the sources they assemble.

A+

here

Joe Meek & the Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

Freak-out concept album about life in outer-space from freaked-out genius/psychopath Joe Meek. Uses instruments 'of this world' to create otherworldly soundscapes/vibes and so it's Chipmunks in space or Hawaiian jams in space or music from your lounge in space. It freaks me the fuck out. Whether that's because Meek was a freak (rhyme!) and this shit is a straight vision of his insanity, or because it's actually pretty awesome in places (Love Dance of the Saroos) as it blends instantly recognizable retro sounds with the anxiety/alienation of the unknown, I have no idea. All I know is I will never play it at night.

C+

try
spotify

Material - Improvised Music New York 1981

HOW WAS THIS EVEN THE SAME YEAR AS MEMORY SERVES?!

A freeform mess with an emphasis on silences, unsettling rattlings, and then assaults, rather than just that last step. Hellish and disturbing, particularly in the silences. When they give it all they’ve got assault-wise, their musicianship is actually pretty awesome. The tones in Untitled 3 sound like they just killed jazz! The pig/ape noises in Untitled 4 sound like they just stopped being human! Visceral enough to be unpretentious: I’m pretty sure what they’re going for is however the listener reacts, whether that be stimulated, disgusted, or both.

A-

Charles Mingus - Let My Children Hear Music (1972)

1. The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers 9:34

2. Adagio ma non troppo 8:23

3. Don't Be Afraid, the Clown's Afraid Too 9:40

4. Hobo Ho 10:07

5. The Chill of Death 7:38

6. The I of Hurricane Sue 10:09

Somehow seamlessly blends spoken word, animal noises, jazz, and classical music.... I love this album

A+

v0

Royal Trux - Twin Infinitives (1990)

1. Solid Gold Tooth/Ice Cream/Jet Pet/RTX-USA/Kool Down Wheels (16:19)

2. Chances Are the Comets in Our Future/Yin Jim Versus the Vomit Creature (16:46)

3. (Edge of the) Ape Oven (15:03)

4. Florida Avenue Theme/Lick MyBoots/Glitterburst/Funky Son/Ratcreeps (20:31)

Twin Infinitives is a very polarizing album. You'll either think its incredible or awful. Moreso than a lot of albums of its kind, people who are open to experimental music can hate it just as much as those who aren't

So you've got

1) pretentious avant-garde bullshit played by junkies
2) the second step in the deconstruction of rock n roll
3) Trout Mask Replica for generation x
4) unlistenable shit

which is the usual difference of opinions you get- it's either pretentious and unlistenable or intentionally unlistenable for the sake of some greater project- i.e. deconstructing music, and so it is not dissimilar to undisputed all time great album x

but then you get

5) I love Trout Mask Replica but this is unlistenable (not pretentious, just bad)
6) this is more and less than you expect: it's neither consciously deconstructing the way you listen to music, nor is it bad by any means. It just is.

Seeing how long and famously difficult it is (if these tracks were split into individual tracks I probably wouldn't have found it so taxing), I was actually nervous about listening to it for the first time at work! I thought I was undertaking a big project for some reason. The first time I listened to someone like Merzbow I got used to the noise within a few minutes and then found the experience refreshing and exciting. Twin Infinitives is not like that though. It occasionally does something relatable or recognisable and then departs on some other bizarre avant-noise-rock tangent. The fact that the tracks are grouped together in this way makes each one feel more dependent on the next, so even though you occasionally go hey, I like that!, you know it's only a temporary thing and so the whole listening process is very uneasy.

Romantic in the most gen x way, it sounds like the couple didn't leave their room for a few weeks, recording music for only themselves. I find this makes listening to the album more enjoyable than the Royal Trux are two geniuses self-consciously deconstructing the way we listen to music theory. At the same time though, Neil Michael Hagerty played for Pussy Galore who are nowhere near as strange as this, so there must be some sort of ideology or it'd just sound like bluesy noise rock. He's obviously capable of more than the excellent amateurism that I want to give him credit for. Still, I'm more happy believing that Cats and Dogs is a deconstructionist album because it emulates so much more of the sounds that it deconstructs. It's so close to being conventional but constantly undercuts itself and collapses in a noisy heap. Twin Infinitives is the noisy heaps from Cats and Dogs taken to the extreme and there's really nothing like it. So I can't tell whether it's an intellectual project for rock critics to celebrate and loathe, or a romantically amateurish mess like lo-fi don't give a fuck about music theory guys Half Japanese, just more avant-garde than Jonathan Richman. It would be corny to end this with maybe it just is... Give it time, it's not unlistenable. If you want to think it's a consciously difficult project for intellectual means, then that's cool, think that. If you want to think it's unpretentious lo-fi goodness by way of fuck I don't know there's really nothing else like it- The Dead C?, then think that! It's a disgusting mess and I love it.

A

320

Iannis Xenakis - Electronic Music (2000) [320]

1. Diamorphoses (1957)

2. Concret PH (1958)

3. Orient-Occident (1960)

4. Bohor (1962)

5. Hibiki-Hana-Ma (1970)

6. S.709 (1992)

This is a collection of some of the most important electronic music composed in the 20th century. Few composers have risen to Xenakis' level of sophistication and vision, to which this album is testament. This is music which shaped the development of electronic music and is therefore not just an extremely enjoyable and challenging listen, but a hugely important historical document.

Download