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THE MACHINE GUN TV
Go (Public Eyesore) CDR $8
Intense,
goofy, heavy noise "pop" by a Japanese "trio"(the third member is a TV
set). Released 2005.
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THE MAGIK
MARKERS
A Panegyric to the Things I Do Not Understand (Gulcher Records) $10
So, you know, I was listenin' to the radio back in
'76--surprised to hear the
title track from Patti Smith's Radio Ethopia, when the LP was
brand new and I hadn't got my copy yet. "Radio Ethiopia" (the track)
was this amazing surge of pure sonic madness--total free blow-out--and
it left my head reeling. Then I heard the full album, otherwise devoid
of
the free thing--and I was bummed. Well, 30 years later, here's the
Magik Markers. This trio sounds like its
ABCs of R&R begin with "Radio Ethiopia" + the breathless free-rock
orgasm of the Stooges' "L.A. Blues" + the
most open moments of the first Godz LP on ESP-Disk. Of
course, a zillion other things've come along in the meanwhile. The
Magik Markers were bathed in hardcore as young'uns, and they came of
age in the wake of the Dead C, Harry Pussy, and a worldwide noise scene
that touches any and every other
alleged genre. But at the heart of the Magik Markers is something much
older: rock and roll. You know, R+R as envisioned down
at the pub by Mark Smith & the Fall--except you can't remember the
chord changes. Let's twist again like we did the first time we heard
Suicide's "Rocket USA."
Drummer Pete Nolan can scatter and merge in a way that
you could say references Sunny Murray's free breakthroughs with Albert
Ayler, but just as often sounds like he could be
playing "Louie Louie" in a '65 garage band. Somewhere behind and
beneath the clang and dissonance of guitarists Elisa Ambrogio (also
vocals) and Leah Quimby (bass axe), I still hear the distorted blurry
notes of Paul Burlinson with the Johnny Burnette Trio--the murderous
licks of Pat Hare with Howlin' Wolf. And in between:
everything from West Coast Quicksilver/Dead/Love to dark heavy
Velvets/Zep/Sabbath/PiL. But remember, these young studs take out all
the "fancy" stuff: no songs, no scales, nothin' but room--lots of
rhythms, tons of sounds and noises (although don't mistake the MMs for
a power-electronics assault squad), even a few recognizable English
words. Yeah, the words. They seem spontaneous, but offer tantalizing
hints at the magik behind the musicians: "You're my American
woman. You're my American thighs. It's a dark night in Vegas. It's a
dark night in Vegas" . . . "I am not compassionate. I don't like mercy.
I will take your life" . . . "It's a shy,
arthritic sky" . . . ?!
In spite of their punk roots, the Markers' form tends toward extended
breakdowns: this disc is divided into two "sides"--two long tracks--the
first running to 19:41, and the other is 19:38. No rules is the rule
here. For instance, dig the near-acapella section on the first
"side"--whistlin', odd voices, clappin', just an occasional rattle or
beep--very casual and simple but mesmerizing. Then there's the part on
the second "side" where it sounds like everything is moving
in outta-focus slow-mo, like after you've drank waytoomuch cough syrup
(DXM)--'n yr legs 've turned t' melted, oooozing plastic. But my
favorite part (swoon!) is when Elisa begins an erotic gutter-cat rant:
"I'm your ramblin' rose . . . I'm your Sister Anne," obvious
references to the MC5. Imagine THAT band jammin' with Yoko Ono--and yer
about halfway to here. Elisa raves against the torrent of Quimby's
roaring feedback and Nolan's exploding skins in an intuitive way
that recalls Patti Smith's lost-in-the-whirlpool moments
and/or Damo Suzuki's most tongue-driven gestures with Can. Whew.
Formed in 2000, the Magik Markers have moved from New England to
Kentucky to NYC--who knows where next? They've played around the U.S.
and western Europe, including gigs with alt-rock heavies like Sonic
Youth and Dinosaur Jr. The trio has released various CDRs and cassettes
on their own Arbitrary Signs label, as well as an LP of "early"
material for T. Moore's Ecstatic Peace, and CDR releases for Slippy
Town, Imvated, and Apostasy. For their first manufactured CD release,
the Markers have landed on the Gulcher imprint--it somehow makes sense
that this group of out-crowders would end up with the same label that
spewed
MX-80, the Gizmos, and other weirdos onto an unsuspecting world. The
strange thing is this time the world might be paying attention!
Ssshhhhhh--pass the peace pipe--turn up the amplifiers.
--Eddie Flowers
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MANDOG
Big Wednesday (Captain Trip Records; Japan) $7
2004 disc from Japanese trio led by guitarist Keiichi Miyashita, who
describes his music as "instant composing." Miyashita, bassist Takayuki
Enomoto, and drummer Yasunori Kubo improvise six "instant compositions"
filled with stormy, distorted, swirling, open-ended music that sounds
not too far removed from early guitar-oriented Krautrock. This stuff is
raw and dirty--no dainty psych-rock retro-isms here. |
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BILL McCARTER/STALINGRAD
SYMPHONY
Secrets/Struggle (Gulcher Records) $10
In the small town of Vincennes, Indiana, way back yonder in the
punk-blossomed year of 1978, local musician Bill McCarter decided to do
like everybody else in the world and record his own homemade EP. So, he
wrote some songs, bought a 4-track reel-to-reel tape deck, and talked
some of his musician pals into playing along. Among those pals were
future Lazy Cowgirls members Pat Todd, Keith Telligman, and Allen
Clark. Also on board was Mark McCormick, who later played with
Telligman and Clark in my band Crawlspace. Everything went very well
with Bill's recordings--except he never got the
EP released!
In 1979, Bill moved to L.A. around the same time I relocated there from
Alabama. We had met in early '77 while Bill was hangin' around the
Gizmos/Gulcher non-scene in Bloomington, Indiana. He gave me a cassette
of the music he had recorded the year before with his friends in
Indiana. I thought the music on the tape was wonderful, although
nothing like the hardcore and chaos that was beginning to consume the
L.A. scene and my own musical head. Still, it was hearing this tape
that inspired our musical collaborations, which led to Crawlspace.
Bill's unreleased EP, which he called Secrets,
sounded obviously influenced by the Velvet Underground, like
anybody with taste in the late 70s. But there was a lot
more happening. The first thing that struck me was the strange
Midwestern-Anglo vocal style--here was a guy who had spent a lot of
time in his bedroom listening to Syd Barrett, Nick Drake, Brian Eno,
and other assorted UK imports. The vocals were mostly stuck under the
band's sound, which
pulsated along in a Velvet-y way, but had strong hints of a small-town
"country" vibe. Bill was a huge fan of that very early
English-house-in-the-country rock like pre-metal Humble Pie and Led Zep
III.
The opening track, "Lady In White," also displays a strong connection
to the Byrds, circa 5D and Notorious Byrd Brothers. "Is It Pleasant?"
is kinda like middle-period Velvets at their most rocked out, with Mark
McCormick goin' psycho on guitar. Bill's spoken lyric on this one is my
favorite of the bunch, showing off a very dry and warped sense of
humor. One of Bill's "secrets" (?) is that he had lovingly assembled a
collection of Charlie Chaplin shorts
he liked to watch on his Super-8 projector. Remember how Big Star
sounded kinda spacey when they weren't rockin'? That's what "I Hear The
Blue Sky Sing" brings to mind--although it
kinda rocks (or at least chugs). The final of the four Secrets
songs, "(Don't Know) What
To Say," is like waitin'-for-the-man Velvets + ride-a-white-swan T. Rex
+ C&W guitar licks. Beautiful!
During the 1980s, mostly before Crawlspace got off the ground in 1987,
Bill was a fixture at Lazy Cowgirls gigs in L.A. He appeared at the
beginning of each show as
the Reverend Billy Ray McCarter, delivering a short "sermon" (intro)
before the band roared through its post-Ramones punk
thing. From 1985-1989, Bill was a full-time Crawlspace member, and
appeared on the various things we released at the time. Then he seemed
to disappear. Actually, he moved from L.A. to Oxnard, which is similar
to disappearing.
But in 2001, the McCarter phoenix again rose from the ashes in the form
of a very unexpected CDR release called Struggle under the name
Stalingrad Symphony. For second guitar and bass, Bill called on L.A.
friends Michael Leigh and Leonard Keringer, from the then-current
edition of Pat Todd's Lazy Cowgirls. Just to make things
a bit more confusing, Keringer also played with Crawlspace in 1987.
Bill's long-time Vincennes friend Robert Kemp, who
also played on Secrets in 1978, came out to play drums. And
what did this group do together when they went into Earle
Mankey's studio? Nothing like Secrets, that's for
sure. Instead, they whupped up a pretty intense 40-minute piece of
improv and free-rock sprawl.
Gulcher Records has collected the never-released Secrets EP and
the barely circulated Struggle CDR on one groovy compact disc
that should bend back your jaded ears real good. This is high-quality
stuff, brothers and sisters--nothin' like the snake oil that now
poisons our collective R&R water supply. Dig.
--Eddie Flowers |
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MEERCAZ (Gulcher Records) $10
UNCLE ED'S GUIDE TO THE MEERCAZ DEBUT CD
Meercaz is Mozzley M. (a.k.a. Muzz a.k.a. Muslim Delgado) of Portland,
Oregon. Mozz sings and plays guitar (plus keyboards and bass). He's
assisted on his debut Gulcher CD by Jason Dollar, Matt, Jen Stephnick,
Clay Silva, Jesse, and Maura Arraj. Muzz is
based in Portland, Oregon, and looks not unlike the young Jimi Hendrix
(boss 'fro, bro!). He's previously released one vinyl single on
his own Point Wrex label.
The Meercaz sound is hard to pin down, which is pretty bitchen
considering the fact that it's shameless ROCK! The production is simple
yet experimental--the approach is primitive but spacey--simultaneously
"retro" and "futuristic" without batting an eye. It's aggressive guitar
music that's "punk" in its DIY manic quality, but with an aesthetic
that's much closer to the late 60s and early 70s. To my ears,
Meercaz is one of the handful of things in recent years that matches
what I think modern rock music SHOULD sound like (and rarely does).
(Ed's listening aids: bongloads of good bud &
leaf leftovers, half mini-bottle of Mexican tequila, cheap red
wine, VHS of Invasion of the Bee Girls [1973 flick w/ biker
fave William Smith & big-bosomed Anitra Ford] on TV w/ sound turned
down.)
1. "Legend": Clangin' feel-good neo-proto-punk (?!) that sounds like
some long-rumored unreleased "pop" track from
the first Stooges LP.
2. "Lovesick": Big flyin' wedges of guitar-riff abandon--testosterone
power rush--"Portland New Wave Night 1972" (listed as one of
Mozz's influences at myspace.com/meercaz. Other influences: "Andy
Warhol's Bad Hair [not the musical] 200 Motels Target and old school
VCA video Old Britain"). This was the flip side of the 2007 Meercaz
single.
3. "Future News": Noisy strychnine-laced fuzzkill
instrumental w/ freestyle lead stuff and synth stings hovering
throughout.
4. "Manic Mirror": Primitive (and yeah, I'll do the quotes again) "pop"
that has a totally DESTROYED London '65/'66
vibe--even intelligible vocals unlike many Meercaz "tunes."
5. "Fan Of A Daze": Extremely listenable instrumental that does
"actually" (pardon my french) come on like Muzz's hairstyle
predecessor, Mr. Hendrix. Of course it sounds more like a loop of a
Jimi lick--beautifully repetitive and aggressive even in its casual
lope. Hot stuff!
6. "Unlust": THE hit single of 2007 in Slippy Town! Only 200 pressed,
though, so you are welcome from Gulcher Records for its inclusion here.
It's a frantic rocker so simple and brief
that it leaves you instantly wanting MORE! Well, here it is surrounded
by lots MORE!
7. "Nothing": Kinda sub-Hawkwind twiddlin' & riffin' in a way nice
manner, while the "song" has all the brain power of David Peel or the
early Stooges. GRUNT!
8. "Troubled Hand": In some dimensions, this IS "Louie Louie"--crazy,
primitive, spacey--rock & also roll--not to mention a funky bass
line . . . and OH MAN THAT GUITAR! GOJOHNNYGONE! Don't you wish you
were listening to "Louie Louie" in THAT dimension right now? Me gotta
go--- [fade on synth in mad-robot setting]
9. "She Piece": Chunky stew, man. How many modern
heavy groups use tambourines? I can count to 1 . . . meet Meercaz,
suckers! Ooh, that guitar thing--like the Byrds on steroids! And
then the long break-down/out . . .
10. "Defeated At Home": And finally--WOW--it's flower pop (no quotes!),
albeit still surrounded by the trademark Meercaz mud. Sit on the floor
'n cross yr legs 'n pass that thang, brutha. Zonnnnnne.
Get it! |
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DEANO MERINO
Baby Crocodiles (Dual Plover; Australia) $8
Home-brewed (not)pop songs from Australian dude with mad guitar skills,
unpretentious lyrics, upbeat outsider vibe, touches of hiphop 'n surf
'n several other stylistic references. |
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MEXICAN BLOOD BROTHERS (Old
Gold) CDR $6
Old Gold catalog: "a vicious three-peice dual guitar drum attack
from ben young, jimmy young, and ben lawless, recorded live at
the eyedrum in 2000. heated and sweaty, like the lions at atlanta
zoo. cover stolen from lamp post in amsterdam." Limited edition
of 50 copies. |
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MIDWICH
3 Days In, 4 to Go (Carbon Records) CDR $6
This is another big gob o' zoned excellence from Rob Hayler outta
Leeds, England. Minimal braniac roots + techno sexy vibes + the eternal
drone = feel good down in the electronic dirt. Handmade silk-screened
sleeve; limited edition of 75. |
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BEN MILLER/DEGENERATION
Eyelands Under Eyelid (Gulcher Records) $10
ROGER MILLER:
Benjamin Miller has been exploring the outer reaches of music since
1969, starting with brothers Laurence (Mr. Laurence Experience) and
Roger (Mission Of Burma) in the psychedelic/art rock band Sproton
Layer. Blending psychedelia, "20th Century Classical" and jazz elements
(his punk credentials include Destroy All Monsters), his music has
continued to challenge, disturb, and chart new territory. While he is
adept on both saxophone and guitar, this release finds him in full-on
solo guitar, "degeneration" style. With his guitar on a stand, pickups
on both ends (and a free-floating pickup as well), various elastic
metals dripping off the guitar and threatening to melt in the heat of
the moment, Miller coaxes sounds out of the guitar that are about as
far from "guitar" as can be created. Closer to neurons firing inside
the brain than harmonic referenced sounds, this music is both
industrial and hyper-organic. It can be listened to "moment to moment"
with full concentration, or as an ambiance when you want to "leave your
world behind." For both purposes, his music is an asset. And in case
you were wondering, Miller tours with this "degeneration" set-up and
can create the same type of improvised music, on-the-spot, that often
sounds more like it was pre-composed, and makes you wonder if all the
sounds in the world might also be music. Worth your set of ears, that
is a fact.
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MING
Versus the Great Satan (Carbon
Records) CDR $6
Third release in Carbon's 10th
anniversary CDR series. "the anonymous force of Ming, in the great
battle for
the hearts and minds of all beings everywhere, from the Great Satan."
Low-hover drone 'n scrape recorded in Lower Hutt, New Zealand and
Tampere, Finland. Lower Hutt? Hmm--Birchville Cat Motel territory--and
we all know that Finland has its share of tribal-drone freaks. Get the
idea? Mmmmmmm--clnnnngggggg-- "1 2 3 4 we
don't want your fucking war!" Turntables, live loops, tapes, field
recordings, ukelele, ebowed strings. Rrrrrrrrrrr. |
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MORE
Sweet Killers (Old Gold) CDR $6
Long, spacious improv and raw jam from Atlanta-area bunch headed by Old
Gold boss Ben Young. Nice field-recorded "Farm Intro" (chirp chirp).
Recorded 1994-2001. |
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MORE
La Luba Mia (Old Gold) CDR $6
Here's a fine collection of noise rock, deep hover, and free clang by
Steve Pomberg, John Armstrong, Marshall Avett, and Ben Young, recorded
1994-2003. Great cover photo. Limited edition of 50 copies. |
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MOTH
The Secret Tapes (Rhizome; Australia) CDR EP $6
Rhizome: "The third of the Moth trilogy & thus the final Moth title
mops up home-recorded snippets from the period 1997-2003. A few tracks
saw the light of day on the '33'16' CD-R micro-released in an
edition of 7 in 1999, but most cuts previously unavailable and unheard.
This time strictly solo, no collaborations, 'Files' hovers through
minimal guitar tinker to weightless drones and the closing,
surprisingly melodic, piece. Short and
sweet." |
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MX-80
Always Leave 'Em Wanting Less: Live in Chicago and San
Francisco (Atavistic) $15
MX-80 live in 1996 on the radio in Evanston,
Illinois; at the Bottom of
the Hill in San Francisco (I was there!); and at the
Empty Bottle in Chicago. They do mostly songs from I'VE SEEN ENOUGH,
along with "Myonga von Brontee" from their '76 BIG HITS EP, five
instrumental bits called "Black Feldman," and the "Halloween" theme.
This is all in their late-90s downer mode with lots of heavily
processed guitar sounds.
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MX-80
We're An American Band (Family Vineyard) $11
This is a great one, my favorite MX-80 album since Out of the
Tunnel. Where most artists using slice'n'dice computer techniques
come across as cold and calculated, these Midwestern/San Fran mutants
take to such matters like a 1950s robot suckin' on a can of oil. It
just makes 'em more slippery and wise. "No Brainer" opens the
proceedings with goofy scary spoken samples and Bruce Anderson's
searing guitar--just perfect. And then the title track--Rich Stim
literally speaks the lyrics to the Grand Funk hit, backed by flamenco
guitar, Marc Weinstein's snail-trail drumming, and a background
drone--hilarious yet oddly
sincere. How far down can they go? "Mr. Watson" tugs you deeper, and
then the next tune is, yes, "Hell"! On the latter, Bruce shoots out
little pellets of knotted guitar gnarl while Rich raps cynically about
afterlife dualities. Like several of the songs here, "Susan" features
prominent acoustic guitar (is that Jim
Hrabetin?). The simple riffing is built up with background textures and
sampled vocals into something kinda pretty (maybe like the Susan in the
title?). MX-80's political/cultural sympathies are on
full display for "Don't Hate the French." Rich's deadpan defense of
Amerika's favorite Euro whipping boys is right on target and very nice
to hear in this stupid time of increasing xenophobia. That's Rich's
better half Angel Corpus Christi on background vocals. And hey, that's
Dale Sophiea behind the cut'n'paste control panel throughout--making
song-sense of all the performances, sounds, and samples. I assume the
Fidel-lookalike also adds some bass guitar here and there. "You Turned
My Head Around" is a love song, where we find the narrator's hatred of
a barking dog swayed by affection for its owner: "I love your ass so
much/I even love your dog." Rich pulls out the sax for "Give It
Up"--always nice to hear--while the group sails and plods. "Cry
Uncle" features Rich's super-white rapping against something that
sounds
a bit like sci-fi reggae. "So Clear," released as a single a couple
years back, has surreal verses and a hooky chorus, but it's still way
down in the down. How do these guys sound so cheerful and so miserable
at the same time?! Their holiday classic "Christmas With the Devil"
(from Gulcher's Xmas Snertz comp) is also included. "Lights
Out" rants against energy hogs, something the MX-80 gang has been doing
for thirty years now. You can blame George W. and his filthy-rich pals,
but don't blame it on this band! And it all closes with "(I'm) Flying."
13 smash hits from a real world we can only dream of inhabiting. Yeah,
like I said, this is a great one. Released 2005.
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