ibliss (rare earth XXIX)

 ibliss - supernova (spiegelei-aamok, 1972)

Borne out of the confused Kraftwerk history, and taken under the wing of Conny Plank, Ibliss were one of the most remarkable one album wonders. Featuring Basil Hammoudi (from Organisation) and Andreas Hohmann (one of the two drummers on the first Kraftwerk album) augmenting a trio of no less talent, Ibliss created a logical jazz-fusion diversion on the Organisation sound, heavily featuring flutes, saxes and an overdose of percussion. All this in a typically Teutonic cosmic concoction, kinda Kraftwerk meets Miles Davis and Rocksession era Embryo, and also hinting at the later Kollektiv. It's a great shame they only released the one album!  the crack in the cosmic egg

Al rastrear en los primeros y geniales Kraftwerk y, en sus electrificantes y experimentales sesiones es recurrente recuperar el mágico 'Tone Float' de Organisation. Entre aquellos restos (Andreas Hohmann, Basil Hammoudi) también quedó uno de los tesoros mejor escondidos del krautrock, que dejaría sorprendido al explorador de ideas preconcebidas, pues si hubiéramos de situar su contenido serían Annexus Quam, Ikarus, Niagara o Embryo símiles de excepción. Percusiones repetitivas y tribales con exploraciones de saxo y guitarra en la infecciosa 'Margah', el trance ya ha comenzado. Sigue el interludio cósmico de 'Drops', puro y sinuoso jazz cósmico sobre el que levitar de la mano del saxo de Rainer Buechel. 'High life' continúa por esa senda evocadora, dominada por una eterna línea de bajo e improvisaciones flautiles. La mántrica 'Athir' supone el despertar, veo la India a lo lejos cuando el chamán nos invoca de vuelta a la quietud de la noche y a sus extraños moradores.

 

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erkki kurenniemi (rare earth XXVIII)

erkki kurenniemi - äänityksiä [recordings 1963-1973] (love records, 2002)

One of the undeniable pioneers of Finnish electronic music is Erkki Kurenniemi (b. 1941), who founded The University of Helsinki Electronic Music Studio in the early 1960's. Kurenniemi built his own series of synthesizers, named as DIMI, which are nowadays mostly possessed by Swedish collector and electronic musician Ralph Lundsten, and published some of his experimental compositions like 'Dance of the Antropoids'. Alongside such Finnish pioneers as Eino Ruutsalo (for whose short films Kurenniemi composed music), Kurenniemi also did some early work on the field of Finnish media art and contributed to Finnish video art and happenings. These days Kurenniemi works as an independent researcher, specialising in such subjects as artificial intelligence. finnscene

A former nuclear scientist who composed computer-based music and designed his own instruments founding the University Of Helsinki Electronic Music Studio in 1962.  Kurenniemi's pioneering work included microprocessor-based digital synthesizers built in the early 1970's. discogs

Siempre he sentido una especial atracción hacia los primeros aventureros de la música electrónica, más allá incluso de sus propias grabaciones, sólo el hecho antropológico de indagar en sus técnicas, instrumentos y creaciones ya me fascina. Desde visionarios creadores y académicos como Stockhausen, Moondog, Morton Subtonick o el propio Erkki a inefables exploradores del underground como Brucke Haack o Silver Apples, estos nombres son fiel reflejo de la libertad creativa del momento y de su desarrollo al margen de la industria y sus tendencias. Esta recopilación de grabaciones del finlandés nos tranpsortará a un solitario collage sónico lleno de sugerentes improvisaciones y cintas maniupaladas en 'hana', 'antropoidien tanssi' o ' mix master universe 2' y hasta alguna melodía presa de inteferencias en 'invention'. 

Para los curiosos, en el siguiente paper encontraréis una revisión de los sintes y secuenciadores que Erkki construyó durante este período y que llegó a utilizar en sus grabaciones o directos, tales como su mítico Dimi.

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sir irchard bishop

sir richard bishop - intermezzo (ideologic organ, 2012)

Intermezzo parades this variety in its myriad forms. Bishop has always been a capable purveyor of the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink “genre” as exemplified in Sun City Girls’ many albums. We recognize strains as disparate as Spaghetti Western soundtrack, flamenco, long-form epic, Southern-fried folk, and delay-laden shambolic noise. If you need your dose of transcendental acoustic glory, you’ll find it on “Inner Redoubt.” If you’re looking for a front porch stomp with a little bit of Spanish flavor, check “Hump Tulip.” Want a dusky raga with a tense mood? The next track “Dhumavati” will provide. Those who see the solo guitar as reaching its limits must be turning deaf ear towards Sir Richard.

The puzzling thing about this work is not the differences in its tracks, but the title. Each of these pieces can stand on their own merit, and none of them feel like an interlude between the two songs that surround them. There seem to be two options here: either Intermezzo is a threshold between Bishop’s other works, or each of these pieces stands on its own as a bridge between experiences, connecting what came before it with what comes after (...) Intermezzo displays Bishop in top form, and if this is an interlude, the next act should be spectacular. tiny mix tapes

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matt valentine and erika elder

Live in Mon 10 Copenhagen 2012, Huset KBH

mv and ee

peter howell & john ferdinando (rare earth XXVII)

peter howell and john ferdinando - alice through the looking glass (uk, 1969)

Alice... is a charming, ornate slice of English whimsy with an appeal that surely extends beyond the limited audience at which it was aimed back in 1969. Much of the attraction obviously delves from Lewis Carroll's surreal poetry, but some of the musical templates are genuinely inspired, end the project is clearly coloured by the more melodic English psychedelic acts of the late 1960s such as the Moody blues and the Pink Floyd (indeed, Alice has been compared else were to a more pastoral equivalent of "Piper At The Gates of Dawn"). There are numerous highlights scattered throughout the album, but pride of place must go to Jabberwocky, an impressive melange of treated vocals and backward tapes that is worth the price of admission alone. With its drowsy atmosphere, myriad sound effects and languid organ-based sound, Alice certainly invokes the spirit of the psychedelic age, albeit from the perspective or photogenic Middle England rather than hallucinogenic Middle Earth. Rarely can an album or book have ended with a more apposite line. Life - what is it but a dream?". David Wells - psychedelic folk

Han sido muchas las veces en que he pensado hablar Ithaca o Agincourt pero que mejor que empezar la historia de peter y john desde el princpio. No creo que muchos nombres representen mejor el espíritu de estos rare earth que el dúo surgido de la pequeña villa de Ditchlinf en Sussex. Hasta la reedición y recuperación de las cintas orginales a mediados de los ochenta con 'A game for All Who Know', sus grabaciones no fueron más allá de, en el mejor de los casos, prensajes privados de 100-200 copias, quedándose su debut en unas 70. Más tarde fueron llegando las reediciones de acme, background o lion.  

Psych-folk desde la inglaterra medieval en clave naif y con el aroma inconfudible a home recording, la magia imperfecta que el dúo imprimió a todas sus grabaciones se combina con la poesía surrealista de Lewis Caroll. Además se intercalan fragmentos hablados que rompen la estructura de canciones, dejándome sensanciones al estilo de Mayo Thompson. Así es difícil describir que se siente con 'the march of the chessmen', 'dam and dee' o 'jabberwocky', quizá sea eso, un sueño. Para los curiosos el sinfín de instrumentos que desfilan en 'alice through the looking glass'  son: órganos, chirimías, mandolinas, glockenspiel, guitarras, bajos, pianos, auto-arpas, varios instrumentos de percusión extraños y un número de técnicas peculiares de grabación.

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la piramide di sangue

la piramide di sangue - tebe (sound of cobra, 2012)

The sound of the band is builded on two guitars, two basses, one clarinet, one synth, several effects, drums and percussions. The songs are a mosaic of meditative and restless sounds that could remind Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago, ballads with north-african taste, kraut rock rides under the sign of Agitation Free and Neu! Their first 12″ comes out in a 500 copies red vinyl limited edition, in coproduction with our friends of Boring Machines.

sangue, io la sono

buy: soundofcobra@gmail.com

snails

snails - 7'' (great pop supplement, 2011)
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Bristol based Snails is basically a duo, consisting of Dan Weltman (aka Hollowbody) and Mog Fry (The Wraiths / Ukeytronica). They mentioned that Basil Kirchin, Clive Palmer and Moondog influenced them. “With tips of the hat to Francoise Hardy, The Left Banke and The Pastels.” At first they wanted to “soundtrack a budget slasher movie involving a homicidal nun”. This led to more than one lost soundtrack. It is hard to tell the range of their inspirations, because both songs from the single are already somewhat different, although both have that lovely English countryside flavour in them rooted in folk, with free and fresh new inspirations. The loveliest track with no doubt is “She’d like an hour”. Here we hear fast moody pickings, glockenspiel and layers of texturing strings/brass and flute arrangements and percussion, led by a melancholic sweet female lead voice. The arrangements evolve further and change into a kind of old music dance-folk flavoured tune led by two guitars and hand percussion, with some moody acid folkish progressing on the rhythms with several vocal and flute arrangements ideas. “Daylight ends” is in a lighter happier mode, a song by dual vocals, picking guitars and electric (some kind of string instrument or) guitar, violin and some mouth harmonica, like a softened and sweetened countryside/Appalachian folk flavoured lullaby. Edition of 300 numbered green vinyl records. psychedelic folk 

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least carpet

least carpet - least carpet (dfbm, 2010)

If you listen to Least Carpet the first time it will remember you of something you do already know, but it’s blurry and then you get pictures. Pictures of sitting on a hill top in the fresh blooming meadow. You smell the weed and maybe yourself, you listen to the birdsongs and hear tiny bells ringing. On the left side, downhill you get a glimpse of some small village, on the right side: your sheep. You pickup your self carved flute and whistle with the birds (...) Least Carpet play Eastern European influenced psych folk in vein of Hala Strana or Thuja. It makes you feel sitting on a bench in front of an old shack, surrounded by nature with sun in your face, daydreaming. Dying for bad music

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ryley walker & daniel bachman

ryley walker & daniel bachman - of deathly premonitions (plustapes, 2011)

It’s hard to fathom what the Appalachian musical landscape must have been like in the early 1900s when musicians would sit on their front porch surrounded by family and friends while they picked away, but we here at Plustapes have long extolled the virtues of that missing link in guitar wunderkid Ryley Walker. It was thanks to a chance encounter while Daniel Bachman (a.k.a. Sacred Harp) was on tour through the Midwest that their collaborative effort, Of Deathly Premonitions, came to be. Walker was excited to meet this fellow fingerstyle guitar traveller of comparable age and equal ability – the first thing they talked about was a shared love for Loren Connors and Sandy Bull. Not long after, they were talking record collections and collaborations. Of Deathly Premonitions is the result, four songs birthed from a relaxed session in the middle of the week during a trip Walker made to Bachman’s hometown of Fredericksberg, Virginia this past spring. With a few beers and a bit of ambition, the pastoral past meets the fingerstyle future. 100 copies.

No puedo más que confirmar las sensaciones del año pasado. Daniel Bachman se ha convertido ya en uno de esos imprescindibles fingerpickings de esta aldea y las doce cuerdas de Ryley Walker ayudan a ello.

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savaging spires

savaging spires - s/t (critical heights, 2011)

Enchanting from the off, their eponymous debut is set to become a real cult classic, crossing secret paths between pastoral psych collaging and knowingly meticulous folk composition in the flicker of a hare's whisker. Wicker Man references abound, but there's something far more wyrd at play here, an instinctively organic flow between seemingly improvised jamming and full blown choral harmonies bound to take your breath away. critical heights

Savaging Spires play improvised lullabies and outro jams with here and there a song context but mostly the vocals are with nananas and lalalas in very nice group harmonies, girls and boys in separate choirs. The instruments remain somewhat steady as instant found percussions and hand claps, acoustic guitar strums and pickings, banjos, flute and glockenspiel, here and there a cello texture. This is a staring at a nice forest and environment at a doorstep, a celebration to a time standing still place. Themes like songs are only repetitions of just one sentence. The sound of their improvisations are really nice, which is psych-folk/acid folk minded, performed by new hippies with a forest mind, but it is getting a bit long and limited for a full release doing only that outro, intro, intermezzo, and lullaby jam stuff. psychedelic folk

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