Asmus Tietchens - 15 Earlier Works

the idea for this blog is to post the cream of the cream of the crop in any genre, but I'm making an exception here: not all of this is essential. unlike the 3 recent digital works I posted earlier, which I consider to be all time favorites. some of this is amazing, some of it gorgeous, some of it very interesting, some of it vague, some of it creepy, some of it just fuckin' weird, and some of it is entirely forgettable.

I've written tiny little blurbs about what to expect from each release - but these descriptions should be taken with 1 or 3 grains of salt - they only capture the over all feel.

one thing that is terrible about this man's work is the cover art - a lot of albums have the same design - only name is different. and in the later work the names are even similar. can be confusing. I couldn't find covers for Liliental, Five Manifestoes, and Stockholmer Totentan, so made some up.

thanks to the wonderful creature known as Plesio for these.

if any file needs a password it is: skafunkrulez

Just added another 6 albums to the end of the list - thanks to Lord Direct hailing from Germany. I have not yet heard or have any information on these, can't wait to go through and dig out the gems that are surely buried in that pile.

Moebius, Tietchens, Bekker a.o. - Liliental 1978

the kind of beautiful, melodic, warm and lush teutonic "ambient post-rock" (whatever the fuck that means) one would expect from early Cluster, with added strange sound dimensions - presumably from Mr. Bekker and Tietchens.

http://rapidshare.de/files/32053193/Liliental_-_Liliental__1978_.zip.html


Asmus Tietchens - Litia

strange synthy kraut-pop with drum machines (obvious stretch of the word "pop"). first track is unbelievably good - required listening. the album is structured with beats like late Cluster, synth driven undefinable rock-ish affairs with sickly German romanticism.

http://rapidshare.de/files/29762554/Litia.rar


Asmus Tietchens - Spät-Europa

strange synthy kraut-pop with drum machines. loads of ideas, much of it playful, much of it wonderful, spread over loads of short tracks. some of it sounds like sad but jovial mechanical clowns in a decrepit burlesque.

http://rapidshare.de/files/29524203/Europa.rar.html


Asmus Tietchens - Biotop

synthy kraut-pop with drum machines. electro lounge from a quarky alternate universe. a few ace numbers in here, charming like the little robot you found in the future under a heap of junk that miraculously still works.

http://rapidshare.de/files/29392308/Biotop.rar.html


Asmus Tietchens - In die Nacht

synthy kraut-pop with drum machines. remembering strange episodes from an imagined childhood while riding on a rusty ferris wheels in an abandoned amusement park lost in time. some of it feels farely cyber-punk (from a time when the word cyber was cool).

http://rapidshare.de/files/29641987/Nacht.rar.html


Asmus Tietchens - Adventures in Sound

a mix bag of improvisational sound collage, plunderphonic concrete-jazz and a few "songs" with rock-ish riffing guitar chords. a lot of it is very noodly and kind of annoying.

http://rapidshare.de/files/29775459/Adventures.rar.html


Asmus Tietchens & PBK - five manifestoes

feels closer to the digital period, but not as minimal - mostly excercises in grey-scale noise textures and sustained tones.

http://rapidshare.de/files/30724623/asmusPBK.zip.htmL


A. Tietchens & O. Bekker - Stockholmer Totentan

also close to the digital period - 3 long tracks of noise sculptures resolve in menacing voices and disturbing calm. very enjoyable.

http://rapidshare.de/files/30252374/Totentanz.rar.html


Asmus Tietchens - Sinkende Schwimmer

cryptic and oblique sound scapes, may be the most "out there" of the bunch. for die-hard fans only.

http://rapidshare.de/files/29767448/Schwimmer.rar.html

____________________________________________________

from Lord Direct:

http://rapidshare.de/files/32018665/kontaktderjuenglinge0.zip.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/32016513/dienachtausblei.zip.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/32017802/seuchengebiete2.zip.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/32126371/motives_for_recycling2.zip.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/32014430/dasfestistzuende.zip.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/32012946/daseinsverfehlung.zip.html

Studio Mix - Kite (HELP!!!)

one of the first mixes I ever recorded - dub-techno and minimal tech-house with glitchy digi-breaks crisp bouncy 4 on the floor funk.

i have lost the files for this one. if anyone have it please upload???

Paul Bley, Evan Parker, Barre Phillips - Sankt Gerold

continuing with Bley, adding Evan Parker on reeds and Barre Phillips on bass - a great free jazz record for the coming autumn season.

just started a design project with a tight deadline, so here is an excerpt of a review from Pop Matters by Maurice Bottomley (haven't the slightest what he's on about suggesting that Bley's playing is normally not "emotional", but whatever) :

"Bley has a reputation, even within modern jazz circles as an overly cerebral player, which is mind-boggling enough. Add the fact that Evan Parker -- from Bristol, England -- is one of the more dogged exponents of wild atonalism and the seekers after melody are in trouble. Yet something rather pleasant takes place in the course of these encounters. Bley -- or perhaps it was the monastic setting -- seems to calm Parker down somewhat, whereas Parker's ceaseless stretching of sound brings out a more emotional quality in Bley's work than is usually the case. With Californian Barre Phillips unable to make an ugly noise even in his most vanguardist mode, the combined result is often rather poetic and lovely. Whether this is intended, I have no idea, but I, for one, am glad of it.

The answer may lie in the fact that this album was recorded (in 1996) after a long tour, based on the success of their first outing for ECM -- Time Will Tell (1994). There is a relaxed and easy relationship between the participants, ample space for solo pieces and an unhurriedness about the various duo and trio exchanges. Bley becomes almost Chopinesque at times and even Parker's weird "circular breathing" exercises have a fragile quality about them. Phillips, as I have mentioned already, is grace personified. The album has all the regulation parps, squawks and cacophonous interludes (I recommend Variation 10 for clearing your home of unwanted guests) but that is what they seem -- interludes. The dominant mood is contemplative and less dependant on the jagged edges associated with this genre. Not easy listening by any means but not as painful as some will imagine.

As for the Variations -- five are ensemble pieces, Bley and Phillips get two each and Parker three. Parker's contributions are the most demanding... One cannot help (but) marvel at his technique and the sheer variety of sounds he gets out of the reeds. That said, Variations six and seven (featuring Phillips) are my favourites as they offer an evocative but still adventurous journey through the instrument's whole range of possibilities. Yet if Phillips is consistently the most impressive, it is Bley who sticks in the mind the longest. With stately phrasing and layerings of melancholy chords, he proves himself to be nowhere near as dry and academic as his reputation suggests. Variations one, two and nine show him to best effect."


http://rapidshare.de/files/31153408/Paul_Bley__Evan_Parker___Barre_Phillips
_-_Sankt_Gerold__ecm_1609__2001_.zip.html

Crossing the Bridge - the sound of istanbul

just saw this documentary film. made by one of the Einsturzende dudes. other than the shots of him in his leather jacket walking around, which were entirely useless and pretentiously annoying, and the strangely weak ending, the other 1 hour or more includes very good music - a little bit of rock, hiphop, and mostly traditional Turkish music, of the street and official varieties. the musicians do their thing and are interviewed; the editing is nice; the whole thing feels not so serious but like a celebration. very enjoyable.

good parts include I think a different Einsturzende dude in the beginning talking about fusion music, he said something like "people consider it naive to mix eastern and western sounds. but I think that the idea that East and West are 2 separate and disctinct cultures is naive. because in places like Istanbul, there are no boundaries, and Gypsy, European, African, East Asian, Arabic, Indian cultures have ALWAYS mixed together to form hybrids."

and later someone explained that there was an Arab in Spain called Flamo Minko or something like that, who played the Oud (the grand daddy of all plucked strings), and other people began to imitate the way he played on the guitar - and that's how Flamenco was born.

but there are also stupid parts of the movie (in addition to afore mentioned shots of the rocker dork dude) like this one guy saying 15 years ago there was no rock'n'roll in Turkey. while I personally have 5 or 6 discs of Turkish psychedelic rock from the 1960s.

J-Zone - Music For Tu Madre

bin a minute and a half since I got up some hiphop (y'all with your heads up in the clouds and noses in the air need to drop down to street level sometime).

J-Zone is more than the outsider hiphop comedian that the world knows him as. shit can be a friggin RIOT, to be sure, but it is also inventive and just plain GOOD. good in a unique way that I can't put my finger on, that I don't hear from any other producer. beats are solid, sounds are fresh, and the way he uses old-time jazz loops is just right - so... so tight (but loose too). the sample-happy tunes just got that spring in they step, that light hearted real flavor - as he (and some buddies) raps about being dissed by gold-diggers, job hunting, gettin' loaded, and in trouble, always in trouble, but not giving 2 shits about it. a real antidote from thug-rap, commericalism, and revolutionary posturing alike - jus' a regular guy tryina get through the day and get away with as much fun and poetry as possible.

on-point from beginning to end, this long lost album was made while attending NYU, as his thesis; and to me is one of, if not THE best in his discography. there is an instrumental album that is also out of print, which I heard is the beez KNEEZ - anybody has it, hook a chigga UP.

http://rapidshare.de/files/30833545/j-zone_-_music_for_tu_madre.zip.html

Paul Bley - Open, To Love [new link]

this lovely solo piano offering will be the beginning of some modern and avant garde jazz records to come. whether structured or free, the selection process from my library will be based on 1 or all 3 of the following criteria: conceptually innovative, formally challenging, and lastly, maybe the most important, the quality every chosen record will possess - listenable. listenable to me means something I love to play on a regular basis. in other words, i will be leaning towards the meditative, understated, subtle, and sometimes swinging rather than the cataclysmic, cathartic, and furiously energetic. thus as jaw droppingly amazing and important as artists such as Peter Brotzmann, Albert Ayler or Cecil Taylor are, I will not be posting much of their work.

I'm sure those who are interested can find plenty of information about Paul Bley on the web, and there are probably a couple of biographies floating around as well. it will suffice to abbreviate here that his work is about the navigation of inner worlds - my kind of piano player.

what is interesting is the sometimes fine, but DEFINITE line between this kind of tender, heart-warming music and schmaltzy, kitschy, easy-listening smooth jazz. it is the same line between Brian Eno and New Age music (the line that Tangerine Dream sadly crossed around 1982).

hard to define or explain... is it about becoming formulaic? not exactly... is it the difference between (as someone mentioned) expression and signification? maybe. anyone feel up to the challenge?


part one and part two (not conjoined)

Jewelled Antler Library Vol. 01 - 12

a series of out of print 3" CD-R's released by the elusive, extended family of forest-people known as Jewelled Antler Collective. they make a mysterious, borderless, maleable and ever shifting type of contemporary Acid-Folk, Improvised-Folk, Avant Folk, whateveryawannacallit. each edition has its own form and focus but the dominant sound is one made with mostly acoustic, site-specific and some subtle electronic sources, blending with atmospherics and the free-floating song forms to create gentle tableaus of psychedelic ambience. this is a space that feels so right, and so necessary - new tree-hugger and hippie music that is not new-age-y, not sachrine, and not ironic - somewhere between field recording, sound art, noise, drone, improvisation and song-craft. these recordings are idiosyncratic and filled with a kind of innocence, a wild, raw beauty, open to the vibrations of the universe. non-specific in terms of mood, sometimes blissful, sometimes kind of sinister, the music goes from structured to totally free, often evoking the spirit of the woods, where processes unfold with the profound indifference of nature.

most are easy and soothing, some are a little more difficult. first 2 volumes are abstract noise-drone affairs, the acoustic guitars come in by the 3rd, and the singing soon after that.

these were originally posted by Blissfulwizard. all the thanks to him for making these otherwise lost little gems available.

Vol. 1 Green Laughter (Loren Chasse) - Green Laughter

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21398374/jal001
greenlaughter.zip





Volume 2 Tomes - The Dreadful Gift

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21389725/jal002tomes.rar






Vol. 3 The Ivytree - The Sun Is the Lamp

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21390145/jal003the_ivytree.rar






Vol. 4 Hala Strana - Karst

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21391723/jal004halastrana.rar







Vol. 5 Dead Raven Choir - Their Feet Are the Foraging Ground For Wolves

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21400158/_jal_vol.05__
dead_raven_choir.zip





Vol. 6 Famous Boating Party - Silvery Branches

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21738056/_J.A.L._Vol._6__
Silvery_Branches.zip





Vol. 7 Uton - Zwuij

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21738127/_J.A.L._
Vol._7__Zwuij.zip






Vol. 8 Claypipe - Wayside

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21738106/_J.A.L._
Vol._8__Wayside.zip






Vol. 9 The Muons - The Well at Land's End

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21738170/_J.A.L._Vol._9__
The_Well_at_Land_s _End.zip





Vol. 10 Thuja - Fable

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21738110/_J.A.L._
Vol.10__Fable.zip






Vol. 11 Kemialliset Ystävät - Nuuha Ni Haka

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21742426/nuuha_ni_haka
_3____jewelled_antler__
2004_.zip





Vol. 12 Fursaxa - Harbinger of Spring

http://rapidshare.de/files/
21926121/harbinger_
of_spring.zip

SHOW TIME

because of limited capacity you can RSVP with full name in the comments (make sure to specify for which date) and a ticket will be waiting for you at the door.

PAN SONIC
(originally called Panasonic) is a Finnish experimental electronic music duo consisting of Mika Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen.
The minimalistic music of Pan Sonic is composed "from a forbidding array of pure tones, sinewaves, pulses, electronic squelches and ultrasonic waveforms, skilfully arranged into an accessible rhythmic package" mainly taken from the bowels of custom-built sinewave generators. Given songs titled "Kurnutus" or "Rutina" (that is "Croaking" and "Crackle"), the environmental buzz, crackles and hums emanating from the speakers are harldy a surprise. Despite suggesting a harmless set of natural (sounding) frequencies, Pan Sonic have built up a reputation for fearsome live volume levels and atonal indulgence. Some of their equipment is made by third "extra" member Jari Lehtinen. Pan sonic are great fans of experimentation and art performances and have done exhibitions and sound installations in museums. They have also made music for Japanese fashion shows.

Damion Romero
sound artist/sculptor and visual artist from Los Angeles. Romero's main focus is with "resonant electro-acoustic feedback systems" using audio power amplifiers and a variety of transducers and "feedback regenerators" of his own design. The goal is to saturate the atmosphere with natural acoustic standing waves and pulses, large sounds, that are affected (or held in place) by very small movements in order to magnify an (as of yet) indescribable phenomenon. www.poweracoustics.org

dj zhao
either connecting disparate pieces of recorded sound from different cultures and times or building specific sound environments, dj Zhao's selection is informed by both tireless research and a relentless impulse to push things toward the transcendent. www.optikom.com

airwolf
los angeles based duo j.frede and david brady, created to explore the smoother side of electronic music it takes inspiration from eighties synthetic pop , smooth jazz and space lounge music, working with simple electronic instruments and a sampler, the two weave melodies and soft beats and create gentle atmospheres perfect for late drives and spacecraft flights, soundtracks for smooth nights. www.current-recordings.com

Asmus Tietchens - 3 Ritornell releases

I'm pretty certain these are not available anywhere because the fine Ritornell label (and parent Mille Plateaux label) is sadly no more.

making music and sculpting with sound since the 1960s, one of Asmus Tietchen's earlier projects include work with Moebius and Plank of Cluster in a band called Liliental, which recorded a self titled album in 1978. besides this great document of vintage psych/space rock, I am not familiar with any of his other earlier work, which is said to be very good (and someone told me about his more "pop" projects, which were highly recommended as well). if anyone out there can enlighten, please do.

possessed of a unique and singular vision, the very prolific fellow follows a definite logic and tragectory, but they are difficult to grasp. the signature style of his digital period is unmistakable (all 3 of these albums were made within the past 6 years), and a consistant set of concerns runs through all of his work, yet each piece is very specific and endlessly fascinating.

the palette of manipulated found-sounds bear no reference to the world, and there is no trace of anything resembling traditional melody anywhere. while there is often a definite structure, the compositions do not adhere rigidly to compositional perameters - it is an organic and rich soundworld filled with alien beauty, even if the faint of heart might describe it as "cold", "inhuman", and "creepy".

the second, 37 minute track of Alpha Menge, for instance, is roughly in 3 parts: an uncomfortable manic bleep-beat and cold storage atmospherics run for 8 minutes, followed by a short passage of only high tones undulating in almost painfully sharp focus, and slowly, patiently, sustained bass and mid-range drones build until the highs vanish, and for the remaining 20 minutes we are left hovering in an ever changing labrynth of gorgeous tone-waves ----- bearing an uncanny resemblance to inaudible radar frequencies emitted by a school of dolphins, as experienced by a test subject in an isolation tank, under hypnosis and dosed with LSD.

this music is austere and quiet yet is not microsound because of the often timbral richness. spacious and fitting of Eno's concept of foreground/background listening, yet it is not "ambient" because there is too much going on for it to be anything close to "chill out". it is not noise because it's too musical. and it doesn't belong in the academic avant-garde camp either because it doesn't really follow the lineage or partake in the dialog of modern composition. undefinable as the music of Asmus Tietchen's is, I have yet to be dissapointed by anything the man makes - uncompromising, challenging, but at the same time very enjoyable and rewards repeated listening.

Asmus Tietchens - Alpha Menge (Ritornel 12)

http://rapidshare.de/files/29100141/asmus_tietchens_-_Alpha_Menge__RIT_12_.zip.html


Asmus Tietchens - Beta Menge (Ritornel 22)

http://rapidshare.de/files/28663526/asmus_tietchens_-_Beta_Menge_Ritornel_22.zip.html


Asmus Tietchens - gamma menge (Ritornell_27)

http://rapidshare.de/files/29203956/gamma-menge_Ritornell_27.zip.html

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma - 2 albums

yes, both of these albums are in print. and no, you are right, I don't give much in terms of a damn. the reason is that these belong in the category of things that are so amazing that everyone should have access to it, regardless of pedestrian monetary concerns.

this might sound super naive... but seriously. forgive my lapse into childish reverie: It's hard to believe that there can be so much selfishness, greed and cruelty in the world when such exquisite beauty is possible. when knowing that members of our species, humans just like you or me or Dick Cheney, are capable of reaching such elevated states of loveliness, why would anyone choose to exist in any other way? how can anyone do anything other than strive for the kind of bliss and ecstasy glimpsed in art such as this? much less choose to be hurtful, deceitful and heartless.

I realize that the above is an extremely simplistic train of thought, and a one dimensional logic which fails to take into account so many other dimensions of reality... but it is early Saturday morning and I haven't yet gone to sleep, indulge me.

the first of these is solo santoor and the other with master tabla player Zakir Hussain.

I'm not going to try to describe or say anything else about the music.

here are some good links which will satisfy curiosities and answer some questions for the uninitiated:

http://www.santoor.com/
http://www.musicalnirvana.com/hindustani/shivkumar_sharma.html
http://www.mmla.org/shivjiinterview.htm

________________________

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma - Raga Bhimpalasi (Sixtieth Birthday Release)

http://rapidshare.de/files/29023593/Pandit_Shivkumar_Sharma_-_Raga_Bhimpalasi.zip.html

Shivkumar Sharma and Zakir Hussain - Rag Madhuvanti and Rag Misra Tilang

http://rapidshare.de/files/29083566/Shivkumar_Sharma___Zakir_Hussain_-_Rag_Madhuvanti___Rag_Misra_Tilang.zip.html

The Same River - another bwoggy thingie

yes I've started another one: http://www.thesameriver.blogspot.com

do you know of any good non-music blogs I should check out? art, politics, thought, poetry, theory?

riotporn.blogspot.com is pretty fucking AWESOME.

Congo Natty - Mega Post (new links)

thanks to Marlon, the entire discography is now available. i would avoid anything past 1999 though, because even if "No Sell Out" is the name of one of his tunes, that is indeed what he did - to exactly the kind of boring repetitive lazy D'n'B sound i railed against below. links in comments.

switching gears a bit - first things first, let's get one thing straight:

FUCK NU-SKOOL DRUM'N'BASS.

the likes of Diesel Boy and their boring repetitive BULLSHIT beats-for-pre-teen-Meth-abusers should be all put to sleep like rabid dogs. I draw the line at around the turn of the century - Tech Itch, Optical, Dom n Roland and all that Techstep was the last of the D'n'B that was worth anything. their new output should be avoided -- much like Panacea, who made such brilliantly invigorating Terror-Steppin' Hate-Core as a fat kid, but now that he's a metro-sexual makes the cheesiest Euro-rave crap complete with migrane inducing diva vocals. I guess Drum'n'bass is pretty much dead, apart from the Break-Core movement where artists like Enduser and Soundmurderer are taking cues from the kinda shit I'm presenting here and adding IDM and industrial flavors.

ORIGINAL JUNGLISTS REPRESENT.

roughly 93 to 2001: listening to these tracks one can imagine how exciting this new sound was - the stop'n'go dynamics, the switching between beat patterns, the ragga MC's... yet it sounds as fresh today as 10 years ago.

Congo Natty is a British posse who has always refused to play in the United States. and it follows that none of their very important and influential output is available in America - Amazon doesn't even know they exist.

a while ago I stumbled upon a HUGE Russian FTP full of reggae and related material; knowing that it wasn't going to last forever, I grabbed as much as I could, literally waking up in the middle of the night to pull more files. and just as I thought, 3 days later it was over - they started using password protection. but am I glad that I was able to score this pile of Congo Natty LPs and 12"s. I present all of it here for your boomin' selection.

a bit of an overkill I know, with 4 12 inch collections and 4 albums, but you'd be hard pressed to find a single weak track in all this. the earlier the better though, toward the millenium even this crew got a little lazy - but still sounds ace. if you had to start somewhere I would do the fifth file below, Congo Natty vs tenor fly - 12 Years Of_Jungle.

The Singles and 12" collections include: Binghi Man, Boom Bye Bye/Lion Did Crown, Champion DJ, Gritty City/Sunshine, Lose Your Soul/Rebel Music, Ras Tena/Make A Joyful Noise, Seven Seas/Ghetto Life, Black Star Liner, and more.

spark up the schism and get nice to this... booyakasha!