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Cool and Strange Music, Ephemeral Media, Found Sounds, Private Press and Outsider Music.
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May 28, 2021: Aquarius Records + Clamazon: Exotica/Novelty, Found Sounds, Field Recordings, Oddities - Letter A pt. 2
Another Aquarius related set while waiting for 1 record in the mail for the next Biafra episode. Art by Michael Brunelle
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Artist | Track | Album | Comments | Images | Approx. start time |
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Music behind DJ: Your DJ Speaks |
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Alex Cline Ensemble | Sparks Fly Upward | Sparks Fly Upward | Notes: "Alex Cline continues in the spirit of his ECM release "The Lamp and the Star," with this persussion-voice-violin-guitar-keyboard-bass lineup. It's beautiful..." - Clamazon | 0:01:13 (Pop-up) | |
Amanaz | Sunday Morning | Africa | "The lo-fi, garagey, psychedelic "Zam Rock" scene that flourished in the southern African nation of Zambia during the mid '70s is now getting some long overdue exposure and appreciation over here, thanks to a bunch of recent reissues: Chrissy Zebby Tembo, Ngozi Family, Witch (highlighted last list) and now, also the lesser known but no less amazing Amanaz! Like Witch its reissue was facilitated by Egon of Stones Throw, who also wrote the liner notes, which make us realize how lucky we are to have these reissues, 'cause the original Zambian LPs are super rare and, Egon says, usually in about the same poor condition as an experienced frisbee. He also helps explain the genesis of the Zam Rock movement, suggesting that Zambia's Socialist government required a preponderance of "Zambian" content on the radio. Apparently the gov't also mandated a high fuzz content as well! The Amanaz album, from 1975, certainly fulfills that quota, though at first listen we thought that maybe this one was mellower than some of the others like Witch, and parts if it are, in a stoned sorta way, and it's also somewhat more "African" sounding as befits its title, in its rhythms and vocal stylings, with some of the singing doing in the Bembe tongue, though most songs are in English. But still there's quite a supply of heavy fuzz here, with the likes of "History Of Man" being plenty brutal in that department for sure! And man is it beautiful, full of lovely, lovely grooves in a warm bath of lo-fi hiss and hum, maybe not as gritty as Witch and Ngozi but still gritty enough, and maybe even more memorably groov'd. There's fully a dozen songs here and it's hard to pick highlights, we dig 'em all, somehow so fuzzy yet so gentle, well, not always gentle, like how the otherwise laid-back "Nsunka Lwendo" includes a phenomenally LOUD and PIERCING guitar solo, that wanders back and forth from left channel to the right channel, looking for a way to crack into your skull. Meanwhile the sizzling, syncopated "Green Apple" throbs with what almost sounds like a buried Geezer Butler bass line, and the exuberant "Making The Scene" features a part that we swear appears on a Witchcraft album, or close to anyway! Wow. More proof Zam Rock RULES. Recommended!" - Aquarius | 0:30:45 (Pop-up) | |
The Conet Project | The Swedish Rhapsody | Recordings Of Shortwave Numbers Stations | (Possibly the most famous CD of the Aquarius field recording catalog.) - Your DJ | 0:36:01 (Pop-up) | |
Ø | Heijastuva | Heijastuva | (From the Aquarius experimental catalog. No review provided.) - Your DJ | 0:40:24 (Pop-up) | |
Eden Abez | The Wanderer | Eden's Island | "Yes! One of our favorite beatnik exotica records sees the light of day again in a really nice reissue of this 1960 lp. Eden Ahbez was a unique American figure, a back-to-nature hippie mystic in the 1940's long before popular culture even knew what a hippie was. Ahbez wandered back and forth across the country on foot before landing in LA and hanging in a tight circle of raw food enthusiasts and other colorful off-the-grid characters. He often wrote poetry and played the flute and one fortuitous day in 1948, he left a song at the studio for Nat King Cole called "Nature Boy" and it surprisingly became a number one song and an international hit, covered by Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, George Benson and even later by Alex Chilton and Big Star! For a brief moment, the song made Ahbez a pop culture curiosity with magazine interviews and invitations to perform that were politely declined. Using royalties from that song, Ahbez was able to take care of his family and record music and write poetry, the results being this sole lp, Eden's Island. Against a backdrop of flutes, bongos, marimabas and bird calls, Ahbez intones poetic verse about seeking spirituality in natural paradises with the rhythms of the ocean and surf, giving a more meaningful heft to the Martin Denny type of Tiki Room exotica. Its peaceful vibe of removing oneself from the daily hassles and pressures of society towards the spiritual isolation of island life was easily a touchstone of the hippie movement even though it sounds a bit novel nowadays. Still the music with female background singers, island atmospheres and relaxing poetic delivery manages to beguile and transport even the most world-weary listener. An exotica record clearly in a league of its own." - Aquarius | 0:58:08 (Pop-up) | |
Aelters | Pinkymplex O° | Volu Beit | "Dat Politics member Aelters does his own laptop thing with this EP of melodic laptop antics. This is his second solo release, 21 minutes of warmly cinematic songs. | 2001 Tigerbeat6" - Clamazon | 1:01:35 (Pop-up) | |
Adult Rodeo | A.C. Carousel | Long Range, Rapid Fire | "Really neat. Real fun. And quirky...oh boy! This is a very entertaining listen, with an array of sounds to please even the most jaded of alternative ears! Pop, art damage, new wave, rock...it's all here baby! | 2001 Fan State Fair" - Clamazon | 1:04:18 (Pop-up) | |
After Dinner | Paradise Of Replica | Paradise of Replica/Paradise of Remixes | "Paradise of Remixes CD Some more twisty Haco for you! Experimental Japanese pop with wierd turns and all. Yes, Haco jams with Frith in Step Across the Border. This was recorded in 1989, remastered in 2000, and the 4 remixes are also products of 2000. Another fine Detector release. | 1989 - Clamazon | 1:07:34 (Pop-up) | |
Andy Hofle | Arcade Ambience 1981 (Segment) | Arcade Ambience 1981 (Arcade sounds) | You know we love field recordings and "environmental sounds". And you know we love '80s arcade games (witness the vintage Tron and Rastan machines that now make their home in our shop). So when we found out about these "Aracade Ambiance" discs -- which are exactly what the name implies -- we had to have them, and suspect that more than a few of our customers will want 'em too. There's three volumes in this professionally reproduced cd-r series, 1981, 1983, and 1986. We have all three but thought we'd get more of this first and earliest entry to highlight it on our list, this time. It's one hour of "authentic" eighties video arcade sounds, what you'd hear if you paid a visit to a busy, bustling arcade back in '81. The blips and beeps and blasts of video violence, memorable musical themes from classic games, some crowd noises and of course the occasional clatter of the coin changer/token machine... it's just like we're ten years old again and skipping school. Those of us of a certain age that is -- some of the staff here at AQ weren't even born back then. Actually I might have been a little older before I spent a lot of time hanging out in the local arcades, as when younger I recall having bad day at the "Pennsylvania Spacetion" when some bullies took my tokens... Anyway if you were shooting aliens and asteroids, running mazes and dodging monsters way back when, this is gonna be a definite nostalgia trip! We put "authentic" in quotes above 'cause this is actually a bit like the Jurassic Soundscapes cd we highlighted on our last list. The fellow who put these together didn't have the amazing foresight to drag a tape recorder out to a real video arcade back in '81. Nor was he able to convert a Time Pilot game into an actual time machine, though there's a good chance that he's dreamed of such a thing (which he probably wouldn't use to meet Jesus or kill Hitler or buy Google stock but instead to blow quarters at his local long-gone eighties arcade). "Composer" Andy Hoyle (whose face appears on the back cover of these discs, for some reason) wanted to create an background ambient soundscape to help give the impression that when playing retro games on his home console, he was actually in an arcade back in the day. Carefully collaging the musical cues and sound effects from period video games (this '81 set including the likes of Centipede, Asteroids, Gorf, PacMan, Defender, Frogger, Qix, Berzerk, Crazy Climber, Missile Command, Rally X, Space Invaders, Tempest, Galaga, Galaxian, Donkey Kong, and many more) with some more generic sounds recorded in a modern day arcade, Hoyle has artificially (and very convincingly!!) re-created what an arcade in 1981 actually would have sounded like. Not unlike the way field recordist Jean-Luc Herelle enabled us to hear the trompings and trumpetings of the dinosaurs of the Jurassic, 200 million years ago... It's a dense, non-looping, almost-hypnotic soundscape that Hoyle has sampled and sequenced. Heck it IS hypnotic for those of us in love with arcades! And like we said, we also have copies of Arcade Ambiance '83 and '86 available, they're great too, each one guaranteed to bring back remarkably specific memories to those who wasted afternoons (and many quarters) during the golden age of arcade gaming... you can practically smell the cigarette smoke (that's right, they allowed smoking in arcades, and most machines had burns on 'em from players resting their cigarettes) and bask in the imagined video glow. Good times!" - Aquarius | 1:10:57 (Pop-up) | |
Tetuzi Akiyama & Jason Kahn | Akiyama / Kahn | Till We Meet Again | (From the Exotica/Novelty catalog of Aquarius. No review provided.) - Your DJ | 1:14:08 (Pop-up) | |
Andy Hofle | Arcade Ambience 1983 (Segment) | Arcade Ambience 1983 (Arcade sounds) | "Here's the 2nd volume in this cd-r series -- we highlighted volume one, Arcade Ambience '81, last time around. Remember 1983? Remember the video arcade games that were popular that year? The '83 disc will refresh your memory. Burgertime, Dig Dug, Elevator Action, Galaga, Joust, Mario Bros., Millipede, Moon Patrol, Ms. Pacman, Pengo, Pole Position, Qbert, Robotron, Sinistar, Stargate, Time Pilot, Track & Field, Tron, Zaxxon, and more, all make appearances on this simulated arcade field recording soundscape. You'll be listening to it, and be like, oh yeah, I remember that game!, as a simple combination of sounds strikes a chord deep within your brain somewhere -- like, oh crap, here comes Sinistar! or the pesky dragon from Joust! If you aren't an arcade aficionado (or even if you are), this disc is basically an insane, extremely dense collage of electronic bleeps and bloops, zaps and braps, a bit like being trapped in a fierce sci-fi space battle, but for the snippets of music and the clang of coins dropped into machines... in other words, the general ambience of a bustling video game palace at the height of the arcade era. Our review of the '81 volume explains that while these are not actual field recordings, but instead modern-day, computer-aided recreations, these discs certainly sound convincing. A well-crafted nostalgia trip for video gamers, and also an interesting item for fans of unique environmental sounds! NB. We're not listing the '86 cd-r quite yet 'cause some of the copies we got were bad burns, unfortunately, and we've got to test out our entire stock for glitches... if you already bought one from us, check and see if towards the things get sort of choppy and distorted? Not saying that doesn't sound cool, but it doesn't sound like any video arcade we've ever been in, except maybe on drugs (just kidding). Let us know if you've got a defective disc and we'll see about getting replacements from the label." - Aquarius | 1:16:58 (Pop-up) | |
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. | In C (Segment) | In C | "This outstanding Japanese group takes a stab at Terry Riley's minimal classic "In C" and it really gets out there. They have their compositions, inspired by Riley, "In D' and "In E" If yer into Boredoms, Eastenburia or Rovo, this is fer you! Squealer" - Clamazon | 1:19:14 (Pop-up) | |
A. Alessandroni | La Partenza | I Cantori Moderni Di A. Alessandroni | "Another amazing Italian Library missive from the same folks who brought us the Daniela Casa we reviewed a while back. Alessandroni, most famously known for being the whistler for Ennio Morricone's Spaghetti Western soundtracks, was a fantastic composer in his own right as we heard previously on Prisma Sonoro, a haunting library score reissued on the Australian Roundtable label last year. On this 1970 release he created the vocal group, I Cantori Moderni Di Alessandroni, an eight to sixteen person choir, who have lent their talents to many soundtracks by Morricone, Piero Umiliani, and many other Italian composers of the 60's and 70's (and were also featured recently on Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained soundtrack). This was the only full length the choir recorded. Through 12 original compositions by Alessandroni, the choir evoke a lilting cinematic pop sound of Italian Bossa vibes and moody themes, augmented by harpsichord, flutes and twangy guitars. The choir not only featured Alessandroni's first wife, Giulia De Mutiis, but also the incomparable Edda Dell'Orso whose wordless vocals epitomize many of Morricone's Italian western and horror scores. Fantastic and Limited!!" - Aquarius | 1:24:46 (Pop-up) | |
ARRUGA, LORENZO, DAVE LOMBARDO & FRIENDS | Un' Apparizione - Guarda In Quest' Occhi | Vivaldi: The Meeting | "Yes, ex-SLAYER drummer, Dave Lombardo drumming furiously along to VIVALDI. Simultaneously amazing and ridiculous. Produced by Alberto Contini, who some metalheads might remember as A.C. Wild from Bulldozer (Italy's answer to Venom). Highly recommended. Sort of. One of those completely uncalled-for projects like, uh, well I can't think of one quite like this actually. Note: the Vivaldi is not "arranged for thrash-metal", "switched-on" or anything like that - it's straight operatic classical Vivaldi with The Great Lombardo incongrously adding his trap kit double bass stylings... Apparently inspired by a real encounter that Vivaldi himself had with a Cuban percussionist several hundred years ago (Lombardo is Cuban-born). Possibly the ultimate novelty record of the year (1999) so far!" - Aquarius | 1:28:11 (Pop-up) | |
Bereft | $1.95 Buffet | The Complete Bereft Vol. 1 | (Something from the old Oddity Rock Radio archives) - Your DJ | 1:34:12 (Pop-up) | |
Augusto Algueró | Vuelvo a Casa | Todas Sus Grabaciones En Polydor (1968-1971) | "A vibrant mix of early Serge Gainsbourg, Burt Bacharach, Ennio Morricone and Carl Stalling, Augusto Alguero was a Spanish composer for film and televison and this two disc survey is an incredible journey of his best output from 1968-1971. From space age bachelor pad music to ye ye pop with big lush orchestrations and swinging tunes. GROOOOOVY, baby!"- Aquarius | 1:35:06 (Pop-up) | |
V/A | 10/12/49 | One Of One - Snapshots In Sound | Something from the archive - Your DJ | 1:38:00 (Pop-up) | |
? | Track 5 | 78's Superogala | From the Archive. | 1:40:03 (Pop-up) | |
Laura Allan with Paul Horn | As I Am | Reflections | From the Archive. - Your DJ | 1:43:32 (Pop-up) | |
1/3 OCTAVE BAND | Magnetic South | Navigation By Light | "Another new jam from New Zealand's 1/3 Octave Band, courtesy of Campbell Kneale's (Birchville Cat Motel, Black Boned Angel, etc.) Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label. Packaged as always in the immediately recognizable wallpaper sleeve, this is some serious soft focus, gauzy and dreamy and free floating minimal bliss for sure. Four tracks, 49 minutes, each track a lengthy drift through delicate worlds of subtle sound. From a barely audible whir, flecked with distant high end melodies and crystalline glimmering, to creaking cavernous murmurs, to almost industrial dronescapes, to haunting cinematic soundscapes, but with all the jagged edges worn away into smooth soft shapes. This is the music of dreams. Music from another world. The sound of wandering somnambulant through some soft space, eyes closed, mind open, and drifting heavenward." - Aquarius | 1:53:41 (Pop-up) |
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Listener comments!
BC Sterrett:
zivilars:
BC Sterrett:
zivilars:
BC Sterrett:
Otis:
BC Sterrett:
Otis:
BC Sterrett:
Mr Fab:
Oh wait, i had to turn the volume up all the way. Very low subliminal musics.
BC Sterrett:
Mr Fab:
The album itself might have been quietly recorded.
Otis:
BC Sterrett:
Mr Fab:
zivilars:
BC Sterrett:
Mr Fab:
eastbayexpress.com...
Wonder what happened to 'em?
BC Sterrett:
BC Sterrett:
Otis:
BC Sterrett:
WR:
BC Sterrett:
ifny:
ifny:
BC Sterrett:
Otis:
BC Sterrett:
Otis:
BC Sterrett:
solo mon:
BC Sterrett:
Otis:
BC Sterrett:
worldsworstrecords:
BC Sterrett:
worldsworstrecords:
Otis:
BC Sterrett:
ifny:
chresti:
Otis:
1997. Had to look it up to be exact. It was that long ago that the Conet 4-CD set came out. Seriously, time flies when you are are having (number switching) fun.
Otis:
Otis:
spodiodi:
Adult Rodeo! cool!
BC Sterrett:
Otis:
BC Sterrett:
Otis:
StringOFperils:
ifny:
coelacanth∅:
Otis:
spodiodi:
worldsworstrecords:
Otis:
Otis:
spodiodi:
ifny:
spodiodi:
worldsworstrecords:
coelacanth∅:
BC Sterrett:
chresti:
Otis:
chresti:
ifny:
spodiodi:
Otis:
Otis:
spodiodi:
ifny:
ifny:
spodiodi:
Otis:
"Alexa, revert amazon back to crapazon please."
"Alexa, now destroy yourself."
ifny:
fred:
Otis:
Otis:
ifny:
So sad to hear that it has been shut down due to the pandemic and government failure to give a toss about the arts.
fred:
Otis:
Did not know of that Acid Mothers take on Terry. Thanks BC.
ifny:
BC Sterrett:
spodiodi:
ifny:
BC Sterrett:
Otis:
Otis:
ifny:
StringOFperils:
fred:
I don't think they care much whether you pay or not, as long as you listen
Otis:
ifny:
ifny:
Otis:
Otis:
ifny:
spodiodi:
Otis:
--
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We are still collecting all the emails that have already been sent in as support materials until this matter is legally finalized. but no more emails are needed at this time.
Thank you to our listeners for coming through for WFMU once again.
Otis:
BC Sterrett:
ifny:
BC Sterrett:
spodiodi:
worldsworstrecords:
BC Sterrett:
spodiodi:
worldsworstrecords:
worldsworstrecords:
Otis:
ifny:
BC Sterrett:
worldsworstrecords:
spodiodi:
BC Sterrett:
fred:
worldsworstrecords:
Otis:
Bye all, have a nice weekend!
WR:
WR:
chresti:
BC Sterrett:
ifny: