Kraft & Alexander | Tchaikovsky: 1812/Nutcracker Suite | London | 1977

This was a fluke find in a recent record show dollar bin– I grabbed it solely on the mention of Arp synthesizers. As it turns out, I would put this album up against any Tomita or Carlos recording, it’s that good. I originally put it on while I was filing away recent finds, but soon abandoned my work to give this LP my full attention. Truly striking. Here’s the text from the back of the jacket, as well as both sides of this wonderful record:

“As far back as history can trace, the sounds from all musical instruments have been created acoustically. A string, a piece of metal, a wooden reed, a stretched membrane, or the air enclosed in a tube was set into vibration by energy supplied by the player, and sound waves resulted. For thousands of years no new methods of producing musical sounds were discovered. Then, with the advent of electronic instruments during the first decade of this century, there were instruments whose vibrations originated not as the motion of air particles, but as electronic impulses.

All this and the synthesizer is still in its adolescence.”

Produced by Larry Alexander and Jack Kraft.
Keyboards performed by Jack Kraft.
Record Engineer Larry Alexander.
Synthesizer Programming Kraft & Alexander.

LISTEN: Mediafire

Wiseblood | Motorslug | Wax Trax! | 1985

What would our re-dedication to this blog be without posting the track that inspired it all? Motorslug by Wiseblood, the alter-ego of Clint Ruin aka JG Thirlwell aka Foetus and Roli Mossiman of Swans [among others]. A classic slab of demented, driving collage of sound run through the industrial-strength food processor that is Foetus’ brain. In his own words, the project was an attempt at “violent macho American music made by non-Americans.” Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel!

You’ll probably notice that side B of this 12″ is missing from the download below. This is because you can re-create it in the comfort of your own home– simply take the loop that repeats at the end of side A, repeat it for 7 and 1/2 minutes, and BAM! You’ve now re-created “Death Rape 2000″. Fun AND educational!

LISTEN: Mediafire

Cocteau Twins | Singles Promo Sampler | Capitol | 1991

One day very recently, I found myself in a Mid-Western Golden Corral when, slouched over my leg of beast and mashed root vegetables, I heard something familiar in the Muzak above me. Truth be told, a number of familiar songs all firmly rooted in the 80s had been playing but I’d paid no attention until that moment. Her sweet voice and the swirling strings floated high above the din of cud-chewing patrons (I couldn’t resist! You actually have to walk through a CORRAL to get to the register! How can I not liken us all to cows?!) and I realized in a fit of ecstasy and torment that they were playing Cocteau Twins. As soon as I was able, I dug out all of my Cocteau Twins records, determined to post something from them to honor that most surreal and rapturous moment.

CT had a glorious nearly two decade run (there is some discrepancy among sources online as to exactly how long), from c. 1980 to 1998, where they confounded, defied and enhanced an already rich musical decade. Each of the members, Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie, and Simon Raymonde, have gone on to solo projects but I think I was not alone in mourning the end of Cocteau Twins. Notable aspects to their sound were Liz’s indecipherable vocals which truly treated the voice as an instrument instead of just the vehicle for a message, Robin’s peerless guitar work, and Simon’s delicate, intricate piano playing (there were other members in there, too, who were all quite genius like Will Heggie). All of their work is among my favorite (with the possible exception of Four-Calendar Cafe) but, since I can only post one song here, I’m going to give you one of their tracks from their Singles Sampler. The Sampler is a promotional item in support of the 10 CD singles collection released in 1991 (an exhaustive compilation, if you can get yours hands on it). Here it is, Dials, which was released only on the singles sampler and on a promo single for Heaven Or Las Vegas:

LISTEN: Mediafire

When one thinks of 80′s-90′s Industrial acts, kids these days might call to mind Skinny Puppy or Ministry but mention Click Click and they’ll probably pretend to know what you’re talking about and then go straight home to ask the internets. I think this is a crying shame.

Click Click were formed in 1982 by Adrian Smith and Derek E. Smith, brothers with an apparently volatile relationship that might possibly have been further hindered by drug use, the over-consumption of tea, and a synthesizer called a WASP. Like those more name-dropped bands, they used tape loops, childrens toys, radio and television manipulation, and other decidedly analog methods to make their signature sound. They cite Cabaret Voltaire, Can, and Captain Beefheart as influences so you do the math.

They are reportedly releasing their back catalog in downloadable formats, but that was in 2008 and a cursory search of the web doesn’t show a lot of Click Click to be had. To remedy this travesty, here are two Click Click tracks for the delight of your ear balls. The first is “Is This It?” from their Bent Massive LP, released in 1989. The second is “I Rage I Melt” from their EP of the same title, from 1987:

LISTEN: Mediafire
LISTEN: Mediafire

The Slug and I were careening through the back woods today when, through some convoluted wormhole of conversation, we wound up talking about this great record store in Pittsburgh called Eides. The memory of the hours spent in there, combing through their offerings, immediately called to mind a record I’d purchased there on a trip to the Pitt in 1998. At the time, I found it difficult to navigate the aisles with the stadium’s worth of tulle I regularly wore but, somehow, I managed well enough to find Die Form’s “Poupee Mecanique” LP, its naughty lady bits calling to me from the Industrial bin.

I recall being slightly scandalized and titillated by the album artwork and more than a little intrigued by the content of Die Form songs, namely the unmistakable fetish imagery. What went on in Philippe Fichot’s bedroom? I couldn’t help but wonder as I played this album over and over again to my own delight and my roommate’s chagrin. The electronic musical experiments, the childlike melodies and playful female vocals, the slightly sinister content, and the overwhelming feeling that what I possessed was culled from some sweat- and semen-soaked, underground art scene forever solidified “Poupee Mecanique” as my favorite Die Form album.

Here is the title track, from the original release of the album on Bain Total, Die Form’s own label.

LISTEN: Mediafire

I should just go ahead and put it out there, for the whole world to know, that I idolize Danielle Dax. Were it not for the ocean between us, I might just stalk her in my spare time. Instead, I have to console myself with buying her records whenever they pop up. At this point, I have far too many copies of the “Tomorrow Never Knows” single to be considered competent to stand trial…and I don’t even like that song. I’m not alone in my obsession, however! Even Marc Heal mentioned in a Cubanate interview just how enamored he is with Danielle. I would wager good money that he, too, owns enough duplicates of her records to keep a college town record store open indefinitely.

I chose this first song to post because it gives me a giggle and because it is from the slightly difficult to find “Pop-Eyes” LP. “Here Come The Harvest Buns” and “Bed Caves” are certainly the stand-out tracks from the album, the rest of the record being considerably slower, noisier and generally lyrically stranger (although no less good, mind you!). Danielle Dax has, perhaps, the most abstract lyrical content this side of Cocteau Twins and, while it is always fun to spend an afternoon decoding the meaning, the word sounds serve as just another intricate, meaty layer to her deliciously complex song-writing.

This is a woman who deserves considerably more attention, consideration, and respect. If “Here Come The Harvest Buns” doesn’t do it for you, I’m sure I’ll post more from her in the future. If all else fails, I will beat you over the head with her music until you have no choice but to dance. Go ahead, listen to this track and tell me you didn’t wiggle your butt just a little bit.

LISTEN: Mediafire

This b-side, exclusive to this single, shows Machines of Loving Grace at perhaps their most TKK-sounding– the guitars are funky, the beats are thumping, the funeral organs are droning, the background chants are spooky.

The highlight of the song, however, is the heavy amount of sampling going on, mainly of a woman hurling insult after obscene insult at an unknown target. It gets to the point where she almost seems to be doing a duet with Scott Benzel during the chorus– while he sings “all I really need is your love,” she’s constantly screaming “asshole,” “scumbag,” “bastard,” etc. in the background. It’s a great track, and shows the band’s sense of humor. In fact, it was included on their original demo in place of “Lipstick 66.”

LISTEN: Mediafire

Ahh, Thrill Kill Kult. Their long and fabulous story has been told many times over, and I’m not going to rehash it here, but needless to say they’ve been carving out their particular niche of leather-clad sex-beat for decades. For industrial DJs, they also provided some of THE best “bathroom songs” of the 1990′s– tracks so long you could cue them up, take a restroom break, get a fresh drink, and still get back with time to spare. The KMFDM vs TKK CDS and “Cuz It’s Hot” CDS were the best of these, with the latter’s title track clocking in at over ten minutes long. Ten minutes!

The song’s epic length was not always a good thing, though, so imagine my excitement when I found this promo 12″ from Art of Mix Records. Exclusive remixes of 808 State, Boxcar, Spectrum, AND TKK?? The best thing about S. Michael Meacham’s “sex until mix” of ‘Cuz It’s Hot is that it’s a little over half as long as the original, about five and a half minutes. There are some dj tricks thrown in, and a sliver of that ubiquitous (for the period) “no! sex! until! marriage!” sample, but the beat pretty much just pummels you the entire time. I understand that TKK re-released this cut via their Kult Konnection fan service, too.

LISTEN: Mediafire

When I heard the news about Bea Arthur’s death, I naturally thought to post something about it. As a kid, I grew up watching re-runs of The Golden Girls when nothing else was on TV– those women were hilarious! This blog being what it is, I was suddenly reminded of the bootleg copy of the now-infamous Star Wars Holiday Special I had tucked away within my DVD collection. In it, Arthur plays a cantina’s nightshift bartender named Ackmena, who serenades her patrons at closing time. The title of the song, “goodnight but not goodbye,” seems strangely fitting in a way.

This is going to be one of those rare instances in which I link to another site/blog instead of providing the tracks right here, the reason being that StarWarsHolidaySpecial.com has a far superior copy of the song than I do. After ripping the audio from my dvd-r, I realized that it sounded awful. My hat is off to the guy that provided the track for SWHS.com– he either had a much earlier generation copy than I did, or his skills at audio restoration are truly exceptional (or both!). Click the link below and find Bea Arthur’s track… it’s the third mp3 link from the top.

LISTEN: StarWarsHolidaySpecial.com