にんぷたい (I Want Pregnant Women) - Nymph -1987- (Cassingle, Elecuitel Records), Japan

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So usually I don't really post stuff if I don't know what it is that I exactly share, but then again that really happens rarely. This is a Japanese cassingle from 1987 of a band which name would be more suitable for some sort of Japanese harsh-noise project. I translated the Japanese band name and found out it meant I Want Pregnant Women, what to think of such a band name? Anyway, it turned out that this is everything but harsh-noise: the music is strange kawai Japanese new-wave pop or something like that.

The three song-cassette contains the song Nymph in two different versions and a cool weird late eighties electronic track with drumcomputers. The only thing I know is that this was released by the Elecuitel label in Japan, which also published the great Dali-Soli flexi disc (might be the same group) that was presented years ago on Habit of Sex, a blog specialized in Japanese underground music. I recommend you -if you haven't done it yet- to walk through the archives of the Habit of Sex and Stalking Duppi blogs to discover endless great recordings from the Japanese eighties underground.

UPDATE: Thanks to a follower of the blog I now know that the sound engineer was Masaharu Tanigawa who made a strange record in the early eighties and also played on the first Ché-SHIZU album. Also the band consisted of about five people playing different instruments. Check out the comments for more information.

Get it HERE

Qua Dance - Same -198X- (Cassette), Netherlands

Qua Dance was a new wave band from the Dutch city of Groningen. They existed from 1981 to 1984 and consisted of Huib Westerbaan (bass), Roel Steenbeek (drums), Kees Douma (guitar) and Marieke Smit (vocals). They released one single in 1982 on the Frisian Top Hole Records which was posted a long time ago here and to be heard here. Also someone wrote a small article on Qua Dance over here.

This cassette might be from 1981, because bands tend to self release their material before they get picked up by any record label. It's a cassette-only EP release that contains five different tracks. As for the music: I guess you could say that this was one out of the thousands of obscure little bands worldwide that arose in the wake of new wave music in the early eighties. Qua Dance has a sound that fits right in with all the Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure or X-Mal Deutschland type of influential wave bands. Nevertheless, they do sound quite dark, minimalistic and use electronic sounds, but overall they do make pop songs. It's not entirely groundbreaking, but I'm sure people investigating every small wave band from the eighties are going to be happy with this (especially from Holland).

Get it HERE

VA - Risonanze/3 - Evocazioni Musicali di Temi Biblici -1979- (Tape, Edizione Paoline), Italy

After Risonanze 2 which was posted earlier on the blog, here we have the third and last in the series. Risonanze was published through papal record label Paoline from the Vatican and was based on biblical themes. The composers of the music were Ennio Morricone, Egisto Macchi, Gino Marinuzzi, Armando Trovaioli, Miriam Bordoni and Luigi Zito. These compositions were surely not primarily created as biblical themes, but gathered for this particular series and perhaps renamed. I'm sure most pieces are a lot older than 1979 as well. Very strange music history indeed.

If I compare the two Risonanze volumes I think that the first one is a bit more diverse and less classical in its approach. This one sticks far more to some sort of traditional biblical theme than the other. The pieces tend more towards classical and folk music, but nevertheless create imaginitave cinematographical atmospheres. Some of the songs have electronic sounds, whilst others have choirs of sacral voices. Ofcourse many of these Italian composers are undoubtedly some of the best in existence so this is beautiful music. Who has volume one of the series?

Get it HERE

Donated by Kim


Also wanted to say that these coming months I will have some truly in-cre-di-ble posts coming and you will love it! Stay tuned!

Theo Loevendie Consort - Chess! -1972- (LP, BASF), Netherlands

This record is most likely the first real jazz album I've put on the blog so far, but it's a real classic in its genre. Theo Loevendie is a Dutch jazz clarinetist and composer and has been one of the key figures in Dutch jazz and improvisation since the sixties. In the early seventies Loevendie created two albums under the name Theo Loevendie Consort: Chess and Mandela (both have been reissued on a CD which is also out of print).

The Theo Loevendie Consort is basically a Dutch supergroup of jazz and impro musicians. The group consisted of trombonist Willem van Manen, icon of Dutch jazz: saxophonist Hans Dulfer, bass clarinet wizard Harry Sparnaay (to be found on this blog), pianist Leo Cuypers, bass player Arjen Gorter, saxophonist Leo van Oostrom and drummer Martin van Duynhoven (who was also in Group 1850, one of the best psychedelic Dutch bands from the sixties and seventies). You can find all these musicians on countless albums over at Inconstant Sol, as well as more Loevendie stuff.

Chess! is an important album in the Dutch (free)jazz realm, but to my personal taste not the best effort you'd expect from a supergroup like this. I suppose it was hard for them to find the right balance between their melody foundations and free jazz outburst and the space everyone had within that division. But then again maybe that's exactly what they tried to do according to the liner notes, namely:  "Anthitheses, depicting a fight between worn-out traditions and the modern improvisation approach". For example the first piece chess is a nice combination of a simple happy melody and free jazz. The piece brasilia combines a Brazilian-like melody with chaotic saxophone bursts. All in all the whole is a cool example of Dutch free jazz and does grasp the groovy spirit of that particular time in Holland. Maybe it's just that one has too high expectations being confronted with a supergroup of this degree.

Get it HERE

Storm Bugs - Gift -1981- (Tape, Snatch Tapes), UK

This here is the third and last cassette by the great UK experimental electronic DIY home-taping duo Storm Bugs. Storm Bugs was formed in 1978 in London, by Philip Sanderson and Steven Ball. Between 1978-81 Storm Bugs released 3 cassettes on the Snatch Tapes label and two 7-inch records: the Table Matters EP and the Metamorphose single. Storm Bugs created music comparable to bands like Throbbing Gristle or early Cabaret Voltaire. Snatch Tapes is a prime example of the British DIY sound of the late seventies and early eighties and gained a legendary status among fans of the experimental home-taping culture. It also released the first David Jackman (aka Organum) cassettes. You should read this piece written on UK cassette culture by Philip Anderson himself.

Although most of the Storm Bugs and Snatch Tapes material has been reissued, this cassette contains unrereleased tracks. With that being said I strongly recommend you to support Storm Bugs and Snatch Tapes related music by purchasing it at their bandcamp or at VOD. More Snatch Tapes stuff here and here.

Enjoy!
 

Various Artists - Opus '71 -1971- (LP, Radio Nederland), Netherlands

After Opus '70 which I posted a while ago here's Opus '71, another showcase of modern composed Dutch composition this time from the year 1971. The Opus series started out in the mid-sixties and went on all the way to the end of the eighties. They were promotional copies send to foreign radio stations to show contemporary developments in Dutch music. For this reason every composition has an introduction in English. The Opus series were not regularly for sale which makes them quite hard to find.

The featured composers on Opus '71 are Ton de Leeuw, Peter Schat, Jan Vriend and David Porcelijn. Their pieces are quite freeform and spacious resulting in unexpected sound movements and strange sonorous adventures. I like these compositions because I can listen to them in a less rigid way than regular classical music because of their improvisational components. Also due to the use of electronic instruments and electric guitars in some of the pieces a multi-layered sound is created. Especially programme 2 is very weird and takes on some strange imaginative conceptual ideas in music which you can read about on the insert.

It's remarkable that even here in Holland there isn't that much public interest or exposure for this type of Dutch music and composition. The Opus series create a great opportunity to dig into the surprising world of Dutch modern composed music of which many compositions are already quite forgotten.

Get it HERE

Édouard Magrin-Sofreson - Essai Sonore Sur L'Érotisme -19XX- (10 Inch, Private Pressing), France

This is a French 10 inch record based on the theme eroticism. It came out in limited quantities in a gatefold red linnen cover. I suspect this record to come out of the early sixties, although it hints towards the fifties too with its sleeve, also the music could have been made much earlier. I can't find any additional information about the artist Édouard Magrin-Sofreson nor about the release date.

On this Musical Essay on Eroticism Magrin-Sofreson wants to cover sounds associated with eroticism and human nature in a very ritualistic manner. The music is a sexual evocative trip of two long pieces comprised of primitive drumming, sounds of birds and nature, gentle electronic sounds, Brazilian carnaval rhythm and ofcourse some stirring female heavy breathing. I guess you could call this a library record, but I think that this is much more a concept album than just some sounds one could use for generic applied purposes. Actually the whole intention and sound reminds me a lot of ritualistic industrial groups of the eighties that had a large emphasis on sexual magick, like Sleep Chamber, Psychic TV or Coil. Maybe this can be seen as some sort of predecessor of such musical intentions.

On the inner part of the sleeve Magrin-Sofreson points out that a lot of (French) artists, poets, philosophers, authors etc. have always been fascinated and engaged with the theme of love and eroticism throughout history. From the work of Marquis de Sade, to the work of poets like Guillaume Apollinaire to the philosophy of Georges Bataille (who wrote specifically about eroticsm), almost all of these expressions had enormous influences on popular and non-popular culture. They sought attention for the understanding of human nature and its relation so sex, love or eroticism and their transcendental qualities for human beings.

Get it HERE