Ernesto Cardenal - Gebet Für Marilyn Monroe & Psalm 21 -1972- (LP, Pietbiet), Germany/Nicaragua

Merry Christmas and an Archaic New Year to all followers of the blog!

This is a record I'm very happy to present on this blog. It's a beautiful example of how all kinds of ideological currents surfed along on the waves of hippieness and political progressiveness during the early seventies and eventually were translated to psychedelic music.

Ernesto Cardenal is a Nicaraguan priest, poet and politician. He was also minister of culture in Nicaragua at the end of the seventies. Cardenal started a christian commune in 1966 on the Solentiname Islands in Nicaragua in which they lived in poverty among indigenous farmers. This is a record he made in Germany in the early seventies with a couple of christians who were completely out of their minds. Cardenal wrote the texts and the German musicians made the musical adaptations and German translations. The first side of the record is called "Prayer for Marilyn Monroe" and has a completely pedantic and moralistic character. It tells the story of the life of Marilyn Monroe and why it was all a futile effort. The second song is called Psalm 21 and talks about war, torture and technological problems of the world. Really heavy stuff (I mean the record).

The greatest thing about the record is that the German vocalists sing both in German and Spanish. Their Spanish has an insanely strong German accent which makes it incredible. It has a similar feeling to German bands like Floh De Cologne (who would totally hate these christian people) or Dutch hippie flutist Sigurd Cochius who made one album in the early seventies. It's very groovy with amazing flutework. The flutist who is appearing on this record is Klaus Dapper who was also in Krautrock groups like Bröselmaschine and the NWW-List group Kollektiv so this record has a link to some of the proper Krautrock bands as well.

UPDATE: I got hold of a new copy of this album, which means the bad quality B-side of last time has been replaced by a better rip. I suggest you grab this pearl again! 

"Herr, in dieser Welt, die verseucht ist von Sünde und Radioaktivität sprichst Du eine kleine Verkäuferin nicht schuldig, die wie alle kleinen Verkäuferinnen davon träumt, ein Filmstar zu sein. Ihr Traum wurde Wirklichkeit (doch eine Wirklichtkeit in Technicolor), sie agierte nur nach dem Script, das wir ihr gaben - das Script unserer eigenen Leben - und es war ein absurdes Script. Vergibt ihr, Herr, und vergib uns allen..."

Get ready for some amazing Christian Krautrock! 

Get it HERE!

I uploaded some vintage North Korean records as well if you prefer to listen to that during this Christmas.

VA - Young Hungarian Electronic Music Composers -1983- (LP, Hungaroton), Hungary

As promised in the first post of Hungarian electronic music, here's the second one that came out in Hungary compiling some of the electronic music composers that were active in the seventies and eighties. I have to say that this one is probably the key record for Hungarian electronic composed music and in my opinion even more incredible than the other one.

Five Hungarian composers are present here: Iván Székely, Miklós Csemiczky, Máté Victor, Lászlo Király and István Szigeti. Some of these composers have published some solo records in Hungary which are really worth it to check out. The music ranges from electro-acoustic pieces to really intense electronic pulsating sounds intwertwined with singing of Hungarian vowels. It never bores and is really versatile while still creating the feeling that it's a whole, which is an amazing effort done for a compilation.

The first piece For Alrun by Iván Székely was recorded live in 1975 during an electronic music showcase in Bayreuth. The record starts and ends with two Hungarian folk songs to complete the musical journey:

Népdal:                                                  
Gyere ki te gyöngyvirág                      
Mert feljött a holdvilág, jaj               
Majd kimegyek hajnalba              
Magos fejű kalapba, jaj

Folk Song:
Come out, you lily,
For the moon has risen, jaj
I'll go out at dawn
In a high-topped hat, jaj

Weöres Sándor: Lied:
                        
Várlak a déli sugárban,                 
várlak az éji sötétben,                      
várlak a télben, a nyárban                
várlak a földön, az égen                  

Lied by Sándor Weöres:

I await you in the noon sun,
I await you in the dark night,
I await you in winter, in summer
I await you on earth, in the sky


Get it HERE

Harry Sparnaay - Bass Clarinet Identity II -1982- (LP, Composers' Voice), Netherlands

After the first Bass Clarinet Identity I posted a while ago, we finally get to hear the second one by Dutch Bass Clarinet virtuoso Harry Sparnaay. The same circle of composers and musicians are on here creating three pieces in which the Bass Clarinet (obviously) plays the main role.

On this particular record the electronic pieces are no longer present, but are replaced by choirs and more acoustic contemporary classical composed ones. Therefore this record might be the closest to classical music on this blog. Fortunately this does not mean that the music is dull. The A-side consists of a 30 minute piece called Soirée Musicale composed by Spanish composer Enrique Raxach and invokes unexpected sound-bursts of entangled string and wind-instruments in a landscape of haunted spheres. The other pieces by Dutch composers are more minimalistic in which Sparnaay's Bass Clarinet gets more freedom to explore its possibilities. The whole is actually a bit more conventional musically, but still creates something eerie and unexpected. It's a nice continuation of the Harry Sparnaay universe on this blog.

Get it HERE

Donated by Kim

New incredible posts will be up shortly. You will love it. Stay tuned.

Tokyo Kid Brothers - Saiyuki - The Moon Is East, The Sun Is West -1972- (LP, Dutch Private Pressing), Japan

After this first record I posted a while ago, here is the second Dutch private pressing of this freaky Japanese acid drenched, political activist theatre outfit. Actually the recording for this album, which came out one year later after Story Of Eight Dogs, was made during a performance in London, but was only released in The Netherlands in limited quantities. More information about Tokyo Kid Brothers in the previous post.

The music consists again of some real communal psychedelic jams combined with cheerful songs and a lot of humor. Through this stance the Tokyo Kid Brothers are also able to express their criticism on certain things in society. Unfortunately, unlike their early Japanese releases, most songs are cut off quite early which doesn't allow them to get into real long jams, but it's nevertheless really enjoyable. You really get a sense of a community feeling during the play, because they always interact with the audience. Also during the first couple of songs a baby is crying throughout the recording.

Some of the highlights on the album consist, among others, of Motorbike in which they mix a song in Japanese with yelling "Motorbike". In another song called Jumping Song, one of the Japanese girls is "looking for the monkeys" and tells people they look like a monkey in a very playful manner. The most psychedelic jam is Goeika. Other songs are about Mao, socialism or have hippie titles like Budist Trip. Ofcourse part of the NWW-List.

"You look like a monkey!"

 Get it HERE

Ton de Leeuw - Litany Of Our Time / Clair Obscur -1986- (LP, Composers' Voice), Netherlands

Ton de Leeuw (1926 - 1996) was a Dutch composer who had studied ethnomusicology under Dutch composer Jaap Kunst (known for his studies of traditional Indonesian music in the aftermath of Dutch colonialism). De Leeuw is considered one of the most renowned modern composers of the twentieth century from Holland. He also studied in Paris under Olivier Messiaen and mystical Gurdjieff pianist Thomas de Hartmann. De Leeuw pioneered as one of the first Dutch composers to experiment with electronic sounds. This record came out for the occasion of De Leeuw's sixtieth birthday.

It contains two pieces, the first one Litany of Our Time (1969-70) is a modern composed collage of sounds and words spoken in Dutch and English. It's an interesting diverse piece sung in a sometimes very Rock In Opposition-like way. Reminding me of Sally Potter´s or Maggie Nichols' voice. The lyrics are quite cynical. From the liner notes:

"Litany is unusual among my oeuvre in that it was inspired directly by a personal experience. The subject matter of the eight tableaux chiefly derives from the 4 november 1969 issue of "The Times", purchased on that day at London Heathrow Airport to while away the time prior to departure. The backdrop against which the different scenario's unfold then, is this: the airport, a crossroads of communication, yet a place where people pass each other by like so many disembodied entities. Offsetting this we have the newspaper: the immediate source of information from the outside world and mouthpiece of reports whose reality the consciousness can scarcely grasp. 

This quality of dislocation has its counterpart in the structure of the piece. Images loom towards us, fragmented as though through a mist; texts often indistinguishably blurred; music voicing the existential isolation of modern man and the mumblings of his litany. These evocations should not, however, be interpreted in the light of an artistically slated form of reportage, a dramatisation of reality or a piece of social criticism. What "Litany" records is not so much particular events in themselves but the manner in which our minds absorb them; minds divorced from a capacity for true fellowship with the outside world and a meaningful communication with fellow humanity at large. The instrumental component is not designed for background effect, but represents a voice in its own right."

The second piece is an electronic one which title refers to a characteristic of the work of Dutch painter Rembrandt.

Get it HERE

Donated by Kim 

Formatory Apparatus - Archive (2014, Polytechnic Youth)

Sorry for the hiatus on this blog, I have been very busy lately, but I still have new posts coming up soon so keep looking out for them. Furthermore I'd like to announce the release of my first ever record that comes out tomorrow 1st of october on Polytechnic Youth. This first archive album is supposed to be a warm up for the real release later on Deep Distance, sublabel of The Great Pop Supplement. Please check out these labels if you want to discover some contemporary off the radar bands that are absolutely amazing.

Formatory Apparatus - Archive consists of jamssessions and early bedroom experiments I did between 2011 and 2013 more or less (can't exactly remember). It has a fully analog minimal synth, electronic-kraut motorik style sound fueled by teenage angst and was previously recorded on a bunch of cassettes. No computers or midi-control was used in the making of the songs.

The "Archive" vinyl will be strictly limited to a 100 copies so grab it while you can over at Polytechnic Youth.

LAST COPIES AVAILABLE HERE:

https://www.normanrecords.com/records/150097-formatory-apparatus-archive- 

-SOLD OUT-

Thanks for staying tuned in to the blog!

Bence

https://soundcloud.com/the-formatory-apparatus

Angel Rada - Solar Concert For Bhagavan -1985- (LP, Uraniun Records), Venezuela

Angel Rada is a mythical Venezuelan master of electronics. He is one of the only people from his country to create electronic music since the seventies. He even played in some of the best psychedelic groups from the sixties in Venezuela like (The) Gas Light (great name for a Venezuelan group). As a sonology student he went to study in Germany where he got acquainted with the Kosmische Krautrock legends from that time like Ash Ra and Klaus Schulze. Shortly after he produced the legendary first album Upadesa (please listen to that masterpiece).

This was Angel Rada's third album and as the title tells us it's a concert for Bhagavan. This is very much overlooked and put in the realms of New Age electronical music. The cover doesn't uncover the musical beauty that is hidden on this vinyl. Sure it could be viewed as an early example of New Age music but it totally exceeds that genre. What's present here is a tropical electronic masterpiece.

The music is based upon analog synthesizers and even energetic drum computers. It sounds like Sun Ra jamming along on one of the more cosmic songs of NDW legends Stratis/39 Eyes while the studio engineer was Innovative Communications' Clara Mondshine all set in the Caribbean. But ofcourse, Angel Rada is one of a kind and doesn't sound like any other artist. He has found a way to blend the Venezuelan feeling into beautiful pieces of electronic music in which a lot of emotions are invoked. The first two tracks are combined into a cosmic piece in which cosmic melodies suddenly start to interact with an analog drumbeat elevating the song into cosmic dance music. The song Pegasus (Night Flight Over Tokyo) is an example of pure emotion through cold analog machines.In the third song called I Ching the poem I King by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges is recited in Spanish over cosmic synthesizer music accompanied by a vocoder. This is an overlooked South American masterpiece.

¡Señor Rada! ¡Usted es grande! ¡Muchisimas Gracias!

Highly Recommended

HERE