Various Artists - Audiografika -1989- (Cassette, Po. So. 02), Spain

This contribution stems back from one of the activities carried out by Javier Cinca, who was involved in various home taping, mail art, sound poetry and experimental video projects along the 1980’s and responsible for the cassette label from Zaragoza Sindicato de Trabajos Imaginarios (S.T.I.).

Audiografika belongs to the PO.SO. sub-label, a project which unfortunately could no longer be continued after 1989. PO.SO. stands for Poesía Sónica, Spanish for Sonic Poetry and considered to encompass a wider spectrum than sound poetry, which could go from phonetic poetry all the way to electronic poetry. Such project represents Cinca’s aim to turn towards the elaboration of multimedia editions at a time when such concept became highly popularized. Its first edition, Antología Polipoética – a boxset containing a sound poetry cassette along with a bilingual Italian-English book with a chapter dedicated to each of the twelve artists that participated – featured some of the most prolific Italian sonic poets, with the likes of Enzo Minarelli, Arrigo Lora-Totino, Maurizio Nannucci, Vittore Baroni and Giovanni Fontana among others. 

The second edition Audiografika included the participation of highly acclaimed artists whose practice leaned towards the more vocal side of sound poetry such as Heidsieck and Scherstjanoi, the concrete tape manipulations of Henri Chopin and the electroacoustic works of Riedl. This time, Audiografika was intended to pursue the multimedia path through an exploration of the synesthetic character of the work of its participants, from the Riedl’s ‘Optische Lautgedichte's' or optical sound poems to the visual poems of Scherstjanoi or Chopin. Sadly, Audiografika was never published, and as Cinca recalls, even if around 200 tapes were produced for this edition, only half a dozen from them survived, making them today very hard to source and thus, highly coveted collectable sonic objects.

As a part of a debt contracted through numerous postal exchanges along the 1980’s with many of the artists with which S.T.I. sought to embark itself in different projects, Javier Cinca has now published a book containing most of the letters, collages, various types of poetry and other forms of mail art ephemera he received over the years, together with a digitized version of the Audiografika tape now available through Archaic Inventions.

- Text by Juan Vacas

 

For those interested in acquiring a copy of the book (100 copies only), please contact: stiediciones@gmail.com

Or buy the book through this link at Todocoleccion.

Download the Audiografika Cassette HERE or HERE

Archaic Inventions likes to specially thank Javier Cinca and Juan Vacas for the collaboration.

Amalgam - 1978-1981 -1991- (Cassette, Black Point), Czech Republic

Amalgam 1978-1981 features the recordings of a series of concerts of this project led by the Czech drummer and percussionist Vlastimil Marek, along with a variety of guests that range from renowned Czech progressive rock musicians and ethnomusicologists active in the country’s underground scene to a rare participation at that time of an international guest like Mohan Lal.

The recording on the A-side of the tape stems from Amalgam’s participation at the Prague Jazz Days festival held at the Lucerna concert hall on the 19th may 1978. The occasion brought together Marek’s orientally inclined percussive music with the members of the progressive rock band Švehlík, which included Pavel Richter, Luboš Fidler and Alexandr Hajdovský along with the participation of the Indian tabla player Mohan Lal, one of the first foreign guests to play the festival. This first part depicts the inclination towards non-western musical traditions, in this case by Marek and its fusion with avant-garde rock bands like Švehlík, a style at that time already popularized in "the West" by musicians like John McLaughlin or bands like Tri Atma and Embryo for example. In a sense, such music is representative of a legacy of occidental musicians prone to experiment with oriental modes and percussion in order to escape from the constraining aspects of western music towards free and varied forms of music incorporating a clear tendency towards improvisation.

The first half of the B-side was recorded at the sports hall Na Folimance in Prague a year later featuring Czech music-ethnologist and multi-instrumentalist Jiří Mazánekon on acoustic guitar and voice, and Milan Valenta on the violin. The second half was recorded at Baráčnická Rychta also in Prague and the liner notes only name Vlastimil Marek’s use of tapes and percussion along the participation of a series of unknown guests.

While working on his solo percussion projects, Marek has also played with well known rock in opposition bands like MCH Band, Švehlík and Extempore, all of which have included Pavel Richter as a member. In this sense we may appreciate the diverse network of musicians of different genres which participated in the country’s underground scene, resulting in the creation of a fertile terrain for the development of non-conventional approaches towards a free music conception despite the ungoing political repression of the country at that time.

The first side of this tape was released as the second half of the CD Švehlík & Amalgam – Lucerna 19. Května 1978 in 2017 by Galén, a book publisher and record label from Prague.

 By Juan Vacas - RNR 

Get it HERE

Lister - Innlysende Samtaler Og Forutbestemte Avtaler -1984- (Tape, Self-Released), Norway

Originally from Oslo, Stein Inge Larsen, better known as André Lister, moved to Trondheim in the mid-70's with the intention of becoming a primary school teacher. However, once in contact with the city's music-driven scene he became a central part of it.

The lack of music press in Norway at that time instigated the creation of the first fanzines, that actually originated in Trondheim due to its vibrant punk and hard rock community. The first one to appear was Asfaltfilla, an anarchist fanzine which shared a lot of the common elements that could be found in similar counter-cultural publications at the time. André Lister was one of the heads behind it and an avid rejector of punk's intellectualization. Asfaltfilla would eventually result in the creation of the punk music fanzine Rockefilla.

André Lister had been part of many bands such as Sjolord, but ultimately distanced himself from punk and started to lean towards sonic experimentation and the use of synthesizers and drum machines, as it became apparent in some of his solo projects as Lister, while also forming Norwegian experimental cult rock band Det Elektriske Kjøkken. As a result, and as way to publish their albums, the band decided to start the label Oh Yeah! and its sub-label Oh No!

Innlysende Samtaler Og Forutbestemte Avtaler (Obvious Calls And Predefined Agreements) is one of Lister's first solo projects in which he pursues further the electronic domain combining long swirling synthesizer sounds with prog-like bass and guitar riffs as well as the occasional use of rhythm machines without losing its home-made DIY feel. You can expect a soothing psychedelic trip with some recording imperfections all along the tape (the first track suffers from a technical default that turns mono at some point), enjoy! 

André Lister died in 2016 in Tanger at the age of 63 where he decided to live the rest of his days. 

- Juan Vacas

* The information made available above is an adaptation from the information retrieved from his obituary in a Norwegian newspaper and the book "Sid's Norwegian romance: Sex Pistols exiled in Trondheim 1977" (2012).

Get it HERE

Pablo A. Gimenez - The Work In Progress -1988- (Tape, STI: Sindicato de Trabajos Imaginarios), Spain

I'm very happy and enthusiastic that I can announce the first guest contribution to Archaic Inventions by a fellow traveller in music and music selector Juan Vacas, who is also one of the representatives of the Madrid based music collective Real No Real. Some rarities from the Spanish tape culture (and perhaps beyond) will be occasionally presented by him to the blog. Starting with this incredible one! -

Pablo A. Giménez is still one of the great unknown Spanish composers of the 1980’s. He was predominantly based in Zaragoza, with an occasional stay in Paris. During the early 70’s he was involved in a group dedicated to the study of electronic music (Estudio de Música Electrónica) along with Luis Fatás, M. Medalón and Luis Colomer. While in Paris, where he studied philosophy and sociology, he refrained from making music for a few years. Short time after his return, his reconciliation with music began after he was offered to compose for amateur film works. Far from having studied at a conservatory, Pablo A. Giménez belonged to the band Casablanca during the late 70’s. Casablanca was described to be something like the band of a hippie commune that established itself for several years in Logroño. The band was composed by more than seven members and generally leaned closer to progressive rock but with numerous influences which ranged from salsa to jazz, being heavily influenced by bands like Gong, Frank Zappa or Hawkwind. 

Casablanca live in the 70's, Gimenez on sax

Several years after the dissolution of the band, Pablo A. Giménez started working with magnetic tapes, he became interested in the use of computers and eventually worked with simple low budget machines (not that he seeked for this cheapness in any way, but for a lack of better mediums) mixed with professional saxophones. Among his influences, it is easy to highlight great figures of the contemporary music world like Edgar Varèse or musique concrete pioneers Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry.

His works have been, for the most part, published by the Zaragoza based label STI (Sindicato de Trabajos Imaginarios, translated: Syndicate of Imaginary Works) that during the 80's mainly focused on avant-garde and homemade music, ranging from noise, to sound poetry or industrial music as well as being involved in mail art projects and run by Javier Cinca. His three first albums vary from more electroacoustic compositions, to more pop and dreamy sounds as well as darker sides mixed with spoken word.

The Work In Progress is his first album published on cassette by STI where he reveals bright saxophone melodies intermingled with subtle drum machines and electronic sequences on the first side, and more abstract compositions during the second half. - Juan Vacas

Pablo A. Gimenez

"Perseguidos por las sombras
caminamos apresuradamente
hacia el olvido..."

Get it HERE