Jan 31, 2009

STUART MOXHAM & THE ORIGINAL ARTISTS "Cars in the grass" (UK,1994)


Acoustic warmth from a smaller and slower world, still charming, although its earlier days (YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS, THE GIST) magic spirit of diy-ultra minimalistic pop innocence has been long invaded by some jangly routine.
Apart Stuart's brothers, Louis Philippe is giving here a hand.

Jan 29, 2009

THE UNDERNEATH "The Imp Of The Perverse" (UK, 1986)






The predecessor EP of UNDERNEATH's "LUNATIC DAWN OF THE DISMANTLER" is nothing less than another mysterious KARL BLAKE work... and another unsual el Records release.
Covers of Arthur Brown's "Fire" and Honeycombs's 60`s hit "Have I The Right?"... a tribute song to Black Sabbath ("Black Roots")... and finally some poetry recitation into a noir-industrial atmosphere ("Short Term Agreement").

Special thanks to good friend ANDY for providing the material. Without his generous assistance this post would not have been done.

Jan 28, 2009

JUAN JOSE MOSALINI " Che Bandoneon " (1992)



Listening to the magnificent "Docteur petiot" - J. J. Mosalini`s contribution in Michel Portal`s "Musiques de Cinemas"- many of you, i guess, may start searching about this great argentinian tango "auteur".

His official site is at:
http://www.juanjosemosalini.com


...and one of his finest works, "CHE BANDONEON" (Label Bleu) is here:

CHE BANDONEON
(11 tracks, approx. time 52min)

Tracks are written by several composers as COBIAN, DELFINO, BINELLI, TEL, MEDEROS, PIAZZOLA, FEDERICO, PANE, TROILO and of course by MOSALINI.

Played by JUAN JOSE MOSALINI (bandoneon) & ANTONIO AGRI (violin)

Jan 27, 2009

MICHEL PORTAL "Musiques de Cinemas" (FRA, 1995)


Michel Portal revisits themes he scored for several movies, approaching them with jazz feeling and leaving cleverly ground for eclectic contributions and creative encounters: afro-french jazz blends, fusions, improvisations, tangos... sounds that seem to know the deeper relation between the motion pictures and the seducible imagination. And round this knowledge they are unfolded emotionally.

Michel Portal, who played clarinets and saxophones, assisted here by great musicians like Ralph Towner (guitar), Paolo Fresu (trumpet), Juan Jose Mosalini (bandoneon), Richard Galliano (accordion), Nguyen Le (synth, guitar), N`Diaye Rose Doudou (percussion, tambourine) and others.
This compilation released in 1995 from LABEL BLEU.

Jan 25, 2009

HASIDIC NEW WAVE " From The Belly Of Abraham" (US,2001)



Τhe fourth LP of HNW, this time with participation of senegalese hand drummers Aliounne Faye & Yakar Rhythms. Listen to it here.
Other HNW works at this blog are: "Psycho-Semitic" and " Kabalogy"



Στο τέταρτο LP τους, οι HNW συμπορεύονται με το σενεγαλέζικο σχήμα Aliounne Faye & Yakar Rhythms, και παρόλο που η "σύντηξη" των δυο πλευρών δεν αποφέρει ενα αρκετά ομογενοποιημένο και συμπαγές αποτέλεσμα, το άκουσμα ειναι ενδιαφέρον, οι γνωστές αβάν-τζαζ-φανκ-κλεζμερ διευρύνσεις εμπλουτίζονται πολυρυθμικά και αποκτούν χαρακτήρα διαφυλετικό.
Οι "περιπέτειες της αφρο-σημιτικής διασποράς" (έτσι υποτιτλοφορείται το CD) υλοποιούνται με αίσθημα πλήρους παροντικότητας, ελεύθερα, φαντασιακά... Δρομολογούν προοπτικές παρά ξεσκονίζουν μνήμες γιατί χειριζονται την παράδοση ριζοσπαστικά.

Jan 22, 2009

DANIEL SCHELL & KARO "The Secret of Bwlch" (BEL,1990)


A fine example of Made to Measure aesthetics... a contemporary encounter of classical, minimal, euro-jazz and medieval folk with pictures of global travelling... a non-rock extension of Schell`s work with COS... a cinematic imagination...
The post-modern art stimulated by the "fused worlds" that irrationally visit us in our dreams.

Secret Of Bwlch

Jan 21, 2009

DANIEL SCHELL & KARO "If Windows They Have" (BEL,1986)

MTM vol.13 - IF WINDOWS THEY HAVE, 1986

-"4 Karos..." announced Dr Freudenthal.
He displayed his cards triumphantly on the green baize. A beautiful run of diamonds.
-"How lucky you are" said Lucy. "You won for the whole evening...there must be some trick!!!"
-"There is a trick!"
He took a small machine out of his pocket...hit some keys...a funy assembly of DNA-like modules appeared on the liquid display...they were connected one to another, as if they were made to measure...
-"So, that`s the automatic Karo-Machine...!"said Wolfgang.
-"I am sure there is a little man inside..." whispered Lucy.
They all laughed... until Dr Freudenthal begun in a deep voice:
-"The traveller goes from the direction of Mount Original, to see the sea... He meets a primitive tribe, the KAROS. They transform the light of the sun into music... They speak the lingua cosmica... out of 1 Karo they produce 4 Karos, 36 Karos..."
They were all staring at him, bemused.
-"Was the traveller a Celt?" he continued, "or a Tunisian? Whatever...He decided he would code their secret into one single object...he then would hide this treasure, and bury it in the sands, at low low tide..."
''But the sea is vast and quick; so quick that it pursues the traveller. Can he reach the white cliffs in time?"
-Excuse me, Doctor, but this is very important: can you play this mini-rosetta stone on your radio...?"
-I guess not, Wolfgang...we get so much noise from saturn, these days...3,2 (1)...*, 2 (6)... .*1,2 (5)/$%+.88.... ...zzzzzzzzzyykkrrrrr....
They were listening with rapt attention: was this an intelligent message?
-"You can be sure of one thing: these people have no reason to waste their energy through the windows..."
-"If windows they have..."

DANIEL SCHELL - chapman stick
PIERRE NARCISSE - percussion
CLAUDINE STEENACKERS - cello
JEAN-LUC PLOUVIER - keyboards, shortwaves
DIRK DESCHEEMAEKER - clerinet
TRAN THI THU VAN & JEANNOT GILLIS - violins

(composed by Daniel Schell except track 5 by Pascale Son & Daniel Schell,
cover painting "SYLVIE" by Angel Vergara Santiago,
text reproduced from the back cover of vinyl edition)

IF WINDOWS THEY HAVE
a vinyl rip by LFDJ (256kb/s)

STEVEN BROWN "Composes pour le theatre et le cinema" (US/BEL, 1989)


provided by RAINIER

A collection of pieces that STEVEN BROWN wrote for theatre and cinema. Includes the music for the film "Jean Gina B." (by Jean Pol Ferbus), a cover version of a "Chinatown" theme (originally composed by Jerry Goldsmith) plus music commissioned for the film "La Valise De Flora", pieces for theatre acts ("La vie est Belle" & "Modern Times") and finally a track recorded for Belgian TV. Luc Van Lieshout played harnonica on "The Harbour", the rest music performed by the composer.
Another fine LE DISQUES DU CREPUSCULE release arrived at La Folie thanks to generous sharer RAINIER.

Jan 19, 2009

WONDEUR BRASS " Ravir" (CAN, 1985)


WONDEUR BRASS is the Canadian outfit that gave birth to LES POULES, a project known to our readers from the wonderful album "LES CONTES DE L`AMERE LOI" we posted some months ago.
The girls here are six (!), there are more wind instruments (saxophones, trombone) but the musical attitude remains more or less the same.
Free or theatrical improvisations, experimental new wave, humour, memories from retrojazz and french folk, innovative ideas and imaginative use of instruments show the subversive spirit under the influence of which these ladies make uncompromised music.
Until the end... when all those mellow moments that were crossing fragmentally the body of "RAVIR", release fully their emotional power through the sounds of "trois baleines blanches sur chinoise mer".

DANIELLE ROGER drums, voice, electronic drums, percussions
JOANE HETU alto sax, voice
DIANE LABROSSE synth, voice
HELENE BEDARD trombone
GINETTE BERGERON tenor & baritone sax, voice
JUDITH GRUBER-STITZER bass, guitar, violin, voice


(engineered by the great RENNE LUSSIER)

RAVIR (49mb)

SMOKE "Another reason to fast" (US, 1995)




SMOKE was a band from Atlanta. Their very artistic (cornet, cello, banjo) dive into south-country-blues traditions and the rock`n`roll mythology of "loss and despair" was so personal and genuine... that i guess, one may not mind at all if the painful, nocturnal storytelling of BENJAMIN reminds sometimes TOM WAITS and NICK CAVE so much.
"ANOTHER REASON TO FAST" was their second album released one year after their debut "HEAVEN ON A POPSICLE STICK".
Line up: BENJAMIN-singing, BRIAN HALLORAN-cello, BILL TAFT-cornet & banjo, TIM CAMPION -drums, COLEMAN LEWIS-guitar.

Jan 16, 2009

JACK OR JIVE "Prayer" (1991) / "Expatriation" (1990), (JAP)

PRAYER, 1991




This post brings you some music from the earliest and most interesting period of Japanese band JACK OR JIVE. Female singer CHAKO does gifted vocals of many aspects and disguises, while MAKOTO HATTURI (her partner also in life since 1992), as the less "visible" figure of the band, deals mainly with music treatments which in their bigger part are electronic. Duo`s music derives from 80`s minimal, dark ambient, ethereal and cinematic sounds, it is also rooted to traditional japanese music and sometimes it just shows its lyrical nostalgia for the simple, unaffected pop and the childhood age.
"PRAYER" was the debut CD album of the band. The very first though JACK OR JIVE `s release was the limited cassette "Expatriation" (1990), a slightly damaged digital copy of which you can also listen here...

Jan 15, 2009

DIFONDO "Himalaya" (ITA, 2008)


Applying ambient/post-rock principles according to which the composition is treated as a research in progress, Sardinian experimentalists DIFONDO keep on studying the relation between acoustic and electronic qualities, between the natural and the processed "voice" of instruments and objects.
DIFONDO`s music is an invitation to a journey near ("microcosmo") and there ("himalaya") where a lot of things depend on the opening of imagination of each listener, a journey that in my opinion is getting more interesting when echoes of a collective memory are caught in their atmospheric net. Considered that DIFONDO is a new band, HIMALAYA creates serious expectations for higher steps.

The music of this post is provided by DIFONDO. The file includes artwork and italian/english enlightening text about band`s music vision.

HIMALAYA (83mb)

http://www.myspace.com/difondo

http://www.difondo.com

Jan 12, 2009

PIERRE BETTENCOURT: The Mosaic World Of Words


Known mainly as a painter, French artist PIERRE BETTENCOURT (1917-2006) was also typographer, publisher, illustrator, poet & writer of numerous short texts, many of which illustrated, set up and printed by himself at his legendary printing house in Saint-Maurice d`Etelan, Normandy.
Apart from his own works, Bettencourt published, with the same superior handmade printing quality, works of HENRI MICHAUX, JEAN PAULHAN, MARCEL BEALU, JEAN FERRY, ANTONIN ARTAUD, JEAN DUBUFFET, ANDRE GIDE, FRANCIS PONGE... all in very limited number of copies (less than 300). His work as a printer has been acclaimed as "talking typography".

"My first passion was printing. The profession of a typographer is a decent profession, it has little to do with fame and money, those two great corrupters of artists. I started printing my own works and then works of authors i loved. [...] I wanted to tell those texts through my own voice...and, finally, i used the voice of type glyphs for telling them. (from an interview in LIBERATION newspaper)

Bettencourt stopped dealing with printing in 1962 but he continued writing and painting. He got married in 1963 and since then he lived in Yonne (Stigny). He wrote poems in prose, short stories, myths and narratives of imaginery travels although he actually travelled a lot.
As a visual artist he created (among other works) large mosaics made of natural materials: eggshells, butterfly wings, dry seeds, coffee or corn beans...




THE LAST WORDS
I put in a bottle filled with water my wife`s last words. The black letters dissolved at once, and the water got the colour of bog. Few years later i found that bottle in a cupboard on the wall; the water had evaporated, and at the bottom the letters had got back their shape. It looked like the letters felt bound to express a meaning, they had been back in line therefore. But water withdrawal surprised the most careless and only few could stay together. And those they were asking now: " where are you?".

(from FABLES FRAICHES POUR LIRE A JEUN, anthology, Lettres Vives,1986)





With many ways someone can draw the sea.
Mean sea-painters represent tempests and shipwrecks.
Sometimes we ask from them to draw us the distant seas
where the strangers came from.
But only poets with all-pure hand, with gentle motions, are those
they draw the lines of streams we travel.

(
from LOU-KIANG-TUE. OMBRES CHINOISES, 1959 )


Other Bettencourt books: "LA FOLIE GAGNE", "L`INTOUCHABLE", "LE BAL DES ARDENTS", "LES PLAISIRS DU ROI", "ECRIT DANS LE VIDE", "MILLE MORTS", "L`OCEAN DE MEMOIRE", "CONVERSATIONS AVEC DIEU", "HISTORIE NATURELLE DE L`IMAGINAIRE", "APRE MOI, LE SOLEIL" a.o.

Bettencourt`s printing house in Saint-Maurice d`Etelan
(drawing of Christian Jouanin)


NOTE: The English version of BETTENCOURT texts is based on the greek translations by
E. X.
GONATAS

Jan 8, 2009

HERMANN KOPP "Aquaplaning In Venedig" EP,(GER, 1981)


First release of the violonist and minimal electro-experimentalist HERMANN KOPP (born 1954 and living today in Spain) who after his 80`s obscure NDW-Industrial-kitch-pop eccentrities (solo or with german industrial band KEINE AHNUNG)... he became a lot more known composing avant-freaky scores for the horror movies of JORG BUTTGEREIT (Nekromantik I & II, Der Todesking)... while his most recent work "Under A Demon`s Mask" (2008) is knowing considerable commercial success and it is easily found on blogland.
For ones like this EP (and want more), we recommend also the HERMANN KOPP compilation "MONDO CARNALE" (Best of 1981-89) released in 2005 from Vinyl-on-demand.

Jan 7, 2009

PATRIK FITZGERALD "Treasures from the wax museum" (UK, 1993)


This 1993 RED FLAME compilation collects recordings from his 80`s less acclaimed, commercially unsuccessful, unknown and more difficult to find today works. Tracks though like "smile", "drifting towards violence", "domestication", "working hu-mans casino", "my perfect world" (from DRIFTING TOWARDS VIOLENCE)... or other magnificent songs like "volcano" show clearly (and sadly) how unfair the world is with PATRIK FITZGERALD.

Jan 5, 2009

LOUIS PHILIPPE "Let`s Pretend (THE ARCADIANS recordings 1985-86) " (UK,1995)

Fans of LOUIS PHILIPPE can listen here to his early songwriting, released under moniker THE ARCADIANS. This material, originated from his "Crepuscule" years circa 1985-86, includes the "Mad Mad World " LP plus some extras (b-sides, demo versions, etc). Newcomers better start from "Appointment with Venus" or "Yuri Gagarin" LPs,both posted at our blog.
The "Let`s Pretend" compilation released in 1995 by London`s Humbug Records

Jan 3, 2009

DANCE CHAPTER " Chapter II " / " When the spirit moves them " (UK,1981-82)



When The Spirit Moves Them (120mb)
Cassette, (rec.1981-82), Pleasantly Surprized, 1985


Perhaps known to La Folie visitors from the classic 4AD compilation "DARK PATHS" (posted few months ago at our blog), Leeds outfit DANCE CHAPTER was one of the most significant bands of the early (and far the best) days of the label.
They were shorted lived though, they released only a single ("Anonymity", 1980) and an EP (CHAPTER II, 1981)...while a cassette tape "WHEN THE SPIRIT MOVES THEM" with 1981-82 recordings appeared later through Pleasantly Surprised (a fine, by the way, label of the era, specialized in good cassette releases).

Dance Chapter were: Cyrous Brouton (vocals), Steve Hatfield (guitar), John Turner (drums), Stuart Dunbar (bass).

Few more infos you can find at DISCOGS.

Health and happiness to you all. Have an inspired and creative 2009