CATHERINE JAUNIAUX.. "FLUVIAL"

(here's another of my favorites. apologies, i couldn't find any appropriate videos to attach to this post.)

my knowledge of catherine jauniaux is scarce, and i plan on abstaining from any investigation that would demystify her. i'm not even vaguely aware of her discography, let alone if she has one that is extensive, non-existent, etc. i know only that she is an improvisational vocalist, that she is french (self-evident, really), and that she has contributed vocals to a few other groups. i know that this music, this album, is bound by nothing remotely terrestrial. the instrumentation is alternately bleak and lyrical, which measures out the incantatory vocal hysterics; some of it employs principles similar to musique concrete, some of it has eastern undertones. it is triumphantly defiant music, sharing a miasma and spirit that is found in yoko ono's "plastic ono band," nico's solo work, dagmar krause's vocals on slapp happy's "acnalbasac moon," tim buckley's "lorca" and "starsailor," walker's latter day work and fellow chanteuse brigitte fontaine (whose albums will be uploaded soon).

download "fluvial"

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SHC0KC0B

DANDELION...RARE 70s FRENCH BAND

well, here's one of my incontestable favorites and an album i don't really see on the internet with much gratuity. dandelion was the primary musical outlet for jean christophe graf. in 1979 they released a privately pressed record of 300 copies, exclusive to france. given that kind of obscurity, it's an obvious guess that their work is decidedly hard to come by. miraculously, i found a record of this album a couple of years ago for 20 bucks, and it's something very dear to me. dandelion's music is often classified (when you can find information about them, rarely) as psych-folk, which is another one of those awful, inefficacious titles that is given to privately-pressed music of this era, and is particularly askew because it sets up expectations that have nothing to do with the album itself. "psych-folk," that is a tremendous misnomer to say the least, as this record is very modest in what it sets out to achieve, definitely leaning more towards the "folk" end of the spectrum. there are organ flourishes here and there, along with homemade effects that color the songs, but alleging that it's "psychedelic" in some way is kind of overstating the case. this record has a quiet beauty to it, and its somewhat haphazard construction lends itself a favorable comparison to the first raincoats album (definitely traverses the same mood, i think). dandelion is perfect late-night listening, and something that provides me with an unbearable amount of joy. whatever grievances i have simply fall away when i listen to it.

this was reissued somewhat recently by a spanish label called guerssen, and though one still needs to be predacious when tracking it down, it can be found and should be grabbed if it all possible.

download dandelion's self-titled record

http://rapidshare.com/files/276751360/DANDELION.rar

JANDEK...JANDEK...JANDEK

kurt cobain once sagely imparted that "jandek makes music that is completely unpretentious, but only pretentious people listen to him." cobain's remark is seemingly fatuous, but actually rather incisive. jandek's mere name is inextricably woven to "obscurity" and the barest notion of "difficult music." quite a few profess to having heard and enjoyed his music, though that statement could reasonably be tempered with suspicion.

about two years ago i was disgustingly fortunate to see jandek actually perform with a drummer and trumpeter in ann arbor, michigan. the show was being sponsored by the university and was - to the best of my recollection - free of charge (i'll still have the poster that i pillaged from the coffee shop down the street advertising this exceedingly rare occasion). without even attempting to enumerate the audience that showed up, i could safely gauge about 3/4 of the small theater was brimming with people (most of whom had adopted the whole world-weary with windblown hair, excess of scarf and thick black glasses look). jandek arrived onstage and began to play...well, jandek music. after less than 20 minutes, half of the place was emptied. in another 15 minutes, about 40 to 50 people remained amidst the pocked fissures of vacant seats. jandek played for approximately an hour and a half, verging on two hours. none of the compositions were even remotely familiar, but even then i'm not sure if anything that was played was on any of his recorded albums (given that i've heard roughly 10 of his 60 available records). i'm fairly confident that it was all an extemporaneous, improvisatory performance, especially given the look of sheer confusion and uncertainty that periodically swept across the gently tanned face of the trumpeter. jandek sat hunched over a guitar, propped up on a stool to the right side of the stage, intermittently mumbling or emitting bizarre squeals and glossolalia. in all honesty, it was one of the top 5 concerts i've yet attended, and though i had only a cursory grasp of his discography, i knew precisely what to expect. the point is that anyone who has listened to more than 2 or 3 jandek records would indubitably expect the same, so given this idea why would so many people attend a concert that would entice them to leave after so short a period of time?

i have my personal affections for jandek's music on the basis of what his sound evokes, and the way in which it marks me. his music reminds me of a line that burroughs wrote about america, that it is "evil before the settlers. the evil is there waiting." old black music, particularly skip james and leadbelly, managed to capture this subcutaneous, indefinable evil, this mysterious and shadow-laden america. skip james especially, evoked sentiments and atmospheres, a part of the living world that is dark and deeply stowed away. i liken jandek to both james and leadbelly for these reasons (though leadbelly certainly had his more amiable moments), in that he reflects what greil marcus called "the old, weird america." the basement tapes of bob dylan elicit a similar response, and all of the aforementioned works and artists have all reached to the center of the american earth. jandek's music is more atonal, absent of structure and meandering than any of those artists, but the territory that he mines is indescribably similar. i'll probably upload the entirety of dylan's basement tapes in a few posts, given how taken i am with them. for now, however, if you haven't heard jandek, please give him some consideration and approach his music with a bit of flexibility.






download "ready for the house" from sendspace:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/8m9itv

EDGARD VARESE

edgard varese is one of my favorite composers (edged out slightly by ligeti, penderecki and satie), and his pervasive influence and persuasion resonates wildly despite his relative dearth of available material. not many composers can hold stake to informing or inspiring such a diverse parade of musicians, but varese's ideas have infected everyone from henry miller, stockhausen, frank zappa, kryzstof penderecki and the keyboard player from chicago (yeah...try not to go into convulsive shock). the ghost of literature haunted a number of his works, as he appropriated texts from anais nin, paul verlaine and kenneth patchen (whose "journal of albion moonlight" is a book of vertiginous beauty and dynamism). he had drinking binges with the incomparable francis picabia, and his wife louise was responsible for my favorite rimbaud translations (both "season in hell" and "illuminations"). there is also something of the pataphysician in varese's music, and i find his music to be a perfect audible companion to the literature of alfred jarry (particularly "dr. faustroll"). lamentably, collaborations with henry miller, antonin artaud and robert desnos uniformly failed to materialize. all of this, yes, is unassailable and delectable, but it is ultimately ephemera and white noise, having only a minor bearing on the foresight and prescience of his vision. varese was borne of a spirit and conviction that placed him amongst the highest echelons of what can only be termed modernism, a spirit that has long since departed the lexicon and breath of contemporary art (though the vibrations of modernism can be felt in the work of scott walker, most self-described artists and musicians - less than half walker's age - are incurious and lack those boundless impulses). regardless, the depth and exploratory nature of varese's music is self-evident, and here is presented his complete works (or more precisely, the works he completed).




complete works of edgard varese (thanks to ferocity of practical life):

http://lix.in/-7840fc
(do not click on "download" when the screen comes up --- click on "continue")

a nod to the beautiful Alex Chilton/Big Star

i don't think many obscure songwriters have their names praised and life commemorated on the floors of congress, but this is one atypical instance where such a thing occurred.



alex chilton has made music that has left an indelible, deep mark within my heart. he has conveyed inexpressible emotions through his songs that are both celebratory and haunting, and the fact that he is not more heavily lauded and appreciated is simply maddening. big star is comparable to the velvet underground in their sphere of influence, in the pervasive reach of their recordings but in an entirely dissimilar way. big star didn't necessarily invent or reinvent anything, but more pointedly made music that was disarmingly honest and stark at times, and it's more for their spirit and conviction than the sounds they explored that they are beloved and revered. which isn't to in any way slander or impugn the music itself, because it is beautiful above all, possessing at times an incredible sensitivity. there's no real use in diving into the ephemera and trivia surrounding the band or its crushing lack of success, because the back story to everything is inconsequential, and what matters is the music.

i'm not exactly partial to the first record, despite the fact it contains songs as remarkable as "thirteen" and "ballad of el goodo"...but there's just too much of chris bell (chilton's foil) for my taste (despite the fact that bell's solo album, "i am the cosmos" is quite good). chilton's songs are all i remember clearly from it, and its most rewarding quality is the fact it anticipates the perfection and artistic depths of their sophomore album (sans bell) "radio city," featuring "september gurls," "get what you deserve," "o my soul," and my favorite "daisy glaze."



"radio city" was the last of the "classic" big star sound (though that's still something of a misnomer), typified by the heavy rhythm section and jangling, crystalline guitar arrangements. following "radio city" big star assembled to record an untitled record that remained unreleased for a couple of years due to its lack of structural coherence, manic compositions and - i guess - lack of commercial appeal. eventually the record was released as "3rd," and then re-released in the 90s with a rearranged track listing under the title "sisters lovers." i'm preferential to the track order of the first release, as the the re-release makes the album seem much more fractured than it actually is. "3rd" is filled with a mournful air, string sections that seem to rise unexpectedly from the ether. it follows its own logic and is comparable - in atmosphere - to nico's "marble index." it is not so much an album of songs as it is a gorgeous, mysterious place in which the body deliquesces. big star of course disbanded and chilton went on to a solo career that is absolutely puzzling at times, though not without its charm. he died recently from a heart attack at 59 and left behind a body of work that will forever be inextricably tied to my heart.




here are my two favorite big star records (more chilton-related works will be uploaded soon, too)

big star #1 record and radio city:

http://rapidshare.com/files/185028410/BgStr-12-0.rar


3rd (with original track listing)

http://rapidshare.com/files/181751418/Third_Sister_Lovers.zip

SUN RAAAAAAAAA

space is certainly the place for sun ra's exploratory, incandescent and erratic music. i'm still fairly unversed with his large and varied discography, but i have a current fondness with "night of the purple moon."



discarding the fact that sun ra claimed to belong to the angel race, the music is - on its own account - unpredictable and beautifully strange. even if you have absolutely no affection or tolerance for jazz music as a whole, sun ra communicates something singular, engrossing. the atmosphere on "purple moon" is like walking around a zoo filled with foreign creatures and undiscovered species encased in glass bars staring unevenly as you pass -- pure curiosity. it also seems to have a uniquely colored sound, something like daguerreotype. anyhow, hope you enjoy.

here's a link from forestroxxx:

http://www.mediafire.com/?vmdkyrmq50n

SCOTT WALKER WALKS AMONG US

being as i have an incommensurable love and appreciation for everything related to scott walker, i thought it'd be appropriate to represent a charitable section of his discography. scott walker is a name that rings with a certain familiarity now, but i've still yet to encounter many people who have actively listened to his work. the main point about scott walker is that his music is meant to be devoured with an almost reverent appreciation, and listening to his latter work especially means committing yourself, challenging yourself, experiencing the atmosphere and miasma of what he presents, of all the ghosts and unnameable worlds he conjures.



walker's early work with the walker bros. has its moments, but he began to develop more when he tore apart from the group and pursued a solo career (which saw him covering jacques brel and ornamenting his own morbid lyrics with bombastic string arrangements). his first two records are fairly hit-or-miss for me, though not without disorienting heights. his third and fourth solo records are where the real vertiginous, almost hallucinatory depths begin.



when the walker bros reunited in the late 70s, they completed an album called "nite flights," and it began an entirely different, unnavigable direction for his work. the first four songs from "nite flights" are all walker originals, and are unlike anything i've ever heard. they share affinities with some of the work bowie was doing with eno and the usual krautrock pioneers, but they are a world apart, unbelievable. the rest of the album isn't remotely as good as the first four tracks, but based on the strength of those, the rest is forgivable, forgotten.





following the walker bros. dissolution, scott went on to record "climate of hunter," elaborating on what he began with "nite flights," but in no way anticipating the direction he'd pursue on his two subsequent releases, "tilt" and "the drift." the nature and atmosphere of both, the latter especially, is tenebrous and inescapably dark, operatic, dizzying, unpredictable. the instrumentation varies and flits from crushing density to haunting austerity, demonstrating a kind of adventurousness that has been long absent from music.



i can't begin to convey even a fraction of my enthusiasm and love for walker's work, and i hope his music affects more people in the manner it effects me.

here's a link to "nite Flights" from icoulddietomorrow:

http://www.mediafire.com/?zwfny13zain

here's a link for "tilt"

http://rapidshare.com/files/230956334/Tilt.zip

and finally "the drift"

http://www.mediafire.com/?dzmdmllj1dz


"climate of hunter" and walker's third and fourth solo records are also worth seeking out, and will invariably be uploaded here soon