Swans - Better Than You

 #Swans #Michael Gira #Jarboe #experimental rock #post-rock #noise rock #industrial #no-wave #neofolk #industrial rock #gothic rock #dark folk #apocalyptic folk 

Swans is an American experimental rock band formed in 1982 by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. One of the few acts to emerge from the New York City-based no-wave scene and stay intact into the next decade, Swans have become recognized for an ever-changing sound, exploring genres such as noise rock, post-punk, industrial and post-rock. Initially, their music was known for its sonic brutality and misanthropic lyrics. Following the addition of singer, songwriter and keyboardist Jarboe in 1986, Swans began to incorporate melody and intricacy into their music. Jarboe remained the band's only constant member except Gira and semi-constant guitarist Norman Westberg until their dissolution in 1997. In 2010, Gira re-formed the band without Jarboe, establishing a stable lineup of musicians which has toured worldwide and released four albums to critical acclaim. This iteration of the group performed its last shows in November 2017, ending the tour in support of its final album The Glowing Man. Since 2019, Gira has been touring and recording with Swans as "a revolving cast of contributors". Since 1990, all Swans records have been released through Gira's own label, Young God Records.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swans_(band) 

Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight

 #Smashing Pumpkins #Billy Corgan #alternative rock #progressive rock #heavy metal #gothic rock #psychedelia #dream pop #electronica #1990s #animated music video

The fourth single from their sprawling double decker dreamscape, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, “Tonight, Tonight” is epic in scope, driven by Billy Corgan’s urgently romantic lyrics, Jimmy Chamberlain’s speed-freak drumroll, and a thirty piece string section pulled from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Being only the second track on the album, it marked a drastic change for the Pumpkins, whose first two discs, Gish and Siamese Dream, although stellar, were more rooted in distortion, solos, and shoegaze. “Tonight, Tonight” was a cornerstone of the band’s expansion, showing off all of Corgan’s newfound, diverse musical tendencies.
And to think its enchanting music video almost never came to be. Directed by the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (who went on to helm Little Miss Sunshine), the original concept was a Busby Berkeley-esque musical, characterized by blankly smiling women in bathing caps performing elaborate swimming patterns and acrobatics. But when the Red Hot Chili Peppers released a nearly identical video for “Aeroplane”, Dayton and Faris had to revisit the drawing board.  After abandoning a third concept involving audience P.O.V., they decided to pay homage to another classic filmmaker, French visionary Georges Melies, and his milestone silent sci-fi film, 1902’s A Trip To The Moon. Most famous for its iconic image of a bullet-shaped rocket ship plunging into the eye of the Man On The Moon, A Trip To The Moon tells the story of a group of astronomers on a lunar voyage. Once on the giant rock, they encounter several insectoid extra terrestrials who capture them for unknown reasons. Luckily for our heroes, they discover that they can destroy the creatures by hitting them with blunt force, using their umbrellas to explode them. They eventually escape and plunge into the sea, thankfully rescued by an ocean steamer.
Although watching the revolutionary film nowadays is a cinematic treat, one can’t help but wish the details were more vivid. Filmmaking was still in its primitive stages, and its surreal nature is often bogged down by the cloudy cinematography. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a masterpiece, but the video for “Tonight, Tonight” brought it to a more fully realized form, bringing all the black and white dreariness into technicolor tints mixed with sepia. Most of the actors remain aesthetically drab while the environment around them glows with fluorescent beauty and a colored cardboard, children’s theatre aesthetic, making for a piece of art that looks fittingly archaic but wonderfully hallucinatory at the same time. It manages to capture the album artwork of Mellon Collie, something that was an inspiration for the directors as it “looked like a silent movie.”
The video follows the same basic skeleton of a storyline. However there are slight artistic changes: the astronomers are replaced with two young lovers (played by SpongeBob Squarepants voice actors Tom Kenny and Jill Talley), the rocketship is substituted with a steampunk blimp, and the humanoid stars are traded in for the Pumpkins themselves, decked out in Victorian evening wear and classical instruments. But the point of the video isn’t accuracy. It isn’t a remake. It simply uses the images and concept of the original film as a springboard for the Pumpkins’ more romantic form of storytelling. During each of the song’s sunbursting string crescendoes, we see the young couple persevere in some shape or form, the most emotional one being when they break free of the ropes that the aliens have used to ensnare them. The fight that ensues isn’t a triumph of scientific achievement as in the original film, but a triumph of our heroes’ relationship.
With the Pumpkins’ combination of both baroque and adolescent rock ‘n roll yearning swirling around you, it’s hard not to get a little teary eyed watching the young couple stick together, even if it is against a horde of extra terrestrials. The fact that Kenny and Talley were married in real life (and still are to this day) only three years before the video was made makes it all the more romantically compelling. As in the original film, they escape to the ocean, only here, they meet a merman who wards off a predatory fish. The merman enlists the help of his mermaid friends and a large octopus to put on an underwater show for the young couple before sending them to the surface in a gigantic bubble.
From: https://consequence.net/2008/11/ridiculously-awesome-music-videos-the-pumpkins-tonight-tonight/ 

Formed in 1988, The Smashing Pumpkins are an alternative rock band from the Windy City consisting of singer/songwriter/dictator Billy Corgan and usually three or four other band members. Corgan is the songwriter, lead vocalist and the only member who's been present throughout the band's entire lifespan. The band is known for a number of things: angsty lyrics, heavy guitars, dense production, epic scope (perhaps best displayed by the music video for "Tonight, Tonight"), and Corgan's nasal singing voice. While their sound began life as hard/alternative rock with experimental influences, they've also worked with elements from grunge, folk, electronica, shoegaze, and gothic rock.  From: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/TheSmashingPumpkins

Hedwig & The Angry Inch - Origin of Love

 #Hedwig & The Angry Inch #John Cameron Mitchell #Stephen Trask #rock musical #movie soundtrack #hard rock #punk rock #glam rock #1970s retro

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask and a book by John Cameron Mitchell. The musical follows Hedwig Robinson, a genderqueer East German singer of a fictional rock and roll band. The story draws on Mitchell's life as the child of a U.S. Army major general who once commanded the U.S. sector of occupied West Berlin. The character of Hedwig was inspired by a German divorced U.S. Army wife who was Mitchell's family babysitter and moonlighted as a prostitute at her trailer park home in Junction City, Kansas. The music is steeped in the androgynous 1970s glam rock style of David Bowie (who co-produced the Los Angeles production of the show), as well as the work of John Lennon and early punk performers Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedwig_and_the_Angry_Inch_(musical)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a 2001 American musical comedy-drama film written for the screen and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. Based on Mitchell's and Stephen Trask's 1998 stage musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, it accompanies Hedwig Robinson, a gay East German rock singer. Hedwig subsequently develops a relationship with a younger man, Tommy, becoming his mentor and musical collaborator, only to have Tommy steal her music and become a rock star. The film follows Hedwig and her backing band, the Angry Inch, as they shadow Tommy's tour, while exploring Hedwig's past and her forced gender identity. Mitchell reprises his role as Hedwig from the original production.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedwig_and_the_Angry_Inch_(film)

Hair - What a Piece of Work is Man

 #Hair #rock musical #rock opera #Broadway cast #Ronnie Dyson #Walter Harris #soundtrack #William Shakespeare adaptation #1968 #anti-war #comedy-drama

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot. The work reflects the creators' observations of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the late 1960s, and several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The musical's profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The work broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of "rock musical", using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-In" finale.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_(musical)

What a piece of work is man
How noble in reason
How infinite in faculties
In form and moving
How express and admirable
In action how like an angel
In apprehension how like a god
The beauty of the world
The paragon of animals

I have of late
But wherefore I know not
Lost all my mirth
This goodly frame
The earth
Seems to me a sterile promontory
This most excellent canopy
The air-- look you!
This brave o'erhanging firmament
This majestical roof
Fretted with golden fire
Why it appears no other thing to me
Than a foul and pestilent congregation
Of vapors

What a piece of work is man
How noble in reason 

Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

 #Soundgarden #Chris Cornell #grunge #heavy metal #alternative metal #hard rock #alternative rock #punk metal #1990s #music video

When the world lost Chris Cornell in 2017, we lost one of the greatest voices in rock. Probably the greatest singing voice in all of rock ever, in fact – Axl Rose, Alice Cooper and Eddie Vedder are among those who cite him as the single greatest singer we ever had. Kurt Cobain used to try to sing like him. Cornell fronted Soundgarden, a massive influence on the grunge world (although, more experimental and musically talented than a lot of their peers, they rejected the grunge label as a marketing gimmick), then Audioslave with former members of Rage Against The Machine, as well as releasing a bunch of solo albums. He fit a lot into his tragically-cut-short life. He owned a Parisian restaurant and a record label. He did the only James Bond theme to ever go to Number One in the UK. He co-wrote a screenplay. He introduced Eddie Vedder to the rest of Pearl Jam. Garbage wrote a song about him. Two romantic comedies took their titles from his lyrics. Through it all, he battled with addiction issues and crippling depression, two subjects he spoke openly about and did his best to help others through. When an artist takes their own life like Cornell did, it’s tempting to look back through everything they did for clues and statements of intent – something Cornell was very aware of, telling Rolling Stone after Cobain’s death “It’s sort of a morbid exchange when somebody who is a writer like that dies, and then everyone starts picking through all their lyrics.” Happily, Black Hole Sun is, by Cornell’s own admission, largely devoid of meaning, just a magnificent songwriter letting words take him where they take him, accompanied by both melodic and thunderous guitar, and it’s awesome, and everyone in the video has big terrifying eyes.

0.28
Oh shit, it’s all kicking in. Of the song itself, Cornell said, “If you read the lyrics to the verses, it’s sort of surreal, esoteric word painting. It was written very quickly. It was stream of consciousness. I wasn’t trying to say anything specific; I was really writing to the feel of the music and accepting whatever came out.”

0.34
Oh nooooooo, it’s not nice, the man with the eyes is scary. Director Howard Greenhalgh, the man behind this grossness, has also worked with Iron Maiden, Muse, Placebo and System Of A Down.

0.35
'Boiling heat' accompanied by a pot boiling over is the most on-the-nose moment in the video. Greenhalgh said in a 2010 interview "With anything, it’s the lyrics that are everything. You pray that there are good lyrics in a track because that leads you immediately to what you’re going to do."

0.50
Cornell’s being all creepy and all. “I ate some cottage cheese that turned, and I wrote those lyrics” he said of Black Hole Sun. “It's just sort of a surreal dreamscape, a weird, play-with-the-title kind of song. Lyrically it’s probably the closest to me just playing with words for words' sake, of anything I’ve written. I guess it worked for a lot of people who heard it, but I have no idea how you’d begin to take that one literally."

0.57
In comes the chorus. “It’s funny because hits are usually sort of congruent, sort of an identifiable lyric idea, and that song pretty much had none” Cornell told RIP Magazine. “The chorus lyric is kind of beautiful and easy to remember. Other than that, I sure didn’t have an understanding of it after I wrote it. There was no real idea to get across."

1.28
Despite claiming a lot of the song to not really mean anything, the line 'Times are gone for honest men' was one that had a bit more to it for Cornell. “It seems like noble people are quashed” he said in an interview.

1.45
All the weird disorienting shifting layers come courtesy of Greenhalgh, a special effects dude that puts together hella high-end car commercials and stuff. One of the first videos he did was Liberation by the Pet Shop Boys, which used at-the-time pioneering video game style graphics. It looks very dated now, but blew minds at the time.

1.55
“No one seems to get this, but Black Hole Sun is sad,” said Cornell. “But because the melody is really pretty, everyone thinks it’s almost chipper, which is ridiculous."

3.18
Some of these effects don’t quite hold up in futuristic 2019, but bear in mind this video was made in 1994, 25 years ago. Computers could only show about six colours, and all weighed a quarter of a ton or more, and cost a million quid.

3.39
What does the title even mean? Cornell told Entertainment Weekly in 2014 that it came from a misheard news report. “I had misheard a news anchor, and I thought he said ‘black hole sun,’ but he said something else. So I was corrected, but after that I thought, ‘Well, he didn’t say it, but I heard it.’”

4.47
Kim Thayil told Guitar Magazine in 1996: “We've been disappointed with most of our videos. There were a couple we were really satisfied with – Black Hole Sun we were satisfied with, and Jesus Christ Pose as well. Most of the others we were like, ‘Well, whatever.’”

5.20
Cornell and the rest of the band didn’t think they had a hit on their hands, let alone the song that would become most synonymous with them. “I didn’t think in terms of hits then, and I didn’t think tempo-wise or lyrically as Black Hole Sun being something that could be a hit” he said in 2014. “Maybe a single at some point late in the release, like an afterthought single. Sometimes when a record has been out for a while, right before the record company decides to stop promoting it, they’ll do one last single that’s different, like something for the fans or whatever. That’s what I thought Black Hole Sun would be. But once we started mixing and mastering it and playing it for friends and the record company, everyone was singling that song out. So it started to occur to us that it might be a single that would have broader appeal. But definitely not lyrically. When I think of hit songs, they have to be somewhat anthemic in the world of rock, and I didn’t see Black Hole Sun as being that.”

From: https://www.kerrang.com/a-deep-dive-into-the-video-for-soundgardens-black-hole-sun

Black Hole Sun is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, the song was released in 1994 as the third single from the band's album Superunknown. The surreal and apocalyptic music video for Black Hole Sun was directed by British video director Howard Greenhalgh, and produced by Megan Hollister for Why Not Films. The video follows a suburban neighborhood and its vain inhabitants with comically exaggerated grins, which are eventually swallowed up when the Sun suddenly turns into a black hole, while the band performs the song somewhere in an open field. In an online chat, the band stated that the video was “entirely the director's idea,” and that it was one of the few videos the band was satisfied with.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hole_Sun

Rollins Band - Liar

 #Rollins Band #Henry Rollins #alternative metal #hard rock #post-hardcore #funk metal #1990s #ex-Black Flag #music video

In honor of the recently reunited Weight-era Rollins Band, I thought I would review the album itself, as no one else has yet. Weight was without any doubt the high point, commercially, for the Rollins Band, in no small way thanks to the heavily rotated "Liar" video on MTV. But what many people fail to remember is just how much this album really rocks as a whole, and that "Liar," as great of a song as it is, is not the best track on the album. This album sees former bass player Andrew Weiss leaving the band and allowing new, more jazz-oriented bassist Melvin Gibbs to step up and get some. Musically speaking, this album was a bit of a departure from their previous album, The End of Silence. Where that album featured very long, intense and beautifully structured punk/blues jams, this album tightens up the song length and delivers a more hard rock/punk metal type of crushing tunes. Both albums are fantastic and both enjoyed a marginal amount of mainstream success, a first for Rollins. This album is full of gems - the brutal "Volume 4" and "Step Back," or the surprisingly funky "Wrong Man" and "Fool." My personal favorite is the very positive and extremely inspiring "Shine," a song which seems to be Henry's own personal motto with lines like "I ain't got no time for drug addiction, no time for smoke and booze, too strong for a shortened lifespan, I've got no time to lose, It's time to shine..." Well, you get the point. And then, of course, we have "Liar," an often misunderstood song with Rollins singing from the perspective of, well, a liar. He has mentioned in interviews that he simply wanted to "write the meanest love song ever" and the song is about someone else lying to him, not vice versa. The only other real difference between this album and his previous ones is that Henry doesn't "scream" at all, which isn't a bad thing since he makes up for it with plenty of angry yelling, but some people may have missed that. Anyway, this is a classic album and one of the greatest albums of the 1990s by far.  From: https://www.punknews.org/review/5250/rollins-band-weight

Rollins Band was an American rock band formed in Van Nuys, California. The band was active from 1987 to 2006 and was led by former Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins. They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and "Liar", which both earned heavy airplay on MTV in the early to mid 1990s. Critic Steve Huey describes their music as "uncompromising, intense, cathartic fusions of funk, post-punk, noise, and jazz experimentalism, with Rollins shouting angry, biting self-examinations and accusations over the grind."  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollins_Band

Steeleye Span - The Weaver and the Factory Maid

 #Steeleye Span #Maddy Prior #Tim Hart #Martin Carthy #folk #folk rock #British folk #British folk rock #traditional folk #electric folk #British roots rock

 

A broadside of unknown origin with the title ‘The Weaver in Love’ is in the Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection, and John Holloway and Joan Black's 1975 book ‘Later English Broadside Ballads’ has ‘The Weaver and his Sweetheart’ from the Madden Collection. In both versions the weaver still fell in love with a servant maid, while in the following versions from A.L. Lloyd on she was changed to a factory maid. A.L. Lloyd claimed that he collected The Weaver and the Factory Maid from William Oliver of Widnes, Lancashire, in September 1951; he sang it on the 1963 Topic theme LP ‘The Iron Muse: A Panorama of Industrial Folk Music.’ Lloyd commented in the notes:
“The earliest weavers' songs are from the time when hand-loom weavers went from village to village, setting up in farmhouse and cottage kitchens. Amorous chances were plenty. The invention of the power-loom and the establishment of textile factories brought a great change in the handloom weavers' lives. This song, lyrical and wry, curiously illuminates this moment in history when the hand-workers were finding themselves obliged to follow the girls into the factories and weave by steam, and when country song was changing to town song.”
In 1973, Steeleye Span recorded a version of ‘The Weaver and the Factory Maid ‘with lyrics nearly identical to A.L. Lloyd's, but they added Robert Cinnamond's fragment in front and end, and two more verses from a children's rhyme. This was released on their LP ‘Parcel of Rogues’ whose sleeve notes commented:
“There was a great bitterness felt between the hand-loom weavers and those who worked on the steam looms introduced during the industrial revolution. This feeling polarized in the Luddites (named after their mythical leader Ned Ludd) who were unemployed hand-loom weavers bent on destroying the steam looms which had put them out of work.
From: https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/theweaverandthefactorymaid.html

 

Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival. Steeleye Span have seen many personnel changes; Maddy Prior being the only remaining original member of the band. Their musical repertoire consists of mostly traditional songs with one or two instrumental tracks of jigs and/or reels added; the traditional songs often include some of the Child Ballads. In their later albums there has been an increased tendency to include music written by the band members, but they have never moved completely away from traditional music, which draws upon pan-British traditions.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steeleye_Span

Faces - Stay With Me

 #Faces #Rod Stewart #Ron Wood #hard rock #blues rock #boogie rock #blue-eyed soul #classic rock #British blues rock #1970s #ex-Small Faces #ex-Jeff Beck Group

The Faces were an English rock band formed in 1969 by members of The Small Faces after lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott left to form Humble Pie. The remaining Small Faces - Ian McLagan (keyboards), Ronnie Lane (bass, vocals), and Kenney Jones (drums) - were joined by Ronnie Wood (guitar) and Rod Stewart (lead vocals), both from The Jeff Beck Group, and the new line-up was renamed Faces. The band had a unique arrangement, as Rod Stewart had signed a separate solo recording contract with the Mercury label shortly before joining the group, which was signed to Warner's. Band members often contributed to Stewart's solo albums as contract players, and Faces live shows of the period would feature as much of Stewart's solo material as that of the band, which later fuelled tensions amongst them when they began to effectively be viewed as Stewart's backing band.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faces_(band)

 

Sopor Aeternus - Sleep

 #Sopor Aeternus #Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows #Anna-Varney Cantodea #neoclassical #darkwave #dark folk #neo-medieval #neo-baroque #gothic rock #electronic #industrial #occult #performance art #music video

Officially founded in 1989, the German based Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows is one of the last of the very few dark groups/projects in Europe (in fact, on this planet), who have based the sacred trinity of their music, poetry and visual appearance on the explicit emphasis of the highly individual expression of pain, isolation, depression, token suicides and the desperate search for the “sacred reunion”; all conceived and acted out by Sopor’s sole protagonist - the transgendered and utterly beautiful Goddess (and likewise tragically Butoh-esque creature) Anna-Varney Cantodea. Perhaps best described as “introverted exhibitionism”, the holistic concept of Anna-Varney ‘s ritualistic/Jungian art is not necessarily rooted in the grounds of a commonly accepted sense of aesthetics - which is one of the many aspects that gives his/her work its serious and most unique character. Though the music playfully fuses elements of classical, baroque, medieval, and even electronic music, the essence of Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows always remains entirely “gothic”. Despite the fact that to this very day Anna-Varney still refuses to perform her magic(k)al work live in front of a human audience, Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows have long gathered cult status in underground circles worldwide. Strongly recommended to be approached only with an open heart and mind, the profound darkness (and occasionally subversive humour) of Anna-Varney ‘s multi-layered (yet fragile) art is mainly intended as a spiritual healing-process for the wounded soul.  From: https://www.season-of-mist.com/bands/sopor-aeternus/

Atlas Volt - Dreamweaver of the Dreamscape

 #Atlas Volt #avant-garde #alternative rock #progressive rock #indie rock #post-metal #art rock #eclectic #surrealism #animated music video #stop motion #Jan Svankmajer 

Philippe Longchamps and Adam Hansen-Chambers met in Malmo, Sweden in 2012. After discovering that they shared a similar taste in music, as well as shared political and philosophical ideas, they started working together on a music project named Atlas Volt. Both Adam and Philippe already had music they were working on individually, so they exchanged ideas with each other and while capitalizing on their new creative chemistry, they collaborated to make what was to become their first release: Atlas Volt’s debut EP “Eventualities.” The EP featured 5 tracks ranging from indie pop and prog rock, to post-metal and alternative rock. The very fact that Atlas Volt exists is a real “tour de force” since Adam and Philippe rarely meet in person. Adam lived in Sweden for four years before moving back to England in 2012, while Philippe still lives and works as a teacher in Sweden, since he moved there from Canada in 2002. Adam and Philippe meet on special occasions in Malmo or London in order to write, record and produce their songs. Because of the distance separating them, they complete everything else by sharing audio files over the Internet. Furthermore, Adam and Philippe completed their latest record while working full-time and completing studies in their respective countries. Atlas Volt is proud to be a virtual band.  From: https://atlasvolt.com/about-us

Uriah Heep - Bird of Prey

 #Uriah Heep #Ken Hensley #David Byron #hard rock #heavy metal #progressive rock #British prog #heavy prog #heavy blues rock #1970s

Uriah Heep's first album, "Very 'eavy , very 'umble" was not released in the US under that title. Presumably this was because of the Cockney/Dickensian connections which would not have been so meaningful to those outwith the UK. Instead, it was released with a different sleeve and simply titled "Uriah Heep". The track listing is the same, except that "Lucy Blues" is dropped in favour of "Bird of prey". Since "Lucy blues" was the weakest track on VEVU, being a somewhat out of place blues rendition, the revision does represent an improvement. The version of "Bird of prey" included here is different to the one which appeared on the UK version of "Salisbury". (Despite this, it was in turn replaced on the US version of "Salisbury" by the single B side "Simon the bullet freak"). While the "Salisbury" version sees the track being developed well, the slightly rawer earlier version here is well worth hearing. The opening track, "Gypsy" is indeed "heavy", with a driving Hammond organ, a thumping beat, and an early burst of Mick Box's famous wah wah guitar soloing. There are however several decidedly softer moments. "Come away Melinda" (also recorded by UFO) is one of the very few covers the band has done. Their interpretation is quite stunning, with David Byron adopting various vocal sounds to distinguish between the two characters in the song. It's a beautiful, haunting number, with a peaceful message. "Wake up (set your sights)" also has a lovely soft conclusion which follows an almost jazz like opening section. The remaining numbers generally fall into the " 'eavy" category, with tracks like "I'll keep on trying" and "Dreammare" setting out the band's stall for future albums perfectly.  From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=5919

Uriah Heep are a British Progressive Rock band whose debut was released in 1970 and are still active today. They are considered one of the first Heavy Metal bands, with their initial albums released neck-to-neck with the foundational metal records of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. They stand out from their early 70s contemporaries by their deeper progressive stylings, a taste for the psychedelic and fantastical, and the very heavy presence of the Hammond organ (to an even greater extent than Deep Purple). The nucleus of the original group was David Byron, a singer with an operatic voice and multi-octave vocal range and lead guitarist Mick Box, both of whom had played in a psychedelic group called Spice in the sixties. The third member of the core of Uriah Heep was Ken Hensley, who contributed keyboards, some guitar and most of the songwriting. Bassist Gary Thain and drummer Lee Kerslake completed the classic line-up that played on the Demons and Wizards and The Magician's Birthday albums. Presently, Box is the only member who has been in every line-up. Not to be confused with the David Copperfield character for whom they're named.  From: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/UriahHeep

Diamanda Galas - Skotoseme

 #Diamanda Galas #John Paul Jones #avant-garde #avant-metal #experimental #avant-goth #classical crossover #performance art #operatic #blues #jazz 

I have unscientifically determined that not enough people know about this (I mentioned it to someone I assumed would own a copy and she said “Whaaaaat?”), so off we go: in 1994, Mute records released The Sporting Life, a fantastic collaboration between Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and the amazing avant-garde/operatic vocalist Diamanda Galas. The result was an album too underground for the casual Zeppelin-head, for whom lyrics like “Husband/With this knife/I do you adore” were probably a bit much (plus that crowd was occupied with drooling over Page & Plant around then anyway), yet tamer and more straightforwardly rock than Gala’s fans were used to. But goddamn if the thing doesn’t smoke—and the booklet photos of Jones and Galas cavorting in a convertible with a pretty intimidating knife are good fun, too. Per AllMusic’s Ned Raggett:
Having explored sheer extremity throughout her fascinating range of solo efforts, Galas takes a turn to the slightly more accessible with her collaboration with Jones on The Sporting Life. Her vocal approach is still something which will freak out the unfamiliar listener, so anyone expecting some VH1-friendly switchover needs to think again. Keyboards are once again her other main instrument of choice, with both Hammond organ and piano used. Meanwhile, the Led Zeppelin bassist and arranger handles production as well as guitar and bass, while one Pete Thomas — apparently the Attractions’ drummer on an interesting side effort indeed — handles percussion. While it’s inaccurate to say the results are Galas fronting Led Zeppelin, Thomas does put in some heavy pounding with a hint of John Bonham’s massive stomp.
The album is noteworthy for reasons beyond its unexpected combination of principals. Jones’ playing on the album really doesn’t recall Zeppelin all that much. It actually sounds as though he’d been taking some cues from the Jesus Lizard’s bassist David Sims, and it definitely plays like a product of its time as opposed to a ‘70s throwback, which isn’t too much of a surprise — I’d always sensed that Jones was a more musically adventurous Zep than Jimmy Page, who himself was hardly a slouch in that department. Check out the opening track, “Skótoseme” (the title is Greek for “kill me”). That rawness and sparse instrumentation continues with “Do You Take This Man,” from which the above “Husband/With this knife” lyric is quoted. It’s pretty much all like that, really. Next is a version of the old Percy Sledge tune “Dark End of the Street,” rendered just with drums, organ, and Galas’ bottomlessly expressive voice. Galas and Jones spoke with Bomb magazine’s Michael Albo about the choice to keep the instrumentation minimal:

DG But, I had heard Led Zeppelin for years not necessarily knowing who it was. You know what I mean, one of those things like, (gasp) “How riveting, I like that, I could sing with that.” Especially if you’re talking about Jones-Bonham, the power rhythm section. John Paul Jones is legendary. I’d been creating tapes and working very, very remotely with musicians. Usually it would go into a tape thing and then it would turn into some concerts. So when we talked, we talked about doing live performances together from the beginning, which was a little different for me. You’ve got voice, hammond organ, drums, amp, that’s it. The power trio.

MA So from the very beginning it was a very solid, spare arrangement, not too studio.

DG It couldn’t have been; not the way John Paul plays, not the way I play. What do we need all that for? It would just get in the way. It would just be like having another bitch on stage. I mean why?

MA There are no lead guitars in this album

JJ The only guitar on this is the lap steel on the song “Last Man Down”. There’s no regular guitar anywhere else on the record.

MA Which I think is absolutely incredible. You know, when I was becoming a cognizant music listener, I didn’t know Led Zeppelin’s work as much as I knew John Paul Jones’s as a producer/arranger; and Diamanda, you were releasing your work as I became interested in the “avant-garde.” So I am interested in how your audiences, the fans of Led Zep and those of Diamanda, are going to merge. What sparks will come out of this?

JJ Well, it’s not as if Zeppelin was exactly a rock band. We were a blues band base and there were a lot of excursions and journeys into unusual areas. So anybody familiar with that shouldn’t be surprised by anything we do. With this record, there’s still definitely the energy that is found in the best of rock and roll, and there’s a lot of stuff that hasn’t been heard before. Nobody else is doing anything like this.

From: https://dangerousminds.net/comments/led_zeppelins_john_paul_jones_diamanda_galas

Having explored sheer extremity throughout her fascinating range of solo efforts, Diamond Galas takes a turn to the slightly more accessible in her collaboration with John Paul Jones on The Sporting Life. Her vocal approach is still something which will freak out the unfamiliar listener, so anyone expecting some VH1-friendly switchover needs to think again. Keyboards are once again her other main instrument of choice, with both Hammond organ and piano used. Meanwhile, the Led Zeppelin bassist and arranger handles production as well as guitar and bass, while one Pete Thomas, the Attractions' drummer, handles percussion. While it's inaccurate to say the results are Galas fronting Led Zeppelin, Thomas does put in some heavy pounding with a hint of John Bonham's massive stomp. Hints of gently majestic arrangements here and there help draw a connection further. On the flip side, Thomas and Jones' rhythms often have a crisp urban funk touch at points, sounding more no-wave than heavy metal.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-sporting-life-mw0000117925

Nine Inch Nails - Closer

 #Nine Inch Nails #Trent Reznor #industrial #avant-garde #alternative rock #electronic rock #dark industrial #ambient #industrial metal #1990s #music video

“Closer" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as the second single on their second studio album, The Downward Spiral (1994). It is considered Nine Inch Nails' signature song and remains one of their most popular hits. The music video was directed by Mark Romanek and first aired on May 12, 1994, having been filmed in April of that year. Set in what appears to be a 19th-century mad scientist's laboratory, the video's imagery involves religion, sexuality, animal cruelty, politics, and terror, including: a heart connected to some sort of device, the beat of the heart corresponding to the beat of the song; a nude, bald woman with a crucifix mask; a monkey, scared, panicked, tied to a cross; a severed pig's head spinning on some type of machine; a diagram of the vulva/vagina; and Reznor wearing various fetish gear, such as an S&M mask, ball gag, and long leather gloves while swinging in shackles. Several times, Reznor, wearing leather pants, floats and rotates through the air, suspended by invisible wires. There are also scenes of Reznor being blown back by a wind machine while wearing aviator goggles.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closer_(Nine_Inch_Nails_song)

 

 

David Bowie - Time

 #David Bowie #glam rock #hard rock #art rock #classic rock #singer-songwriter #pop rock #album rock #proto-punk #experimental #1970s

When David Bowie dyed his hair orange and donned a revealing bodystocking, many commentators accused him of compromising rock music with showbiz, while manipulating the process of image and stardom. No doubt. This was Bowie the actor, starring as Ziggy Stardust on the stage of British glam rock. Eschewing the fading seriousness of the hippie subculture, along with its fading denim jeans, Bowie created his most memorable character in 1972. Ziggy Stardust exploded onto the music scene, alongside contemporaries Marc Bolan, Elton John, and Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music. At the time, glam rock was effectively in its infancy, but Bowie caused it to enter puberty with the release of the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Over the next two years, Bowie's Ziggy Stardust pantomime would create a breath of fresh air, essentially ridiculing the pretensions of those who fell into the camp of the progressive rocker. Perhaps camp is the operative word here, as Bowie's outrageous lurex clothing and orange hair became the leading trademark of glam rock in the U.K. However, there is no denying that many of the tracks produced by David Bowie during this era have become classics of rock, no matter how you wish to describe it.  From: https://spinditty.com/genres/david-bowie-glam-rock-years

PJ Harvey - Sheela-Na-Gig

 #PJ Harvey #Polly Jean Harvey #alternative rock #art rock #indie rock #hard rock #art rock #punk blues #folk rock #avant-rock #lo-fi #anti-pop #singer-songwriter #1990s

A sheela-na-gig is a carving of a naked woman holding her vagina open. They are to be found carved on old churches (yes, really!) in Great Britain and Ireland. So the lyric, "He said, 'Sheela-na-gig, sheela-na-gig, you exhibitionist!'" is exceedingly graphic. "The song's a collection of different moments between lovers," Harvey told Melody Maker in 1992. "I suppose it's about being able to laugh at yourself in relationships. There's some anger there but, for me, it's a funny song. I wasn't intending it to be a feminist song or anything. I wanted it to have several sides." When asked about the significance of the carving, Harvey said: "It was just the inspiration for the song, so it isn't a song about a stone carving, but when I wrote it, what I liked about the carving was that she was laughing, and ripping herself apart. You have humour and horrificness. It's the same with horror films – are they funny or just horrific? It's something that I really want to explore." The repeated lyric, "Gonna wash that man right out of my hair," was taken from the song title "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" from the 1949 Broadway musical South Pacific. "I heard that and it had the humorous feel I wanted, so I put it in. I was trying to wash somebody out of my hair at the time, too," Harvey explained. The lyric, "Please take those dirty pillows away from me," is a reference to Stephen King's first novel, Carrie (and the 1976 film adaptation). Religious zealot Margaret White refers to her daughter's breasts as "dirty pillows."
Harvey was blasted by the British press when she posed nude (with her bare back facing the camera, showing just a hint of one breast) for the cover of NME in 1992. She was accused of feeding into the notion that women couldn't get ahead in the industry without taking off their clothes and was further called irresponsible when she refused to explain herself. When asked about the controversy, she said, "That cover was saying a lot of things. In 'Sheela-Na-Gig,' the man says, 'you exhibitionist,' as if, the female can be powerful and beautiful, but you can't show it."  From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/pj-harvey/sheela-na-gig

To me this is a song about the Christian perversion of sex - turning it from a natural celebration into something dirty and repulsive. Sheela Na Gig is an uninhibited pagan fertility Goddess. She is depicted as sitting spread eagle, using her hands to pull her vaginal lips apart; a welcoming enticement into carnal pleasure and the miraculous creation of life that results. It's not easy being a pagan fertility goddess in a culture of Puritan repression. It's pathetic that too many men have been taught to find such open sexuality as filthy and wrong. The song triumphantly declares she will not hide or conform - she will not let derision crush her spirit. She will boldly move on until she finds men who appreciate her.  From: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/40525

I’ve been trying to show you over and over
Look at these my child-bearing hips
Look at these my ruby red ruby lips
Look at these my work strong arms and
You've got to see my bottle full of charm
I lay it all at your feet
You turn around and say back to me
He said
Sheela-na-gig, sheela-na-gig
You exhibitionist
Gonna wash that man right out of my hair
Just like the first time he said he didn't care
Gonna wash that man right out of my hair
Heard it before, no more
Gonna wash that man right out of my hair
Turn the corner another one there
Gonna wash that man right out of my hair
Heard it before
He said
Sheela-na-gig, sheela-na-gig
You exhibitionist
Put money in your idle hole
He said 'wash your breasts, I don't want to be unclean'
He said 'please take those dirty pillows away from me'

PJ Harvey, in full Polly Jean Harvey, is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist whose mythically pitched, fanatically intense recordings and concerts set new standards for women in rock. Harvey, born to countercultural parents in rural England, seems to have grown up with a sense of rock as simply another elemental force within the landscape. “Sheela-na-gig,” for instance, a single from her first album, Dry (1992), took as its central image the female exhibitionist carvings with gaping genitals found throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom, whose origins are the subject of debate. The song, like many others by Harvey, treats female sexuality as a ravaging, haunted force, but, instead of acting the victim, she theatrically embodies her obsessions, equates them with the alluring menace of rock and the blues, and builds herself into an archetype.  From: https://www.britannica.com/biography/PJ-Harvey

Letters to Cleo - Acid Jed

 #Letters to Cleo #Kay Hanley #alternative rock #indie rock #power pop #neo-psychedelia #pop punk #post-grunge #1990s

If this Boston quintet goes down as a ’90s one-hit wonder for the Top 10 “Here & Now,” it won’t be for lack of effort. Originally released by the independent CherryDisc, Aurora Gory Alice was a respectable local seller before Giant reissued it in 1994 (with a fancier booklet but no major changes); aided by exposure on MTV’s Buzz Bin and inclusion on the Melrose Place soundtrack album, “Here & Now” broke big a year after the album’s original release. The record’s airy sonics, Kay Hanley’s soaring vocals and the band’s smart pop-rock songwriting make for a solid, if not especially challenging, effort. “Get on With It” typifies Cleo’s approach — big swathes of guitar swirl set off by pretty singing — but “Rim Shak” features some aggressive riffing that could’ve come from a Soundgarden session, the sunny guitars of “I See” evoke timeless pop imagery and the unplugged “Step Back” offers pleasant pop minimalism.
While the production (again by Mike Denneen) is less intimate and organic on Wholesale Meats and Fish, the band’s second album is better, featuring grittier songs, stronger performances and more stylistic diversity than the debut. Sure, “Fast Way” sounds like the Pixies, but it’s a cool track, bolstered by Greg McKenna’s and Michael Eisenstein’s buzzing guitars and Hanley’s yearning vocals. “Awake,” a playful breakup winner, benefits from a percussive groove (check the handclaps and shakers!). Hanley’s kittenish coo on “Laudanum” is convincingly sexy, and the clever lyrics (“I want you to be like me / It would be so easy if you’d just agree”) help, too. “Little Rosa,” the album’s highlight, is ’60s-influenced jangle-pop genius. “Do What You Want, Yeah” is a discordant, throwaway genre exercise, and “He’s Got an Answer” packs some misdirected hooks that backfire, but “Acid Jed” successfully attacks neo-psychedelia.
With a new label, a new producer (Peter Collins) and a new drummer (Stacy Jones departed to join Veruca Salt and then pick up a guitar and form BMX Girl, the band that became American Hi-Fi), Letters to Cleo made their third and final album. On Go!, Hanley explores the titular theme of dispatching an ex, singing her disillusioned and bitter lyrics (“Find You Dead,” “I’m a Fool,” “Because of You,” “Disappear”) with conviction and power against loud rock-pop that reaches its apogee in the nearly Breeders-like surge of “Anchor.” If the balance of venom and sugar doesn’t quite match the woozy effect of another such combination, absinthe, the album is effective and likable.  From: https://trouserpress.com/reviews/letters-to-cleo/

Letters to Cleo was a alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, that originally formed in 1990. The group achieved minor mainstream success, and had a huge following in the indie rock scene, but eventually ended up splitting by 2000. Their name came from the fact that lead singer Kay Hanley had a pen pal named Cleo when she was younger, although the letters she wrote would often be returned. Hanley kept them in a box under her bed marked “Letters to Cleo”, and happened to stumble across the box as the band was attempting to think of a name for itself.  From: https://thevogue.com/artists/letters-to-cleo/#bio

Alice Cooper - Halo of Flies

 #Alice Cooper #hard rock #heavy metal #shock rock #glam rock #art rock #classic rock #glam metal #garage rock #theatrical #stage show #1970s

“Halo of Flies”: Just the name of the song is evil. It’s accompanying music is spellbinding, and it’s lyrics are vividly picturesque. I always wondered: How did this masterpiece come to be? In a personal conversation I was lucky enough to have with Cooper at a 2016 convention, he said the song was partly inspired by, surprisingly, bad reviews of their previous album, Love It to Death. Alice Cooper were no strangers to criticism, but apparently when one reviewer called them “lackluster musicians”, that’s where they drew the line. Cooper described “Halo of Flies” as their “attempt at prog”. “If King Crimson and Yes could do it, so could we.” Although not as complex as either band in arrangement and instrumentation, “Halo of Flies” is indeed a suite of grandiose proportion. It’s lyrics were inspired by classic James Bond movies, yet again showcasing the band’s love for Hollywood. It’s an appropriate pairing as “Halo of Flies” is definitely cinematic in nature, and for my money, the greatest Alice Cooper song ever recorded.  From: https://defendersofthefaithmetal.com/top-10-alice-cooper-the-band-songs/

"Halo of Flies" is a 1973 single by rock band Alice Cooper taken from their 1971 album Killer. The single was only released in the Netherlands, two years after the song appeared on the album. The song was, according to Cooper's liner notes in the compilation The Definitive Alice Cooper, an attempt by the band to prove that they could perform King Crimson-like progressive rock suites, and was supposedly about a spy organization. Upon its 1973 single release, the song became a top 10 hit in the Netherlands and also charted in neighboring Belgium because of imports. The single release featured the B-side "Under My Wheels", also a song of the Killer album, which had already been released as a single two years prior. The noise rock band Halo of Flies named themselves after this song. Jello Biafra and The Melvins covered the song on their release Sieg Howdy!, while Haunted Garage covered it for the 1993 Cooper tribute Welcome to Our Nightmare. The song was also used in the VR experience Dreams of Dali. This song was performed live by Tripping Daisy Aug 27, 2022 at the Kessler Theatre as part of a Homage Nation tribute to the Alice Cooper band.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_of_Flies_(song)

Alice Cooper (also known as the Alice Cooper Group or the Alice Cooper Band) was an American rock band formed in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964. The band consisted of lead singer Vince Furnier (stage name Alice Cooper), Glen Buxton (lead guitar), Michael Bruce (rhythm guitar, keyboards), Dennis Dunaway (bass guitar), and Neal Smith (drums). Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and has had a solo career under that name since the band became inactive in 1975. The band was notorious for their elaborate, theatrical shock rock stage shows. After years of obscurity, the Alice Cooper band rose to fame in 1971 with the hit single "I'm Eighteen" and the album Love It to Death. Success continued with the popular single "School's Out" and the album of the same name in 1972. The band peaked in popularity in 1973 with their next album Billion Dollar Babies and its tour, which broke box-office records previously held by the Rolling Stones.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Cooper_(band) 

Whale - Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe

 #Whale #alternative rock #experimental rock #indie rock #grunge #noise rock #electronic #trip-hop #1990s #Swedish #music video 

Whale was a Swedish alternative rock group active from 1992 to 1999. Musician, record producer, and sound engineer Gordon Cyrus and comedian, actor, musician and radio and television personality Henrik Schyffert met while working on a commercial and decided to collaborate on a music track. Schyffert recruited his then-girlfriend, Cia Berg, to perform vocals. The band enjoyed some success, particularly in the European market. Their first single, 1993's "Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe", was positively received by critics and received heavy spins in the Euro dance club scene and saturation airplay on MTV. The music video for "Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe", directed by Mark Pellington, won the first MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video in 1994.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_(band)

Michelle Shocked - Blackberry Blossom

#Michelle Shocked #contemporary folk #folk rock #alternative folk #alternative rock #folk punk #bluegrass #folk blues #Americana #country rock #singer-songwriter 

This isn't so much an exploration of traditional American musical styles as it is an attempt to add a modern touch to those styles. For the most part, thanks to some excellent guests, it works. My favorite cut is a lovely pop tune “Come A Long Way” which offers a nice breezy tour of L.A. by bike. The special guests offer nice touches, especially Allison Krause on the pro-choice themed "Prodigal Daughter" and Uncle Toopelo on "Soldiers Joy", which kicks some pretty solid ass. Doc Watson and fiddle man Mark O'Connor assist on "Strawberry Jam", and "Blackberry Blossom" is a lovely piece. Unfortunately, tribute is paid to the "Coon Song" genre, on "Jump Jim Crow/Zip A Dee Doo Dah" and even the great Taj Mahal can't save this one. I think Shocked's intentions are good, but when white people sing songs like this, it comes off as kind of insulting. Still in all, this one ranks with her best, falling just behind "Short Sharp Shocked".

Michelle Shocked really branched out style-wise in the three years between Captain Swing and 1992’s Arkansas Traveler. In the liner notes, Shocked says this album was inspired by blackface minstrelsy. I know next to nothing about blackface minstrelsy, but I hear rockabilly, blues, folk, bluegrass, and more on this album. It’s not just her style that got diversified either - the quality has as well. The instrumentation on here is fantastic. There’s a tin whistle in “Over The Waterfall” that winds up to a ripping line that will change the way you think about tin whistles. (You do think about tin whistles, don’t you?) “Jump Jim Crow/Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” has a background hum throughout that is an interesting mix of disconcerting and warmly amusing. More traditionally, “Blackberry Blossom” and other tunes make a fabulous use of rich, string-heavy orchestration. The only thing more striking than the wild instrumentation are the guests. You’ve got Alison Kraus and Union Station on “Prodigal Daughter,” Hothouse Flowers helping out on “Over The Waterfall,” and Uncle Tupelo recording “Shaking Hands (Solider’s Joy)” aboard the Spirit of St. Charles in St. Charles, MO. When Farrar (or maybe it’s Tweedy) sings “Pierce McGee from the great state of Missouri/To the Show-Me-State militia I belong/And to judge by the pride on the Confederate side/I’d say 500,000 rebels can’t be wrong,” it’s spoken with such a passion and border-state authenticity that it makes me want to take up arms for the Confederacy.

From: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/michelle-shocked/arkansas-traveler/

Michelle Shocked is the chosen name of singer-songwriter Karen Michelle Johnson, known for her iconoclastic bent, both musically and politically. Throughout her career Shocked has used her music to deliver stinging social commentary. She has also explored a wide range of musical interests in folk, western swing, gospel, and blues with Texas roots.  From: https://musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004750/Michelle-Shocked.html
 

Smegma - Mr. Potatoheads' Flotation Excersises

 #Smegma #avant-garde #noise #experimental #electronic #sound collage #tape music #free improvisation #noisecore #musique concrete #sound art #Los Angeles Free Music Society

Another one out of the archives for a band whose name sounds like something from a Harold & Kumar movie and whose album titles and covers are clearly aimed more at shock value than any kind of artistic statement. I wonder how many disappointed punk fans back in the early eighties picked this up expecting anti-social shrieking, two-chord guitar feedback and audio stage-diving? Had to be a few at least. This was the group’s second studio effort I believe, coming nearly ten years after they formed in Los Angles and somewhere around the time they relocated to Portland, Oregon. The ‘songs’ here - using the term loosely since this stuff is noise experimentation so the concept of a song is a subjective matter of opinion - are somewhat more structured than the band’s third record ‘Smell the Remains’. For the most part each track is centered on some sort of repetitive, mostly musical structure usually coming either from guitar or from some sort of DJ’d taped-sound sequence. Around this the many contributors (17 people listed in the credits) lay down various embellishments using both traditional instruments (guitar, bass, drums, violin, flute) and some slightly less-conventional ones (electric mandolin, toy piano, kazoo). There are few vocals, and those that emerge are either from recorded sounds woven into the arrangements, or are brief, punk-inspired rantings mostly delivered from guitarist Harry Cess Poole (hmmm, wonder what that guy’s day job was). There’s even a sort of a tribute to “Several Species of Small Furry Animals” but in this case featuring cows (“Dying Cows with Putrid Not Praiseworthy Predation”).
I’m describing the music in rather sterile terms mostly because I’m not sure how else to write about it. This record came out in 1982, trailing the punk era and predating post-rock though well inside a brief window of experimental music that included folks like Laurie Anderson, early Art of Noise, and a couple of weird records from Robert Fripp and Andy Summers. But in the case of Smegma there’s a distinct level of experimentation with even the musical structures themselves, and clearly a lot of improvisation around a simple theme with few (if any) rules involved. In that respect I’d place this record a bit closer to folks like Set Fire to Flames, a bunch of classical and rock musicians who locked themselves in an old farmhouse and embarked on several days of sleep-deprived debauchery just to see what sort of music would come out of that experience.  From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yeT_mPkFgA&list=PL-FqCeKWusJl7J17-McZXPvQhDtmRs5o4&index=25

Smegma is a long-running, influential Dadaist experimental noise collective. Noise fans might recognize Smegma from a collaborative album with Wolf Eyes called Beast. But if Smegma can be considered part of that scene, it's only by default: they've been making their psychedelic free-jazz noise for more than 25 years. They began by helping to found the Los Angeles Free Music Society, and have collaborated with everyone from Wild Man Fischer to Merzbow to the infamous rock critic Richard Meltzer along the way. The noise scene has grown unto them while they've kept a low profile and persistently crafted their avant-garde improvisations under the radar, firmly outside of the mainstream due to their confrontational sonics and formless compositions. (And, just maybe, the fact they named their band after uncircumcised dick leak).  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7813-rumblings/