Bis Aufs Messer Weekly News 004 / Nov 2022
Hi. Welcome to another newsletter for November. A bunch of cool stuff arrived like the CURRENT - YESTERDAY'S TOMORROW IS NOT TODAY 3XLP BOXSET & the KARATE - TIME EXPIRED 5XLP BOXSET, DES EDENS - la non-pareille LP (!!!), ELDER - Innate Passage DLP, JEFF PARKER - Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy DLP restock, THE PYRAMIDS re issue, TIME IS AWAY - Ballads DLP (!!!), V/A - Saigon Supersound Vol. 3 DLP, MAKAYA McCRAVEN - In These Times LP, PANDA BEAR & SONIC BOOM - reset LP, OM restocks, DUSTER restocks and more …
Also the new MELLIE LP is available and ready to ship
Til then thank you for all your orders & support.
Robert & Norman
mailorder@bisaufmesser.com
www.adagio830-records.bandcamp.com
LP
ANDY DED - summer nightmares and lazy dogs LP (camisole - Andy Ded was an English artist who was living in Paris in the mid 80’s. The only trace of his work is this EP called "Summer Nightmares and Lazy Dogs" mixing industrial music with a Post-punk attitude. Notwithstanding a danceable appeal, the release did not gain access to an audience more attracted by the emerging french Cold Wave scene.This reissue is accompanied by a mutant Tolouse Low Trax Rework featuring additionals lyrics and vocals. With the help of some friends (Laura Lippie and Gwen Jamois aka Iueke), he adds a deviant Laurie Anderson atmosphere to the original track.) 18.00
ART P - No Message LP (artless cuckoo - The Outer Edge is proud to present the first ever vinyl release of "No Message" by Art P, a still lesser known and lost masterpiece from the P.A.P. archives. Art P (initially Art Programming) was an electronic music duo consisting of Jens-Markus Wegener and Frank Grotelüschen. On "No Message", originally released in 1985, we hear the band's most profound work, a detailed and unique mixture in between of Electro and the synth-laden edge of New Wave. We initially discovered Art P on the tape compilation "berlincassette 2-85" a couple of years ago. Their contribution, the title track from their second and last album "No Message", blew us right away: punchy drum machines, heavy synths and cool female vocals delivering a serious, yet slightly ironic view on the meaninglessness in pop music having "no message". A couple of months later, when we finally were lucky to get hold of an original full length tape, we couldn't ask for more: powerful apocalyptic Synth Wave on "A Place To Fear", thrilling vocoder Electro Funk on "Polaroid", uptempo New Wave Synth Pop on "Sounds of the City", dreamy and melodic Electro on "Without Jackets", and other well produced tracks. It was an absolute necessity for us to get in touch with Art P and ask for permission to re-release their music on vinyl.) 25.00
BRENDA RAY - Perfume Of The Soul LP (emotional rescue - Emotional Rescue reaches its 100th reissue in its 10th year with a landmark, a collection of previously unreleased songs from Brenda Ray. Encouraged and cajoled since the label's inception, Brenda Ray's (Kenny) music has gone from cult curio to cult status in that time, as her mix of DIY/post punk, dub reggae, jazz and pop transcends reached admiring audiences. Following the completion of Naafi Sandwich in 1985 and the subsequent recordings as Brenda And The Beach Balls - the sought after Volume 1 LP in 1986 and three singles on Siren/Virgin in 1987/88 - her releases might of stopped for almost two decades but she never stopped recording.The 10 songs show not only continuous activity in her North-West home studio, but to be consistently creative, moving forward and relevant. Hip-Hop, Street Soul and House all feature alongside Brenda's unmistakeable Be-Pop-Dub-Pop song writing. Working as always with partner Gerry Kenny aka Sir Freddie Viadukt, plus a cohort of friends joining across the sphere.) 30.00
CURRENT - YESTERDAY'S TOMORROW IS NOT TODAY 3XLP BOXSET (numero - GOLD VINYL - Screaming suburban blues straight from the pages of HeartattaCk magazine, Current exploded out of the early-'90s Midwestern emo scene in a fit of D.C. hardcore-inspired rage. Spread across three LPs, Yesterday's Tomorrow Is Not Today compiles the quartet's lone album, two EPs, split 7"s with Indian Summer and Chino Horde, miscellaneous compilation debris, and nine previously unissued alternates, including the infamous KLXU radio show. Remixed and mastered from the original tapes, Current's complete discography is annotated in Leor Galil's exhaustive survey, illustrated with period photos, flyers, and cut-n-paste sleeve art across 24 pages. "Your parents would like this." - Tim Yohannan, Maximumrocknroll -) 74.00
COS - Postaeolian Train Robbery LP (wah wah - The origins of Cos date back to the second half of the sixties when Daniel Schell joined forces with Jean-Paul Musette, Pascale Son and Robert Pernet to form Classroom. When Classroom split, Daniel Schell and Pascale Son moved ahead and formed Cos together with Charles Loos, Alain Goutier and Bob Dartsch. They produced an experimental jazz rock sound linked to the influences above mentioned, but without being mere copycats since they always managed to keep to their own personality. Postaeolian Train RobberyI is an obscure classic from the 1970's Belgian jazzy prog scene that has become a much sought after piece in the collector's market since it was originally released in 1974. Highly inspired by both the UK's Canterbury scene and the Zeuhl sound, the debut album by Cos has been compared to the likes of Soft Machine, Gong, Hatfield & The North, National Health, Gilgamesh, Egg, Placebo, Magma or Zao, with Pascale Son's unique wordless vocals and nonsense syllables singing in a voice that some sources have compared to Flora Purim's.The album was released on the small obscure label Plus, and has arised interest not only among prog-rock psych-heads and jazz experimentalists, but also among those looking for breaks and bits to sample.) 30.00
THE COLLECTIVE - Idrissa's Dream DLP (strut - Strut continues their work from the archives of Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids with a first ever vinyl release of Ackamoor’s debut avant-garde / Afro-jazz recordings from 1971 with The Collective, based out of Yellow Springs, Ohio. The group was formed after Ackamoor had returned to Antioch from a spell in L.A. under the wing of influential saxophonist Charles Tyler. Pianist Lester Knibbs had been appointed to the Antioch college music department as an assistant professor and had followed a similar path to avant-garde pioneer, Cecil Taylor. “They both came from the classical tradition,” explains Ackamoor, “but also understood jazz and avant-garde improvisation.” Ackamoor and Knibbs started as a duet before Ackamoor met three musicians from Wright-Patterson Air Force base near Dayton. Ackamoor continues, “They would come to Yellow Springs because they could find marijuana there. They were called ‘the three Steves’: Steve Maniscoso, an Italian, Steve Rumboat, a white American and Oakland Steve, a black musician playing flute. Oakland Steve left the air force and then Margaux Simmons arrived – that is the quintet featured on these recordings. You also hear a vocalist called Peggy Pettitt, another Antioch student who became quite famous in movies; she starred in the film Black Girl soon afterwards in 1972.) 33.00
DES EDENS - la non-pareille LP (les giants - Lava music, maybe. Lava music, always evolving, always surprising, always exciting because we don’t know what the other will bring to the music that we start improvising and exploring together. We’ll see what bubbles will form in this lava music. And sometimes an idea comes up, a bubble pops and it becomes a track. Lava, like the wax that was melted to press the record. Lava, like energy flowing, slow. Improvising most of the time, you really connect with the other musician. It takes all your energy, trying to follow, trying to figure out where to go next, what will happen if I do this and if Pacôme, next to me, decides to change instrument. All of a sudden. Pacôme may be holding his clarinet in one hand, but he also has a synth on his lap and a harmonica around his neck. Oh, and he recalls : « I remember Antoine searching new rhythm ideas with his machines directly connected to an old cassette player with speakers. All these subtle changes gave the direction and the evolution of each track. We were side by side, maybe only one meter from each other -very close. This afternoon autumn session when we made the record was first to rehearse for a gig, so I think we were particularly taking care of transitions – while playing for an hour non-stop.» This record was mostly improvised in a quiet bedroom, on the third floor of a building in Pantin, close to Paris. The room was filled with quiet sunlight. Instruments were all over the place, with some effects pedals, speakers for the electronic machines, a recorder to catch the whole atmosphere and music. A few overdubs later, the record was done. Leafing through the pages of Flaubert’s novel, we found these two sentences; they became our track titles and shed a poetic light over the music.
Thank you for listening. Antoine Cortes & Pacôme Genty - des édens) 22.00
ELDER - Innate Passage DLP (stickman - lnnate Passage is the sixth Elder full-length. It finds the mostly-Berlin based band in the post-pandemic era as veterans at the forefront of a league of progressive and heavy groups working in large part under their influence; a stately presence as reliably forward-thinking as they are unpredictable in sound. They are among the most important acts of their mostly-still-emerging generation and genuine leaders in style and expressive intention. Innate Passage is further proof why. In Spring 2020, Elder released their fifth album, Omens, and with it established a claim on their most prog-leaning interpretation of sprawling heavy rock and roll. Two years later, Innate Passage builds on many similar concepts, but outdoes its predecessor on every level of performance, weight of its impact, interplay between founder Nick DiSalvo and Mike Risberg’s guitars and keys, the now-settled-in drumming of Georg Edert – who made his debut on Omens – and bassist Jack Donovan’s tonal warmth underscoring the shimmer of DiSalvo’s leads. “Catastasis” begins Innate Passage with a pointedly bright perspective and the most complex vocal harmonies that Elder have ever produced. Alongside DiSalvo, Innate Passage features a guest singer for the first time in Behrang Alavi (Samavayo), who adds his voice to what’s already a career performance for DiSalvo as a singer; his voice is more confident, has more presence, and more reach than ever before. That is but one way in which Innate Passage steps boldly deeper into this new era for Elder. Whether it’s a shredding lead in the culmination of “Endless Return” or the willfully patient, almost meandering, build into the crescendo and fade of “Merged in Dreams/Ne Plus Ultra,” Elder are poised as never before as they execute this material. In centerpiece “Coalescence,” they offer Opeth-worthy rhythmic intricacy and piano drama offset by crunching heavy guitar and twisting leads, and in “The Purpose,” they craft a wash of melody that is engrossing without sacrificing any clarity of the individual instruments that make it. As the album ends with soft guitar in an answer to the intro of “Catastasis,” the sense of wholeness that comes through is one more aspect arguing for Elder as singularly crucial. Innate Passage is a culmination of everything they’ve done before, and that’s reason to celebrate, but more, it is that after more than 15 years, they’re still pushing forward to places where neither they nor anyone they’ve influenced have yet gone.) 32.00
JEFF PARKER - Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy DLP (Aguirre - Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy, x2 LPs of long-form, lyrical, groove-based free improv by acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet. Recorded live at ETA (referencing David Foster Wallace), a bar in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood with just enough space in the back for Parker, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, & alto saxophonist Josh Johnson to convene in extraordinarily depth-full & exploratory music making. Gleaned for the stoniest side-length cuts from 10+ hours of vivid two-track recordings made between 2019 & 2021 by Bryce Gonzales, Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy is a darkly glowing séance of an album, brimming over with the hypnotic, the melodic, & patience & grace in its own beautiful strangeness. Room-tone, electric fields, environment, ceiling echo, live recording, Mondays, Los Angeles. Jeff Parker's first double album & first live album, Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy belongs in the lineage of such canonical live double albums recorded on the West Coast as Lee Morgan’s Live at the Lighthouse, Miles Davis' In Person Friday & Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco & Black Beauty, & John Coltrane's Live in Seattle. ) 34.00
KARATE - TIME EXPIRED 5XLP BOXSET (numero - At the turn of the century and after three albums, Karate’s tenure within the insular east coast indie rock scene had expired, but the band was just getting started. Collected here is the band’s spacious, adventurous, and sometimes difficult second half presented in fastidious detail. This five LP box includes the trio’s Unsolved, Some Boots, and Pockets albums, a first time vinyl pressing of their Cancel/Sing EP, and recently unearthed rehearsal recordings of two unreleased tracks, all annotated by Geoff Farina’s account of Karate’s adulthood and Andy Hong’s insights into the trio’s recording process.) 145.00
LÄUTEN DER SEELE - Die Mariengrotte als Trinkwasseraufbereitungsanlage LP (hands in the dark - The prolific German musician Christian Schoppik is dropping his second solo album of 2022 under the moniker Läuten der Seele, following up his critically acclaimed self-titled debut album released at the start of the year. Once again, “Die Mariengrotte als Trinkwasseraufbereitungsanlage” (The Mother Mary Grotto as a Drinking Water Treatment Plant) is a work based on a mix of sample collages and recorded instruments that are often used sparsely but as load-bearing elements. However, this time, Schoppik came up with two long tracks where the narrative evolves in multiple and intricate movements to tell mysterious stories that have to be imagined by the listeners as the music unfolds. If the title of the tracks “Opferkerzen weihen das Betonbecken” (Votive Candles consecrate the Concrete Pool) and “Der Heilige Geist aus der Leitung” (The Holy Ghost from the Water Tap) give a starting point to these stories, the ethereal, mystic and dreamy sounding minimal atmospheres presented in this record let each one of us contemplate our own soothing experience against the continuous chaos surrounding us.
) 25.00
LIAI - Pome LP (quiet tapes - On their debut LP “Pome” for Quiet Time, Liai has given us a stunning work of expertly crafted rhythmic ambience, inspired by the intimacy and solitude of the midwestern countryside. Having grown up in rural Missouri, Liai channels the mixed feelings that can accompany solo contemplation in nature - expansiveness, sentimentality, vulnerability and eeriness. This deeply personal set of tracks took 3 years to make, revealed in the precision of sound design and use of space. The work feels at once familiar and organic, yet technical and futuristic, almost alien - a product of digital melodies, granular processing and frequent sampling of their own previous works.) 25.00
LUSTRE - A Thirst For Summer LP (“A Thirst for Summer Rain” is the eighth full-length album of Lustre – the Swedish apotheosis of ambient black metal.) 27.00
MAKAYA McCRAVEN - In These Times LP (international anthem - ‘In These Times’ represents the realisation of a project nearly seven years in the making for American jazz drummer Makaya McCraven. Doing extensive post-production work on the record while at the same time recording and releasing (count them…) six studio albums between 2015 and 2021, this lavishly orchestrated version of McCraven’s self-styled ‘organic beat music’ represents his finest work.) 27.00
PANDA BEAR & SONIC BOOM - reset LP (domino - Although Panda Bear and Sonic Boom are no strangers to each other’s music, Reset marks their first collaborative release. When SB pitched an idea to take their working relationship to the next level, he reckoned PB might reject the proposition outright—in the nine gloriously, feverishly hook-bound tracks of Reset, though, you can hear exactly how much he loved the prospect. SB’s notion was simple enough: After lugging his records to Portugal years ago, his fascination was renewed by old favorites and standards he had not heard in years. Something struck him, the way the ornate intros by Eddie Cochran or the Everly Brothers felt largely like stage curtains, compelling in their own right even if they had very little to do with the hits that followed. SB began crafting loops from these preambles, twisting and bending the parts like scrap metal before sending them onto PB. The kernel of Reset emerged not long after international lockdowns began. If making it supplied temporary medicine for the duo, it is now permanently so for the rest of us, a reminder that sometimes playing and singing along to old favorites with friends can be enough to make the world feel a bit better.) 26.00
THE PYRAMIDS - Birth / Speed / Merging LP (strut - Birth/Speed/Merging was recorded in 1976 after the band's move to San Francisco. The album closes the Pyramids' 70s trilogy and makes more use of studio technology: adding overdubs and other effects, a marked departure from the previous two releases, though at no cost to the urgent message and energy of their earlier works.) 27.00
THE PYRAMIDS - Lalibela LP (strut - The debut album by the Pyramids was inspired by the group's visit to the Lalibela monastery in Egypt, and was recorded in Yellow Springs Ohio in early 1973. Drawing on the teachings of Cecil Taylor and the influence of John Coltrane, combined with a barrage of intense percussion, the album evolves over several long-form pieces. Initially only 500 copies were pressed and sold to friends and followers in the local area.) 27.00
RAM JOHN HOLDER - Black London Blues LP (soul gramma - Singer and guitarist Ram John Holder was born in. 1939 in Georgetown, British Guiana, then moved to Cincinnati in 1954, and to the East Coast to work as folk blues singer in the early 1960s. In 1963, he took residency in England where he recorded several albums. Released in 1969 Black London Blues is surely is masterpiece. A socio-political manifesto the album chronicles the trials and tribulations that were the result of being a black-immigrant in London, and it contains all the pathos and pain one can imagine. Self-conscious, as concept albums often are, the record is almost like an audio A-Z or pub guide. It’s funky and represents his own black experience. It is a must have for all the blues revivalist out there, a record to rank along the lines of early Mike Cooper and American stalwarts like Eugene McDaniels or Sixto Rodriguez!) 26.00
TIME IS AWAY - Ballads DLP (a colorful storm - Over the better half of a decade, Time is Away, the London-based duo of Jack Rollo and Elaine Tierney, have made tender and heartfelt transmissions through countless mixes, sound works, live appearances and radio. Exploring deeply human themes of memory, persistence and resistance using an assemblage of source material, the duo’s unique mode of storytelling culminates in Ballads, a new suite of songs and, significantly, their first officially licensed compilation. From the opening notes of Horvitz Morris Previte Trio’s jazz romanticism to Gilles Chabenat and Frédéric Paris’s lively reimagined standard, the haunting vocal seance of Tanto Pressanto and the mesmerising swirls of The Unthanks, Yuko Kono and Rachel Bonch-Bruevich, the spirit of Ballads roams through generations of affectionate songwriting and conjures images both candid and surreal. The voice of poet and longtime collaborator Christina Petrie appears briefly and contemplates the “sighs and replies… the space between verses” of the Ballad, its beauty, its place in our lives. What is the Ballad but a reflection of our soul? “Perhaps I’ll wander in search of it”, she bittersweetly concedes.) 29.00
Y CREATE - The Blue Tape LP (Les Giants - Vinyl LP, 300 copies limited edition, reissue from 1983 - silk screened covers - In the early 1980’s Hessel Veldman and Herman te Loo assembled at Hessel’s apartment, which served both as a living room and as a home studio, every Thursday night. After the necessary social exchange over coffee, the guys started improvising, sometimes with a small preconceived musical cell or idea to work from. With a skeleton crew of just two (give or take the occasional overdub) the music that came out was usually simple in its form, sometimes stark, but always adventurous in its scope. And most of all: they approached the music with a sense of wonderment. Hessel had a great preference for repetitive patterns, executed on guitar, bass guitar or the synths of the era: a Korg MS 20 and a Roland Juno. Herman provided melodic lines with his soprano sax and occasional vocals and lyrics. A Drumatix drum machine provided the rhythms. Given these premises the duo sometimes sounded
like Tuxedomoon or Wire, bands they both admired. But they never had the intention to imitate or copy anyone. Hence the occasional outing on a corny sounding ancient electronic organ (Philicorda) with pre-programmed analog rhythm box (EKO). It provided the necessary humour in the sometimes gloomy 80’s period sound. They recorded everything, and Hessel would work on the result during the week that followed. The twosome would then discuss the mix prior to a new Thursday session. After a while there was enough material to compile a tape for Hessel’s independent Exart cassette label. It became one the volumes of a trilogy, entitled Y Create, the Y
referring to Ymuiden, Herman and Hessel’s home town. In contrast to the other volumes of the series, the grey and green tape, the blue cassette (which is the one remixed and reissued on vinyl here) contained relatively short pieces – songs almost. The rest of the series delved more into long, hypnotic soundscapes, which later became an important ingredient for the music of Gorgonzola Legs, the band which Hessel and Herman started in 1984 with drummer/electronics wizard Gert Jan Prins and guitarist Jos van Duijne. Herman te Loo; March 30, 2020.) 25.00
V/A - Join The Future - UK Bleep & Bass 1988-91 DLP (cease & desist. The first release on Optimo Music founder JD Twitch’s new compilation-focused label Cease & Desist will be a collection of pioneering turn-of-the-90s British “Bleep & Bass” techno tracks curated by author and music journalist Matt Anniss. Join The Future: UK Bleep & Bass 1988-91 is a partner product to Anniss’s critically acclaimed book on the foundations of British dance music’s ongoing love affair with sub-bass, Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music. The book, which was published by Velocity Press in December and features a foreword by JD Twitch, documents in vivid detail the previously untold story of the Yorkshire-pioneered style and the impact it had on the development of UK dance music. The compilation is the first to focus on Bleep & Bass since the sound’s heyday in the late 1980s and early ’90s. It features a mix of historic cuts, period classics, overlooked gems and unreleased material. It was mastered for release by Warp Records co-founder and Forgemasters member Rob Gordon, a producer, remixer and studio engineer who arguably did more than anyone else to define the sub-heavy sound of the style. Gordon also contributed a previously unheard version of Alfanso’s “Dub Feels Nice”, a near mythical track he produced in 1991 that has never received a proper commercial release. The cut has been a secret weapon for a handful of Sheffield DJs for almost 30 years, most notably Gordon’s fellow Forgemasters member Winston Hazel. Fittingly, the compilation also includes the original unreleased instrumental version of Tuff Little Unit’s Steel City classic “Join The Future”.) 35.00
V/A - Saigon Supersound Vol. 3 DLP (Saigon Supersound is delighted to present the 3rd and final volume of its pre-1975 Southern Vietnamese music collection. A curated collection of music from Saigon during the 1960s and early 1970s. The music has been restored and remastered in order to present listeners with audio quality on par with its original quality upon release more than half a century ago. The first few songs in this Volume are songs Vietnamese people used to call “Stimulus Music” or “Action Music”. These are songs that borrow vibrant melodies, inspired by the west, performed by the best representatives of this genre. In addition, this volume includes songs, famous in clubs both past and present like “Nếu Anh Về Bên Em” by Mai Hương and “Hình Ảnh Người Em Không Đợi” by Thanh Lan. Many believe that "Southern Golden Music" is just popular music, simply because it "pleases the listener". Volume 3 include melodies most Vietnamese might have considered “unpopular”, but popular with “golden music” lovers. Today, people often call “gold music” bolero music, because this is the most popular style found in this golden era of music. In this volume, Saigon Supersound have selected typical bolero songs like,“Hàn Mặc Tử” sang by Trúc Mai, as well as, “Nắng Chiều” by Lê Trọng Nguyễn.) 32.00
CD
SAM ESH -Jack of Diamonds/Faro Goddamn DCD (If Alan Licht ever continues with his revered Minimal Top Ten lists then Sam Esh would surely be added to the pile. Penultimate Press is proud to release one of the most audacious and unrelenting entries in the entire minimal cannon. A collection of recordings from a true American eccentric maverick pioneer, Sam Esh. Originally available as 2 x cassettes in tiny editions on Mike Rep Hummel’s Old Age / No Age label these are now bound together on a 2CD set which does not interrupt the unrelenting creativity of Mr Esh. What does it sound like? Picture Moondog taking a turn for the far worse morphing into a way further crazed Legendary Stardust Cowboy who eschews any song tradition for an unrelenting hypnotic acoustic hurricane complete with glossolalia vocals.) 24.00
