Bis Aufs Messer weekly News 02 Feb 2024
Hi, welcome to another newsletter for May - a couple new releases arrived like the TOPOGRAPHIES - Interior Spring LP , HJIROK - Hjirok LP, KLAPPER - High For No Reason LP, LUDWIG GÖRANSSON - Oppenheimer OST 3xLP, MARK GLYNNE & BART ZWIER - Home Comfort LP re issue, SPECTRAL VOICE - Sparagmos LP, HULDER - Verses In Oath LP, THE ABDO MEN - Ulcer Anthology: Laff Your Way To Total Destruction TAPE, OPEN CITY - Hands In The Honey Jar LP, FINNOGUNS WAKE - Stay Young LP (ex ROYAL HEADACHE) and some stuff is on its way like some PISSE restocks, new J ROBBINS LP, some Siltbreeze stuff, NECKS DLP restock and other goodies.
We also got restock of the VOGT & SEEBER - Radio Cologne Sound Das Studio für Elektronische Musik des WDR BOOK +5xCD and some other WOLKE titles
There is two things coming up in Berlin if you are in town. There is a Soli Tattoo event at Rostige Nadel in mid February
https://www.facebook.com/events/2280760192122793
And there this a soli show for PIGEON and ELEKTROKOHLE at LARK on Feb 15th - maybe you are are in town
https://www.facebook.com/events/3614940458834435/?ti=ls
And we also added (adding) a few more second hand LPs and 7“s to our discogs
https://www.discogs.com/seller/XMESSERX
Thank you as usual
Til then thank you for all your orders & support.
Robert & Norman
mailorder@bisaufmesser.com
www.adagio830-records.bandcamp.com
LP
ARTHUR PETRONIO - Arthur Petronio LP (Arthur Petronio (1897-1983) was a French-Italian musician, poet and painter. Lived in Belgium and The Netherlands between 1910 and 1924 and since then in France. Young violin virtuoso studying with Belgian master violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. Played solo violin for Belgian King Leopold II, at the age of 9. Attracted to the avant-garde and visionary ideas of Gesamtkunstwerk. Develops and presents his “Verbophonie” in 1919, integrating sound poetry into regular music scores. Friend with Kandinsky, Mondrian, Cocteau and Picasso. Published several avant-garde journals and poetry books with participation of like-minded artists. Wrote many scores for solo instruments, small ensembles, orchestral works, opera,... Met Henri Chopin in 1950 and extended his musical ideas with new possibilities of tape composition. His one and only LP was originally published by the Belgian Igloo label in 1979. An extravagant DIY montage of musique concrète and sound poetry. In addition to Petronio’s voice several female readers/performers contribute to this theatre of voices as guest vocalists. An album as unusual as his lifecycle.) 26.00
AUGUSTUS MULLER - My Animal OST LP (‘My Animal’ is Augustus Muller’s (Boy Harsher) debut as a feature film composer and follows 'Cellulosed Bodies', his score for two experimental pornography films released last month. Muller wrote and recorded the score for 'My Animal' at his home studio in Northampton, MA, where he primarily used hardware and analog synthesizers. Muller utilizes a sparse but efficient palette of sounds, combining modern and quintessentially 80’s soundscapes to create a score that’s fresh while still nodding to 80’s B movies. With this release, Muller pays homage to Klaus Schulze’s music for 'Angst' and John Carpenter's 'Assault on Precinct 13'. Written by Jae Matthews (Boy Harsher), 'My Animal' was directed by Jacqueline Castel, and stars Bobbi Salvör Menuez (Euphoria) and Amandla Stenberg (Bodies Bodies Bodies). 'My Animal' is a genre-bending horror romance that tells the story of Heather. Tormented by a hidden family curse, she is forced to live a secluded life on the outskirts of a small town. When she falls for the rebellious Jonny, their connection threatens to unravel Heather's suppressed desires, tempting her to unleash the animal within. Jacqueline Castel is a longtime music video and short film director at Sacred Bones Records, and has directed work for musicans Alan Vega (Suicide), The Soft Moon, Zola Jesus, and for directors David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, and John Carpenter.) 28.00
THE 'B' GIRLS - Bad Not Evil LP (bomb - THE ‘B’ GIRLS ARE BACK ON BOMP! ... WHERE THEY BELONG!!! ‘BAD not EVIL’ is The ‘B’ Girls first full-length vinyl release.
It includes the band's only single on Bomp!, plus studio recordings from 1977 up to 1981, and two live tracks. The songs are produced by Debbie Harry of Blondie, Mick Jones of The Clash, Craig Leon (The Ramones, Blondie, Richard Hell, Suicide, The Zeros), Liam Sternberg (Rachel Sweet, Kirsty McColl, The Bangles), Bob Segarini (The Wackers) and The 'B' Girls, with engineer Robin Brouwers (Teenage Head). Peter J. Moore restored and digitally re-mastered all tracks.
The release is a LIMITED EDITION ON PINK VINYL and includes an insert with LINER NOTES BY CYNTHIA ROSS, and photos by Rodney Bowes, Theresa Kereakes and Bob Gruen.) 26.00
EMERALD WEB - Traces Of Time (A Musical Anthology) LP (stoned - back in stock - Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Emerald Web (Bob Stohl and Kat Epple), was a husband and wife duo who each played both synthesizers and flutes, and were pioneers in Electronic Music and music technology. They created a melodic brew of Fantasy, Space, and New Age music from 1977-1990 on an array of analog synths which were “state of the art” (now-vintage) analog synthesizers including Lyricon 1 Electronic Wind Instrument, Arp 2600, Moog, sequencers and many more, along with acoustic instruments such as flutes, World Instruments, and voice. "Traces of Time" was Emerald Web’s eighth of twelve albums, and was originally released in 1987 on cassette tape. It was subtitled “A Musical Anthology” and was a collection of fan-favorite music tracks from previous Emerald Web albums from the 1980s, and three new recordings, including “Variations on Pachelbel’s Canon.” The album's original 4 track reel-to-reel master tapes were meticulously baked, restored, archived, and re-mastered for this digital download release. ) 25.00
FINNOGUNS WAKE - Stay Young LP (what’s your rupture - Finnogun’s Wake is the delightful portmanteau of a band fronted by Shogun (vocalist of Royal Headache, and later Shogun and the Sheets) and newcomer Finn Berzin. Decades apart in age but united in tutelage and outlook, they have mitigated the Joycean tome of What To Do Now, and crafted the four debut songs of the Stay Young EP from the inside out, sharing the spotlight for a riveting, deafening smear of melodic pop and buzzsaw guitars. Mourning the departure of his best mate to a life overseas, Shogun started hanging out with his friend’s younger brother, Finn. The two of them started spending their free time together, one having seen a fair chunk of the world through music, the other just starting to figure it all out. They went through the essential lessons that could be gleaned from Definitely Maybe and Hüsker Dü, Finn got himself a guitar, and the songs simply fell out of both of them, with this initial batch as the result. Shogun sings on “Blue Skies” and “Strawberry Avalanche,” and Finn takes the lead on “So Nice” and “Lovers All,” and while there’s no mistaking Shogun’s striking delivery and fatalistic lyrics, Finn proves himself as a carousing foil, holding his ground like the natural he’s become. ) 27.00
GIULIO ERASMUS - Second Attempt LP (mangel - Vinyl debut by Brussels‘ post-punk / minimal dub wave solo project Giulio Erasmus of Duds and Handle fame.) 18.00
HJIROK - Hjirok LP (altin village - HJirok is a mythical figure, conceived as a fictional character by Iranian-born Kurdish singer and artist Hani Mojtahedy. Together with versatile music producer Andi Toma of Mouse On Mars, she combined a variety of sounds collected during their joint travels to Iraqi Kurdistan and elsewhere with heavily processed recordings of Sufi drum rhythms and setar melodies. The result is a driving, dubbed-out, and deeply intricate soundscape that perfectly sets the stage for Mojtahedy’s extended, unconventional vocal techniques and polyglot lyrics. Both informed by tradition and rigorously forward-looking, »Hjirok« (with a lowercase J) is at once a profoundly personal album and a universal utopian promise. As a ghost from the past, HJirok draws on Mojtahedy’s memories to mould a new future out of them. ) 24.00
HULDER - Verses In Oath LP (20 buck spin - The hauntingly grandiose new Hulder album ‘Verses in Oath’, created during the dreariest cold months of the Northwest winter, constitutes the most majestic, untamed manifestation thus far in the band’s journey of conquest, as new territory is put to flame and conquered by sword and shield. A pivotal 2022 saw Hulder release ‘The Eternal Fanfare’, a 5 track mini-album, marking a new phase in the project’s rapid development. Further to Hulder’s audial ascendency, the band set the live stage ablaze, touring widely in North America throughout the year and into 2023, which brought the band to European shores for the first time as well. Spurred on by these noble victories the ground was prepared for the immensity of ‘Verses in Oath’. Tracked by Hulder in the Northwest, the mix and master was entrusted to cult legend Ahti Kortelainen of Tico Tico Studios in Finland, whose overwhelming list of credits stretch back decades to include Barathrum, Belial, Impaled Nazarene and Moonsorrow among countless others. The result is both unsparingly savage and wistfully evocative; black blood on white snow. ) 28.00
KLAPPER - High For No Reason LP (mangel - The music group Klapper from Berlin has recorded new music after their S/T cassette. Now they are releasing their first album on vinyl! Great! Once again you can hear the instruments synthesizer, guitar, bass, drum machine, drums and some Klapper instruments. Groovy bass lines and melancholic harmonies as well as a noisy lo-fi sound let you melt away. The album begins with a hip hop beat and a helicopter sound. The lyrics refer to how elbows ahead mankind is etching around in all areas of life! The other songs will not be described further here, except to say that the content continues in a similar way. The album also ends with a gloomy song. Of course! ) 18.00
LUDWIG GÖRANSSON - Oppenheimer OST 3xLP (Mondo Music, in partnership with Universal Pictures, is proud to present Ludwig Göransson’s score to OPPENHEIMER, Christopher Nolan’s sweeping, epic thriller that delves deep into the psyche of a singular American mind: J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, OPPENHEIMER is an epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. To create the score for OPPENHEIMER, Christopher Nolan turned again to Oscar®-winning composer Ludwig Göransson (BLACK PANTHER films), who had written the music for TENET. “Ludwig’s work on the film is both deeply personal and historically expansive,” Nolan says. “It achieves the effect of building out an emotional world to accompany the visual world that Ruth De Jong designed and Hoyte van Hoytema shot, and it draws the audience into the emotional dilemmas of the characters and their interactions with the vast geopolitical situations that they’re confronting.”) 78.00
OPEN CITY - Hands In The Honey Jar LP (get better - Simply, Open City is a group of experienced rockers who have worked and lived through many eras of punk and hardcore. Their range of influences reflects both those lived experiences as well as their different knowledges of themselves as artists. Of these influences, vocalist Rachel Rubino has no pretense with the expression of all they connect within the world of music, and with what they and the rest of Open City worked to achieve with their upcoming Get Better Records released full-length, "Hands In The Honey Jar.“) 30.00
PAUL PAGE AND HIS PARADISE MUSIC - Pacific Paradise DLP (sublim - Paul Page — poet, pagan, and playboy of Polynesian pop and Hapa Haole exotica. The music on this unusual exotic album, takes you right to the ocean’s edge, mingles you with jungle drums and animals, the booming surf, seagulls, and ocean liners in a coral kaleidoscope of sounds. This is the real deal authentic tiki bar soundtrack. Paul Page and his Paradise Music entertained in Polynesian themed restaurants all over Southern California from the late ’30s to the mid-60s, then all the way out to the Kona Coast during the late ’60s and early ’70s. The whole time, he kept leaving behind these little independent albums, recorded specifically for the purpose of selling them to the people coming to his small venue shows… which, when you think about it, is basically what all the most-worthy bands to dig do these days, outside the doting eye of the lame record industry. Dude was so ahead of his time! Paul Page was a singer, piano player, bandleader, writer/composer, radio, and TV host, artist of oils, professional basketball player, and much more. He published many albums during the 1950s-60s and wrote hundreds of songs. His story has never previously been told and his original recordings are very rare, in fact some of them are completely unknown and undocumented, and much sought after by collectors. Paul Page is really the only one to mix actual, authentic Hawaiian music and other Polynesian and Pacific Ocean influences, with the nomadic feel of the seafaring Anglo working sailor man with a sense of American pop sophistication, based in jazz-age. It is his cheerful insistence to employ every known cliché from the Polynesian pop dictionary that makes his stylings so charming to today’s tiki lounger. Subliminal Sounds now brings you the full Paul Page saga on this comprehensive compilation. Includes a digital booklet documenting the research by Stefan Kéry in-depth liner notes by author and pop historian Domenic Priore. ) 32.00
SCHNEIDER KRISTOF - s/t LP (Michel Kristof is a French improvised music guitarist. Jörg A. Schneider is a drummer from Hückelhoven, Germany. "Derek Bailey's heritage“) 20.00
MARK GLYNNE & BART ZWIER - Home Comfort LP (Very pleased and grateful to announce this ‘Home Comfort’ reissue by Mark Glynne and Bart Zwier, originally self-released in 1980.
Maybe a bit of an unexpected title to appear in the LSD catalog but my love for this album goes back to my late teenage years and has had an addictive effect since, like a spleen infused magnet. With this album Glynne and Zwier (†), based in the Netherlands and connected to the Ultra scene, drew an insular blend of intimate post-punk and chamber (bedroom) songs with surreal scenic reflections. Probably its naked singularity defying categorization has left it so unnoticed, even 43 years after the making. It also features a reciting Marlène Dumas still quite unknown at the time. With biggest gratitude to Mark Glynne who instantly felt confident with my proposal to reissue this silent witness of lasting beauty. My long-time Japanese friend You Ishihara (White Heaven, The Stars) who bought the LP when it came out in 1980 still considers it as one of his all-time favourites. This is what he writes about ‘Home Comfort’: “Resignation and fear in a desolate mental landscape. This album, which exists like a shelter for those who have quietly escaped through the backdoor of the world, vividly reflects the inner depths of the devastated Amsterdam of the early 80's. A beautiful and sad, unmistakable masterpiece.”) 26.00
SCHNEIDER SHIROISHI - s/t LP (Patrick Shiroishi is a Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Los Angeles. Known for free jazz sessions, abstract sound art, math rock, and modern composition pieces. Jörg A. Schneider is a free form drummer from Hückelhoven, Germany.) 23.00
SPECTRAL VOICE - Sparagmos LP (dark descent - Spectral Voice's Sparagmos unfolds as a momentous second full-length offering under the banner of Dark Descent Records, marking the culmination of a period devoted to katabatic immersion into the material. The title itself, alluding to the Dionysian rite of being torn limb from limb, sets the stage for a profound exploration of life, death, and the untamed essence within. "The content of the album oscillates between lamentation and exaltation. An immersive, morbid atmosphere of funereality longs for the liberation of death and mourns the agony of life. Coupled with moments of frenetic madness, grandeur, terror and ecstasy, the point we are trying to get to is the moment in which - through sacrifice - atavistic wildness is unleashed, and the ultimate exaltation of life through death is realized," reflects drummer/vocalist E. Wendler. ) 33.00
TOPOGRAPHIES - Interior Spring LP ((dark entries - Bay Area post-punk outfit Topographies deliver their sophomore LP, Interior Spring, via Dark Entries. Formed in 2018 in San Francisco by Justin Oronos, Jeremie Ruest, and Gray Tolhurst, Topographies link the icy riffs and gloomy atmosphere of early coldwave with the textural depth and warmth of classic shoegaze, emerging with a style that’s both contemporary and timeless. On Interior Spring, Topographies explore themes of guilt, inherited trauma, and recovery. The meaning of its title is triplicate: a submerged river carrying hope, an anxiously wound clock, and a season where wildflowers bloom on the graves of the past. While the work of Tolhurst’s father - Laurence Tolhurst from The Cure - provides a clear influence, Topographies expertly channel acts like Asylum Party or The Chameleons on anthemic pearls like “Night Sea” and “Chain of Days”. Tolhurst’s lyrics draw on his own experience in recovery from substance abuse to examine the cycle of use and hopelessness that characterizes addiction. Through these ten songs, the group hopes to present the idea that freedom is not an escape but an embrace of the quotidian beauty of human life.) 27.00
WOLFSKULL - #2 LP (Collaboration between two members of defunct Noiserock band Les Hommes Qui Wear Espandrillos. Yvonne Nussbaum - Piano, Vibes, Organ
Jörg A. Schneider - Drums, Electronics - „like a hectic version of Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore.“) 16.00
ZEROS - Don't Push Me Around LP (Classic '77 punk, previously unreleased. This album gathers up all their early singles and demos for Bomp, as well as other early and unreleased recordings.) 27.00
TAPES
THE ABDO MEN - Ulcer Anthology: Laff Your Way To Total Destruction TAPE (mangel - Weirdo garage punk from Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati, Ohi - Like a desperate man twisting open a jar of some mystery fermentation left in a dusty cabinet for far too long and taking an ill-fated swig in an attempt to catch a buzz, this batch of botulism-tainted rock history probably should have never been pulled out and examined, much less unlatched. It probably should have stayed in the attic on a tape labeled "not for public consumption" until the building was torn down and the tape doomed to the fate of unsustainable plastic reincarnation in a Rumpke landfill bin, carted there alongside moldy coffee grounds, discarded covid test kits, spent nicorette gum packs, little gram baggies and thai carry-out refuse . But it was, and now you've been exposed. ) 8.00
NOJ - Waxing Moon TAPE (mange - Introducing 'Waxing Moon,' the debut release from Berlin neo-nihilists, Noj. Waxing Moon takes the listener on a tense trip, pulsating through 9 chunky tweaked out tracks of industrial post punk whose combo of punishing percussion, antagonistic basslines, broken glass guitar and cool, bloodless vocals conjure visions of a cyberpunk version of The Birthday Party with Trent Reznor on synth, produced by a young Rob Zombie. An undeniably German swagger is present throughout, decorating a chilling Carpenter-esque sense of foreboding. Like sisyphus rolling the stone, each song gathers momentum as if it may build on a promise, keeping the listener in anticipation of some great crescendo or divine reason for being… before abruptly ending with the realisation that the journey was the anticipation, hopes dashed, collapsing new buildings. ) 8.00
ÜBERSPANNUNG - Holzwege TAPE (mangel - After a very good cassette, le Miroir aux Morts, released on Vague à l'Âme, (Recommendation: vaguealame2.bandcamp.com/album/le-miroir-aux-morts) we are happy to be able to call this next release of Überspannung the OUR ! Overall a bit less spiraling, the synths again meander over the drum machines and under the bass, which sounds like it was recorded straight into the tape machine. Some songs are more upbeat and skillfully layer their melodies, while others are dominated by hard drum machine beats and energetic, furious vocals. I also sometimes think of Falco! It's a hit!) 8.00
BOOKS
VOGT & SEEBER - Radio Cologne Sound Das Studio für Elektronische Musik des WDR BOOK +5xCD (wolke - The book is in German / English. Selten hat eine Radio-Institution in so kurzer Zeit eine solche Spur in der Musikgeschichte hinterlassen. Das 1951 gegründete Studio für Elektronische Musik des WDR gerät früh in die Schlagzeilen, es verwandelt die Domstadt zeitweise in die Metropole der Neuen Musik, die nicht nur Komponist:innen anzieht. Radio Cologne Sound zeichnet in Essays, Tonaufnahmen, Bildern und persönlichen Erinnerungen die bewegte Geschichte des Studios nach: von den goldenen 50er und 60er Jahren über Zeiten der Öffnung wie Stagnation bis zur späten Blüte. Drei Portraits widmen sich den Studio-Leitern Herbert Eimert, Karlheinz Stockhausen und York Höller. Weitere Texte beleuchten das intensive Wechselspiel zwischen Technik und Ästhetik, Teamwork im Studio, internationale Ausstrahlung und die wichtige Frage der Aufführungspraxis: Wie kommt elektronische Musik auf die Bühne, wenn die Technik längst museumsreif ist? Herzstück des Buchs ist der Sound von „Radio Cologne“: 28 Stücke auf fünf CDs lassen ein halbes Jahrhundert Revue passieren. Rarely has a radio institution left such a mark on music history in such a short space of time. Founded in 1951, the WDR Studio for Electronic Music hit the headlines early on, at times transforming Cologne into the metropolis of new music, attracting not only composers. Radio Cologne Sound traces the eventful history of the studio in essays, recordings, pictures and personal memories: from the golden 50s and 60s through times of opening and stagnation to the late heyday. Three portraits are dedicated to the studio directors Herbert Eimert, Karlheinz Stockhausen and York Höller. Other texts shed light on the intense interplay between technology and aesthetics, the teamwork in the studio, its international appeal and the important question of performance practice: How can electronic music be brought to the stage when the technology has long been ready for the museum? The heart of the book is the sound of “Radio Cologne”: 28 tracks on five CDs allow us to look back over half a century.) 39.00
