Bis Aufs Messer Weekly News 03 / May 2022
Hi. Welome to another newsletter for May. A bunch of new cool stuff arrived like a couple of the fantastic LITTLE ANN records, new CREMATION LILY - Dreams Drenched in Static LP, the amazing CASSANDRA JENKINS - (An Overview on) An Overview on Phenomenal Nature LP, the new PREDATORY LIGHT - Death and the Twilight Hours LP, the ltd V/A - XKatedral Anthology Series I (An Anthology Of Slowly Evolving Timbral Music) DLP, some more copies of the VERLIERER TAPE, THE PLASTIK BEATNIKS - All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For LP, PORRIDGE RADIO - Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky LP, KAZUKI TOMOKAWA - Finally, His First Album LP, WEIRD NIGHTMARE - s/t LP (Metz Sideproject), LUCRECIA DALT - The Seed OST LP (!!!), als a couple ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE Soundtracks are back on colored vinyl
We will also have a new Artshow coming up next month. Stay tuned for details.
Til then thank you for all your orders & support.
Robert & Norman
mailorder@bisaufmesser.com
www.adagio830-records.bandcamp.com
LP
ANNIE HALL - Statics LP (After more than a decade of deep, expansive productions on labels such as Detroit Underground and CPU, Annie Hall arrives on MUSAR for a record typically rich in texture and understated grooves. Opening track ‘Linium’ immediately seduces listeners with a complex drum pattern that somehow feels spacious, subtly twisting and turning it’s way around Hall’s analogue world. Dutch artist Mattheis maintains this understated feel but adds a soft, compelling kick in response on his suspenseful remix of ‘Lavandula’. The original, moodier version of this cut the follows to open the B side, gradually erupting around a killer distorted bassline. ) 13.00
ART BLAKEY AND HIS JAZZ MESSENGERS - Chippin In DLP (tidal waves - Art Blakey was a legendary drummer and bandleader who played with all the greats including Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. 'Chippin' In' was cut in 1990 just eight months before his passing but this is a vibrant and lively set full of virtuosity and vigour. Incredibly it has never been released on vinyl before so this will be an essential release for any jazz aficionados. ) 42.00
CASSANDRA JENKINS - (An Overview on) An Overview on Phenomenal Nature LP (col. vinyl) (badabing - Cassandra Jenkins' An Overview on Phenomenal Nature emerged from the blue earlier this year. With pandemic unknowns and political upheaval leaving most at frayed ends, the New York-born musician’s assuring voice and expansive fresh take on songwriting created a much needed reflective space for listeners worldwide. As 2021 comes to a close, Jenkins revisits those flowing textures and refrains with (An Overview On) An Overview On Phenomenal Nature, a collection of previously unreleased sonic sketches, initial run-throughs, demos, and sound recordings from the cutting room floor that provided the scaffolding for what became one of this year’s most critically acclaimed albums. ) 25.00
CREMATION LILY - Dreams Drenched in Static LP (flenser - Cremation Lily’s “Dreams Drenched in Static” exists at the horizon of consciousness and heavy experimental music. Through the use of frenetic vocal melodies, tape degradation, and guitar noise, the album documents the liminal moments at the edge of sleep, and the distressing thoughts that often accompany late-night R.E.M. disturbances. The lyrics were largely written at three in the morning and serve to evoke the depression and meditations on death that seem to haunt these early hours. ) 27.00
THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN WITH MIKE PATTON - Irony Is A Dead Scene LP (epitaph - A collaboration between Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas) and The Dillinger Escape Plan, this four song EP is a wildly progressive amalgam of musical styles that combines the feral intensity of hardcore, the technical precision of metal, mind-boggling tempo changes and sonic textures usually associated only with experimental electronic music. Irony Is A Dead Scene pushes the limits of speed, composition and complexity. Perhaps the most extraordinary track is a cover of Aphex Twin's "Come To Daddy" which brilliantly and signifi?cantly serves to blur the distinction between "electronic" and "live" music. Reissued on vinyl to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original release.) 27.00
JOZEF VAN WISSEM / SQÜRL - only lovers left alive DLP (sacred bones - Soundtrack for the critically acclaimed Jim Jarmusch film Only Lovers Left Alive, starring Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton. The score for Only Lovers Left Alive - a collaboration between SQÜRL (Jim Jarmusch, Carter Logan and Shane Stoneback) and Dutch lutenist Jozef Van Wissem - serves as a reflection of the distinct textures of Detroit and Tangier, bridging ancient and modern sounds, entangled and timeless. Avant-Baroque lute weaves through twenty-first century guitar grit, heavy back beats, Moroccan percussion, synth bass, field recordings, and numerous sonic effects to create a cinematic tapestry. Guest vocalist Madeline Follin (Cults) appears on SQÜRL's syrup soaked re-interpretation of the Wanda Jackson hit "Funnel of Love". Zola Jesus' commanding vocal soars through Van Wissem's "In Templum Dei". And Yasmine Hamdan's intimate and evocative "Hal", recorded on the set of the film and mixed by SQÜRL. The film and soundtrack album were released worldwide in 2014, and quickly earned the group the Cannes Soundtrack Award from a consortium of film and music critics. In the years that have followed it has remained a favorite of critics and fans alike, who have continued to hunt down the limited vinyl copies in existence.) 35.00
KAZUKI TOMOKAWA - Straight from the Throat LP (blank forms - In the 1970s, Kazuki Tomokawa catapulted into Tokyo's avant-garde scene with his cathartic and utterly electrifying performances. Straight from the Throat, Tomokawa's second album, released in July 1976 by Harvest Records, finds the musician in his truest form: as the "screaming philosopher" he would come to be called-cynical but fair, cheeky and melancholic, and looking at the world with truth-seeking eyes. In Straight from the Throat, Tomokawa shrieks and shouts and wallows with ritualistic abandon-his avant-folk stylings are cosmic and, at times, well to ground-shaking rock. He speaks of adolescence, passing hearses, and wedding chapel cars in a poem to his younger brother, Tomoharu, and watches ice melt on the Mitane River with spring's turn. Tomokawa's sound is, as Kiichi Takahara would later dub it, "I-music": revelatory and deeply intimate songs that turn to the everyday and the interior. They are portraits of a man in search of meaning, who is taking stubborn control of his life by doing so. As he croons in "The Spring Is Here Again Song," "I'll drink till I've had my fill / And fall in love until I die.“) 30.00
KAZUKI TOMOKAWA - Finally, His First Album LP (blank forms - At the tender age of twenty-five, while he was working part-time at an Italian restaurant in Tokyo's Kamata district, Kazuki Tomokawa released his debut record, fittingly titled Finally, His First Album. While he had already penned hundreds of songs, including his first single "Try Saying You're Alive!," written on a long train ride past fields and rice paddies, it was this recording that introduced Japan to one of its most unique musicians of the postwar era. Each track, as record label exec Kiichi Takahara writes in the LP's liner notes (here translated for the first time), is not a song but a "flesh-and-blood human being," birthed by the singer-songwriter and the raw, guttural cries that would become a hallmark of his incomparable sound. 1970s Japan was a time and place marked by a profound desire for authenticity amidst the onset of television and media saturation. Tomokawa arrived on the scene as a musician with "the personality of a hydrogen bomb," to borrow a phrase from his frequent collaborator Toshi Ishizuka. In an unwieldy interview included here, members of the notorious leftist band Zun? Keisatsu (Brain Police) put it bluntly: here was a man surrounded by the "disingenuous," the "wishy-washy," and the "superficial," who was delivering "real life, unvarnished." These songs are lullabies for the lost, staring not into the void but-as the fourth track declares-from inside it) 30.00
KAZUKI TOMOKAWA - String of Paper Cranes Clenched between My Teeth LP (blank forms - In a generation of musicians that came of age in postwar Japan, Kazuki Tomokawa stands as a pioneer of radical individualism, with a sound marked by shocking intimacy and blistering honesty. In his third album, A String of Paper Cranes Clenched between My Teeth, released by Harvest Records in 1977, Tomokawa creeps "ever more inward," as Kiichi Takahara writes in the record's original introductory text-embracing an attitude pervasive amongst musicians of the time who interrogated the prosaic and the profound alike, eschewing politics and society in favor of an "attitude of total self-containment." Tomokawa recorded the album over the course of a month-from August 24 to September 25, 1977-at Tokyo's famed Onkio Haus studio in the bustling Ginza district. The arrangements, accordingly, are amped up: paired with the Black Panther Orchestra, Tomokawa's "screaming philosopher" vocals find their match with the orchestra's electric guitar, bass, piano, tuba, and ground-thumping drums played by the Brain Police's Toshi Ishizuka-who appears on Tomokawa's first three records and remains his collaborator to this day. "This is Kazuki Tomokawa in the flesh," concludes Takahara. A String of Paper Cranes Clenched between My Teeth is, in Tomokawa's uncanny way, able to cut through facade and artifice in pursuit of truth. "You call that life?" he heckles, exhausted by the melodrama and nihilism of youth counterculture, "try saying you're alive!“) 30.00
LITTLE ANN - Detroit's Secret Soul LP (The ultimate Little Ann collection – featuring alternate versions, rare 70s recordings, backing tracks and more. In the last two decades, Little Ann’s music has gone from being almost unheard to celebrated widely across the world. Initially known only as a footnote for having one side of a Ric-Tic single in 1968, the discovery of her acetate of ‘What Should I Do’ at Wigan Casino in the late 70s led to her name becoming important to rare soul fans. When Ace Records acquired Dave Hamilton’s Detroit studio tapes, more previously unheard gems came to light: eventually there were found to be nine songs recorded in 1967 and 1968 with Dave and his partner Darrell Goolsby. ‘Who Are You Trying To Fool’, ‘Sweep It Out In The Shed’ and ‘Lean Lanky Daddy’ proved to be perfect additions for the Northern Soul dance scene, while ‘I Got To Have You’ and ‘Possession’ wowed the funk crowd, and the beauty of ‘Deep Shadows’ got through to every type of soul fan.) 26.00
LITTLE ANN - deep shadows LP (Unreleased and unheard since it was committed to tape over back in the Sixties with producer Dave Hamilton, Deep Shadows was the solitary album by soul singer Little Ann (real name Ann Bridgforth). Finally released in 2009, six years after her death, it’s a lost artefact of the Detroit soul scene, and is re-issued with a Sixties-style tip-on sleeve. ) 26.00
LUCRECIA DALT - The Seed OST LP (‘The Seed’ is a sci-fi horror film directed by Sam Walker. The score sees Berlin-based Lucrecia Dalt venturing into soundtrack composition for the first time. The score varies in pace and pulse. Digital and analogue synthesisers reflect the sci-fi elements whilst looped recordings of bowed pieces of metal reflect the horror. ) 27.00
PAPE NZIENGUI ET SON GROUPE - Kadi Yombo DLP (awesome tapes form africa - Kadi Yombo, published in 1989, is the most successful album in the quest for a fusion between tradition and modernity in Bwiti harp music of the Tsogho people of Gabon. Combining beating rattles with a layer of synthesizers, Papé Nziengui blends in a contrapuntal dialogue characteristic of harp playing: male song in appeal and female choir in response, male voice of the musical arc and rhythms of female worship. But above all it's Tsogho ritual music and modern studio orchestration. The result is an initiatory itinerary of 10 musical pieces which are all milestones likely to be simultaneously listened to, danced, meditated on, and soon acclaimed. In the years since, Nziengui has traveled he world from Lagos to Paris, from Tokyo to Cordoba, from Brussels to Mexico City to become a true icon, the emblem of Gabonese music. Like Bob Dylan, "electrifying" folk and Bob Marley mixing rock with reggae, some purists have criticized Nziengui for having distorted the music of harp by imposing a cross with modern instruments. They even went so far as to claim that Nziengui was just an average harpist covering his shortcomings with stunts that were only good for impressing neophytes; like playing a harp placed upside down behind his back or playing two or three harps simultaneously. Sincere convictions or venomous defamations, in any case, Nziengui never gave in to such attacks, imposing himself on the contrary to pay homage to the elders (Yves Mouenga, Jean Honoré Miabé, Vickoss Ekondo) while instructing the maximum of young people. He is thus the promoter of many young talents, the most prominent of which is certainly his nephew Jean Pierre Mingongué. In a conservative society where the sacred is confused with secrecy, exposing the mysteries of Bwiti in broad daylight can be punished by exclusion or even execution.)
THE PLASTIK BEATNIKS - All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For LP (alien transistor - Sounds like supergroup. Rarely have outstanding figures of such a variety of musical styles collaborated on one album to pay homage to a nearly forgotten artist, one of the few black Beatnik poets, Bob Kaufman. "All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For" by The Plastik Beatniks is an attempt to acoustically reanimate Bob Kaufman, to return the Beat to him in a transatlantic collaboration. It is a shimmering psychedelic, at times jazzy concept album, sometimes reminiscent of Krautrock or hip hop, about a Beat-era poet who was as great as he was forgotten. It takes spoken word to a new level, as a transatlantic showcase of musical avant-gardes and a joyful "sound archaeology" of modernity, in which the tracks of the "Plastik Beatniks" meet the best voices of America. ) 26.00
PORRIDGE RADIO - Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky LP (secretly - 'Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky' is the third full-length album by Brighton’s acclaimed indie types Porridge Radio. Following their Mercury Music Prize nominated album ‘Every Bad’, the album sees singer and songwriter Dana Margolin searching for a balance between the joy, fear and endlessness in her life through infectious indie anthems. ) 24.00
PREDATORY LIGHT - Death and the Twilight Hours LP (20 buck spin - Hail horrors! After six years in deathlike repose, Predatory Light returns. From beneath churchyard stones, the bare, ruined choir sets forth to drape the world in its nocturnal lightings. Once again established in the spiritual desert of the southwest, the devil’s quartet has been reanimated by the same infernal regents that compose the deadly Superstition. As a result, the four musicians that conceived ‘The Anatomy of Unholy Transformation’, in Predatory Light, delve into far bleaker corners of their dark twisting subconscious. “Death And The Twilight Hours”, the second album from Predatory Light is comprised of four towering mazes of infernal technicality, ancient evil, and eerie church nightmare Black Metal of the South European and South American style. These four hymns conceptually meditate on the triumph of death during times of plague, focusing on the psychological terror and rapture of humanity’s impending doom. Borrowing imagery from Boccaccio’s account of the plague in his native Florence and inspired by Lucretius’ record of the Athenian Plague, Predatory Light explores the historical mindset of human sin and torment- evoking the archetypal personification of death as it tethers human consciousness to the realm of earthly suffering.) 27.00
V/A - XKatedral Anthology Series I (An Anthology Of Slowly Evolving Timbral Music) DLP (xkatedral - XKatedral Anthology I is the first in a series of archival releases dedicated to presenting music by XKatedral affiliated composers working within the realm of slowly evolving harmonic and timbral music. This double-vinyl set contains an array of pieces dating from 2010 - 2020. Four of the works included here were originally released on cassette early on in the label's history, while the two remaining pieces are presented by the label for the first time.) 44.00
WEIRD NIGHTMARE - s/t LP (sub pop - FIRST PRESSING ON COKE BOTTLE GREEN TRANSPARENT VINYL! If you're looking for a raw, sugary blast of distorted pop, look no further than Weird Nightmare. The debut album from METZ guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins contains all of his main band's bite with an unexpected, yet totally satisfying, sweetness. Imagine The Amps covering Big Star, or the gloriously hissy miniature epics of classic-era Guided by Voices combined with the bombast of Copper Blue- era Sugar-just tons of red-line distortion cut with the type of tunecraft that thrills the moment it hits your ears. These ten songs showcase a new side of Edkins' already-established songwriting, but even though the bulk of Weird Nightmare was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic some of its tunes date back to 2013 in demo form. "Hooks and melody have always been a big part of my writing, but they really became the main focus this time" he explains. "It was about doing what felt natural." To be clear: Weird Nightmare is not a "pandemic album," but an album-some of which had been gestating for quite a while-that just so happened to be recorded during the pandemic. "I had always planned on finishing these songs, but being unable to tour with METZ, and forced to lock down, really gave me a push." After days spent homeschooling his son, Edkins would drive to the METZ rehearsal room and tinker deep into the night on these songs' deceptively simple structures and rich, static-laden textures. "It was a godsend for me," he states about the creative process. "The hours would disappear and I would get lost in the music and record.) 26.00
TAPES
DIE VERLIERER - s/t TAPE (New Postpunk band from Berlin with peeps of Chuckamuck & Die Maske. Bass-driven, raw and NDW influenced Postpunk that transfer you straight in the 1980s in Berlin.) 9.00
V/A - Flennen #12 TAPE (New compilation by Berlin-based collective Flennen. Postpunk, Punk, Synth, Indie,... you get the idea. Isolationsgemeinschaft, Liiek, Urin, Lassie,.... 34 Bands.) 8.00
MAGAZINES
WIRE - #460 I June 2022 MAG (On the cover: Phew: The Japanese punk survivor and intrepid vocalist/composer continues to build an impressive catalogue of collaborations, solo projects and band work in a career now spanning over 40 years. By Emily Pothast. Japanese punk primer: A round-up of notable outliers of Japanese punk and post-punk. By Alan Cummings The Primer: Pauline Oliveros: A Deep Listening dive into the recordings (and cisterns) of the composer and accordionist who pioneered radical new ways of listening and living. By Louise Gray. Ione: The writer, playwright and director, and creative/life partner of Pauline Oliveros, continues their work to connect communities and listeners. By Vanessa Ague Invisible Jukebox: Ava Mendoza: Will The Wire’s mystery record selection shred the nerves of the virtuoso guitarist? Tested by George Grella The Dream Syndicate: Since their 2012 reunion, the US psych trailblazers have let their freak flag fly across a run of trippy releases including new album Ultraviolet Battle Hymns & True Confessions. By Joseph Stannard) 8.00
