The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Gig #148: Of late 52: Ale-Hop, Ghost Funk Orchestra, Time Cow & RTKal, Reinhold Friedl & Eryck Abecassis, Leyden Jars, The Night Monitor, BORIS WITH MERZBOW, Yvette Janine Jackson, Flora Yin-Wong, Daniel O’Sullivan & Richard Youngs, Whirling Hall Of Knives, Little Annie Anxiety & Hiro Kone, Sockethead, Crystal Axis, Seppuku Pistols

 

Ale-Hop
Ghost Funk Orchestra
Time Cow & RTKal
Reinhold Friedl & Eryck Abecassis
Leyden Jars
The Night Monitor
BORIS WITH MERZBOW
Yvette Janine Jackson
Flora Yin-Wong
Daniel O’Sullivan & Richard Youngs
Whirling Hall Of Knives
Little Annie Anxiety & Hiro Kone
Sockethead
Crystal Axis
Seppuku Pistols

 

_____________
Ale-Hop Untitled
‘Ale Hop (aka Alejandra Cardenas) is a Berlin-based artist, researcher and experimental instrumentalist from Peru. She composes electronic and electro-acoustic music, by blending strains of noise, pop, avant-garde, ambient and extended techniques for electric guitar and real-time sampling devices – a sound vocabulary to craft performances of astonishing physical intensity, layers of distortion and stunning atmospheres.’ — Sonic Acts

 

____________
Ghost Funk Orchestra Toujours
‘It’s clear Applebaum knows what he wants as the ensemble’s new album, A Song For Paul, really nails a certain sound that falls somewhere between Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Free Design and David Axelrod […] Can you describe an album as an awesome hang? Well, Ghost Funk Orchestra have made it.’ — Brooklyn Vegan

 

___________
Time Cow & RTKal Elephant Man
‘”Elephant Man” serves as a debut of Time Cow’s deejay flow as he steps from behind the boards to pass the mic with Birmingham-based rapper RTKal in a tribute to the comic book-sized personas of dancehall’s recent past. True to the form established on Bird Sound Power, the pulsing riddim (also released in a dub version titled “Making Love To Volca”) stands up all on its own.’ — okay africa

 

___________
Reinhold Friedl & Eryck Abecassis animal électrique 5
‘In retrospection it seems significant that Reinhold Friedl and Eryck Abecassis met for the first time in Marseille, a brute and operatic melting pot of cultures and sounds and noises. They idea of a common project came up, but it took almost ten years to be realized. Finally, François Bonnet (GRM artistic director) supported enthusiastically the collaboration and invited the two composer-performer to the Akousma Festival 2019 at Radio France in Paris. Intense rehearsal periods in Vienna and at la muse en circuit in Paris defined the compositional directions: precise transitions between accurately defined musical states: the raw furious energy textures of animal électrique 1 and 5, the contrasted calm with shaking fog horns “à la Lucier“ of animal électrique 3 and 6, noise & notes in the astonishing fusion of animal électrique 2 (which could also be titled “Tsunami and minor thirds“), and finally the delicate non-tempered vocality of both piano and synthesizer in animal électrique 4, a detuned operatic aria.’ — Editions Mego

 

____________
Leyden Jars London Gone
‘‘Gone’ is the new album by London based duo Natalie Williams & Mark Courtney aka Leyden Jars, a work of fragmented musicality, electro-acoustic emission, disembodied dub, radiophonic interference, and revelatory DIY poetics.Shaped over the course of a two-year period and drawn from expansive, improvisatory recording sessions, these ten tracks comprise the duo’s entire output during this time: a comprehensive document, born out of a consequential and fertile creative cycle.A fully formed body of work that grants both access and submergence, ‘Gone’ is a captivating window into the uncanny sound world of Leyden Jars, encompassing the myriad facets that underpin the project.’ — With Guitars

 

____________
The Night Monitor The Silver Giant
‘With titles that read like lost episodes of ‘Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious World’, ‘Spacemen Mystery of the Terror Triangle’ combines the wobble and dust of 1980’s documentary with the synthesiser bombast of the decade’s TV shows. In doing so, The Night Monitor – aka Neil Scrivin, Blackpool musician and mastermind behind the Fonolith label – pitches the record into the Venn intersection where modern folklore, mass media and pseudoscience merge.’ — Spenser Tomson, Electronic Sound

 

____________
BORIS with MERZBOW Boris
‘“Boris”—which is actually a Melvins cover—is the band laying out their trudging doom/sludge card, complete with massive slowpoke riffs and crashing percussion elevated by jarring shards of mainframe explosions that are surprisingly musical. Merzbow’s howling discord triumphantly fills the anticipatory between the crashing power chords and funereal drums.’ — Metal Injection

 

____________
Yvette Janine Jackson Cannot Be (Unrung)
‘Borrowing strategies for immersion from American radio drama, in particular John Cage’s The City Wears A Slouch Hat, Jackson’s Radio Opera’s performatively combine music concréte, spoken word and field recording, and are designed to be experienced in darkness, in order to animate the theatre of the mind. Jackson’s work has involved the search for an African American aesthetic for electroacoustic music that speaks to all people in order to foster conversation about contentious subjects.’ — Fluid Radio

 

_____________
Flora Yin-Wong Terra
‘Flora Yin-Wong’s Holy Palm is a travel diary in sound, one where temple bells and voice notes replace passport stamps and ticket stubs. The London-born electronic musician sourced its contents from her frequent peregrinations, gathering abstracted rustling and rumbling from all sorts of exotic and mundane places: a supermarket in Tokyo, an airport in Bali, a street festival in Buenos Aires, weddings in Hackney and Thessaloniki. Buddhist monks chant in Cantonese in Hong Kong’s Po Lin monastery; a Greek Orthodox priest is recorded on a car radio in Crete; whales sing off the coast of Trømso. In many ways, her album is a record of motion itself. Not only do many of its sounds come from the actual act of travel—journeys by plane, train, and automobile; transit via tunnel, aqueduct, and escalator—but it is sequenced in a way that emphasizes forward motion. Sounds tumble together, sometimes layering into complex harmonies, but just as often, shoving and bumping into one another, like restless tourists in line for the Pompidou or the Taj Mahal.’ — Philip Sherburne

 

_____________
Daniel O’Sullivan & Richard Youngs In The August Dream
‘Multi-faceted psychedelic experimental duo Daniel O’Sullivan and Richard Youngs have teamed up for a new album, Twelve Of Hearts. Due to be released this month via Tim Burgess’ O Genesis label, the album was made in adherence of a strict set of rules: “Each song has four chords. No more. No less. They cycle without variation. They never change key.”‘ — The Quietus

 

_____________
Whirling Hall Of Knives Those Tracers
‘Whirling Hall Of Knives is a collaboration between Magnetize and The Last Sound. Collectively they have amassed some decades of experience in creating diverse, mostly electronic music under many guises and bring no little of this knowledge to the table of WHOK. WHOK originated from an invitation to do a one-off collaboration performance at the 2006 Dublin Electronic Arts Festival. This sparked further work on the sonic ideas generated and since then, data has been flung back and forth over a distance of 49km, with additional bytes gathered and manipulated at either end until, eventually, the digital dust settles.’ — Nute Records

 

_____________
Little Annie Anxiety & Hiro Kone Burnt Offerings
‘A New York City native, Annie Bandez was a fixture in the downtown scene in the late 1970’s with her punk ensemble Annie and the Asexuals, during which time she established her nom de plume Annie Anxiety (later known as “Little Annie”). Relocating to England a couple years later, she found herself at the doorstep of the famed anarcho-commune Dial House, headed by Penny Rimbaud. It was here that Annie Anxiety established herself as a singular artist and voice with her debut 1981 single “Barbed Wire Halo” on seminal Crass Records. Little Annie’s artistic range has always been evident through a wide array of collaborations, some of which have included label On-U Sound, Kid Congo Powers, Anohni, Coil, Nurse With Wound, Marc Almond, and most currently Paul Wallfisch.’ — Dais Records

 

_____________
Sockethead Chaos Portrait
‘Manchester-based painter, artist, DJ and producer Richard Harris, aka Sockethead, has crafted a DIY album for the ages. Transcending genre and mood, his idiosyncratic creations are said to have been conceived in a caravan on the Scottish West Coast. The outsider vibes translates into a record which wears its outlandish attitude on its sleeve. Off-kilter drum hits, looped vocals, punk spirit and a deconstructed turntablist sensibility. Imagine a meeting of psychedelics, hiphop beat smiths, Steve Reich’s vocal experiments and a Northern sense of humour, and you have something close to Harj-O-Marj.’ — Bleep

 

_____________
Crystal Axis Take The Throne
‘Nairobi based anti-colonial afropunk rockers Crystal Axis’s test single Take The Throne is a call-to-action to dismantle harmful systems designed to suppress and frustrate people all over the world while only benefitting a select few members of the ‘elite’. 2020 has illustrated that there must be a major shift in the world and Take The Throne is a reactionary song that highlights the disillusionment of people the world over. The single also addresses issues of police brutality and corruption in Kenya and the use of government forces to suppress protestors and people the world over.’ — Moonplug

 

_____________
Seppuku Pistols Live at Sakazume
‘Japanese traditional drum punk group Seppuku Pistols performed at punk fes Sakazume GIG in Niigata Prefecture, Both of members and audiences exploded emotions in heavy rain.’ — ドキュメンタリー「切腹ピストルズ」公式

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** h (now j), Hi! I suspect the post was bewildering even if one has done a lot of drugs. Like me for example, ha ha. The burrito hit my spot. Maybe yours will hit yours. Glad you’re past the distracting conference although, given these sequestering days, to me at least, even massed people conferencing has a Sirenic allure. Thanks, enjoy your week too. ** David S. Estornell, May your day outdistance even your hopes for it. ** David Ehrenstein, I guess if you see drugs as a playpen, all the toys in it become tempting by default? ** _Black_Acrylic, Ha ha, well, good thing your host didn’t whip their iPhone out. Otherwise you might have been in the post. ** Tosh Berman, I suppose I’m a fairly perfect example of how a beloved’s death can have a lifelong hold over one. I see absolutely no discrepancies in the burrito plus milkshake combo, and, in fact, very much the opposite. I wonder if Paris will ever take to the Mexican food truck. It would be a hit, guaranteed. ** Misanthrope, I don’t know, I’ve seen some stuff on OnlyFans — well, stolen from OnlyFans accounts and posted on free XXX sites — that made me wonder where the legal/illegal line really lies. I would have tried K had it become a thing during my drug doing days, but it popped up right at the end when I was doing my last waning binge via Ecstasy. Huh, about Twitter. Facebook removed one of my posts for the first time ever the other day, a quite old post/link to one of the escort blog posts. Strange days. ** Dominik, Hi, Dominick! Since your sweet spot is one of the blog’s ideal targets, I’m happy that the place has been on a roll. I can never tell. That love you passed along was rather pretty, wasn’t it? Love like the prettiest escort in Budapest who offers you a special discounted overnight rate of 1 €, Dennis ** Bill, Hi. I’m not a Ligotti fan either! High five! I used to really like Guibert, but I read a book by him that Semiotext(e) put out a few years ago and I really hated it, and now I’m kind of over him, although he does seem to having a US moment right right now. ** Ian, Hi, Ian. Me neither. I just missed the beginning of the K diving era. I read your ‘beginning’ story yesterday when I popped in here to see what was up in the comments. It’s terrific, really sharp, clever … I like it a lot. You’re doing the Mr. Grand character quite a favor, and, even though your voice is entirely yours, it plays off Southern’s one beautifully. Excellent work, sir. Where do you think you’re going with the piece? Everyone, writer and d.l. Ian has the beginnings of a new story that plays with the Guy Grand character from ‘The Magic Christian’ in a most, well, magical way. Highly recommended. Click this and then the link at the top of the page where you end up. Thanks! Safety is the byword. Yours too, I hope. ** Steve Erickson, I read that. It’s interesting. Not having tried it, I’m not sure what the deal is. Good about the eye doctor-related fresh start. I hope he gets to the trouble’s bottom. And great about Screen Slate! Excellent gig, and a most excellent add on their end. Cool! ** Jeff J, Hi, Jeff. You are so definitely due a corner to turn. A sharp one. Susan was a very serious person, incredibly smart. She interviewed me onstage at the ICA for one of my novels. She asked me very serious, complex questions that would even make Michael Silverblatt blink. And I’m a serious guy who has complex ideas about my work, but I’m not wildly articulate in conversation to say the least. And I have a more, I don’t know, humorous bent. So it was a bit of a weird teeter-totter of a conversation. But very interesting, I hope. I was honored, that’s for sure. I’ll get the new Luc Sante. Great! Yes, I relaunched an old post about Rene Ricard here just a couple of weeks ago. Here. Happy day to you, buddy. ** Right. I made a new gig post for y’all starring some music I’ve been into and which I recommend. I hope you’ll test the wares on display today. Thanks. See you tomorrow.

10 Comments

  1. _Black_Acrylic

    I love Time Cow & RTKal – Elephant Man and featured it on Play Therapy last year. Lots of great stuff coming out of that Equiknoxx label. The Flora Yin-Wong track is really nice too.

    A couple of 7″ singles from France and Italy for use in the PT radio show arrived here yesterday. Both ordered around Xmas which I thought was pretty quick given the inevitable Covid and Brexit delays. Maybe everything we know about science and politics could be wrong? Probably not but still, good going I say.

  2. Misanthrope

    Dennis, Yeah, there was someone on OnlyFans whose stuff I was checking in on via a simple Google search, just pics people would swipe and post at various places, particularly 4chan. Can’t find any of his stuff now. But it was all very legal, think he’s 26 or 27. But still…yeah, I’ve read the stories and seen some stuff about OnlyFans…it’s kinda off the hook, no? Hahaha.

    They’ve upheld my appeal and reinstated my Twitter. Hell, I hadn’t posted there since October 2019. It was retweet of some interview you’d done, actually.

    The FB thing IS odd. I mean, we’re dealing with weirdo algorithms and knee-jerk reactions to stuff/reporting that people never take the time to understand. It’s not government censorship but it’s holier-than-thou censorship via a private route that can be just as bad, imo. “Hey, I don’t like this, so I’ll report it and get it taken down.” That’s just crazy to me.

    I have to do the official proofreading training for new hires today on Zoom. This ought to be fun. Actually, it usually is. 😀

  3. David Ehrenstein

    Drugs as a “Playpen” is a very useful notion. i nver played very much as drugs took up too much of my time.

    meanwhile. . . deutsch Bank has cut ties with ORangina. That means that in addition to all the other problems he’s created for himself while destroying this country bystoking white racism HE’S PENNILESS!!!

  4. h (now j)

    Music day! Thank you, Dennis! I’ve just started listening! I’d remain tasteless about music if you don’t update me/us with these cool selections.

    I know you did some drugs! I must ask you to talk about those experiences when I get to see you next time.

    A veggie burrito was good. They ran out of avocado so it didn’t taste great but it was fun to order a food at a store in person. I thought about your birthday while waiting for it. I might get veggie (cremini focused) nacho later today, yay.

    By the way, have I told you I study jazz-poetry & art lately? That was my secondary focus in 2020 and I’m (hopefully) developing more this year. Though I mostly read recent works, I read works also from the Harlem Renaissance. And I write about relevant visual works, too. Oldish avant-garde cinema and poetry (esp. queer kinds) are still a biggest interest for me but I’ve been specifying my literary interests (and writerly crafts) a bit differently, too. Do you like Nathaniel Mackey’s poetry? And Fred Moten’s? (Well, I got talkative but I’m going back to work I guess!!)

  5. Dominik

    Hi!!

    I’d take that love any night! Thank you! Love obsessively pretending he’s Charlie Plummer on every social media platform, D.

  6. Steve Erickson

    The eye dr.’s visit took up half my afternoon, and then my dilated pupils made my vision very fuzzy for the next few hours, but I found out that my eyes are doing fine and blurred vision is a normal symptom of dry eyes.

    Here’s my review of the documentary MLK/FBI: https://www.gaycitynews.com/mlk-fbi-documentary-film-review-2021/

    “Elephant Man” is great! I went to Equinoxx’s Bandcamp page and also listened to the FOLKLORE ep by Exile Da Brave & Time Cow, which features far denser and more chaotic production, a la the Bug. Time Cow’s 2 instrumentals get farther from dancehall. I also liked the Seppuku Pistols – have they released an album? – and Flora Yin-wong.

    I was woken up at 4:30 AM by what I thought was a burglary attempt. I heard loud rustling in my apartment. I soon realized that a mouse must have jumped into my garbage can and gotten trapped there. Unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking clearly and went back to bed listening to the mouse struggling to get out. I waited till I finally got up for today to tip the can on its side so the mouse could get out.

    Lately, I’ve been listening mostly to older music I’ve downloaded now that I have more space on my hard drive – Felt, Al Green, reggae singer Junior Byles, the deluxe edition of ARMED FORCES, the KLF, Tangerine Dream, Lounge Lizards, Ennio Morricone’s score for the film 1870- but I was wowed by Moor Mother and billy woods’ BRASS (a better Armand Hammer album than SHRINES!) and Casper Clausen’s BETTER WAYS (feels like Krautrock/video game music/ambient remixes of early ’90s U2).

  7. Bill

    Another intriguing gig! Thanks for introducing me to Leyden Jars. It’s so unusual to hear a group that uses space in this context so tastefully. And the cover for their new album is pretty fine as well.

    I seem to have spaced out that Ashley Paul released a new album a little over a month ago; perhaps you knew?
    https://ashleypaul.bandcamp.com/album/ray

    Sounds pretty good, more use of acoustic instruments than her earlier records.

    Bill

  8. Brian O’Connell

    Hi, Dennis,

    Yesterday for some reason I couldn’t find the post, but things seem to be working now, and I’m all caught up. The K-hole stuff is so bizarre. And this is an excellent line-up of music; thank you for sharing it. I’ll probably have it on rotation tomorrow.

    Ah, I see re: the giant Cycle volume. Yeah, I agree, it’ll probably happen eventually, or at least it should happen. Something feels right about them being together. I know I’d like to hold it in my hands, anyway. In the interval I am still hyped for “I Wished”, of course; at the moment it’s probably the thing I’m looking forward to the most this year. Also, holy shit, the Fales library defaced your scrapbook after it was published? What the hell! That’s immensely screwed up.

    My week got off to a bad start: turns out the people we (responsibly as possible) had over on Sunday had been exposed to someone who was exposed to a COVID-positive person, which, while distant enough that the probability is low, still gave us the shivers. Everybody’s getting tested and so far results are coming back negative, which is good, but we’re a bit shaken up anyway. Otherwise, nothing new. I’m super bored and depressed. The climate is a little anxious in general because my dad still hasn’t found a job, and my brother has an overload of midterms, and my mother is unhappy at her transitional job, and I don’t know what I want to do with my life re: college, and just typically lonely and disconnected besides—in addition to the pandemic and the fascist violence and all that. They’re sort of banal problems, but they gnaw at you in a time like this. So I’m just gonna try and immerse myself in art and literature and movies this week, and maybe go into the city on Thursday, because those are the only things I have to hang onto right now, kind of. That’s where I’m at today. How about you? What does your week ahead look like? All the best.

  9. Jack Skelley

    Denz –One way or another all your posts this week (including specific lines) are worming into my playlist, psyche… or writing! Merci and Luvz!

  10. Shane Christmass

    Hi – you maybe explained this already – what was the k-hole thing? Did you write that? Anyway, enjoyed that read.

    What are your thoughts on disco? I’ve been listening to a lot of disco the last year? Good stuff – like this: https://youtu.be/Z4GzetzGg4U

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

© 2024 DC's

Theme by Anders NorénUp ↑