‘Kevin Ayers has always been a marginal figure in the Canterbury scene, as early as his days as leader singer in the Wilde Flowers in 1964-65. Born in 1944 in Herne Bay (Kent), he’d spent most of his childhood (from six to twelve) in the exotic Malaysia, and never really felt at ease in England, this often rainy and cold country. As a matter of fact, in the late 70’s, he moved to the island of Mallorca, where he lived well into the Nineties. He has now settled in the South of France.

‘Following his two-year stint with Soft Machine, during which he contributed some of the most memorable songs of the band’s debut album (“Why Are We Sleeping?”, “We Did It Again” or “Lullabye Letter”, not to forget the band’s only single, “Love Makes Sweet Music”), Ayers left after a particularly exhausting, and even traumatic, American tour, for a more relaxed solo career.

‘1969’s Joy Of A Toy, named after an instrumental track on Soft Machine’s first album, marked the beginning of a long musical partnership with classical composer and pianist David Bedford, with whom he formed The Whole World the following year, alongside jazz veteran Lol Coxhill (sax), and the considerably younger Mike Oldfield (bass/guitar) and a succession of drummers (one of whom was Robert Wyatt). This line-up had a lasting impact on the rock scene of a time, despite actually recording only one album as a band : Shooting At The Moon (1970). All subsequent albums were recorded with both members of his live bands and session men.

‘Following the break-up of The Whole World and a European tour as honorary member of Gong in late ’71 and early ’72, Ayers teamed up with bass player Archie Leggett (formerly of Wonderwheel and a major contributor to Daevid Allen’s solo album Banana Moon). Together, they created the ‘Banana Follies’ live show, with which they toured Britain throughout 1972. The pair formed the basis of live line-ups until 1974, by which time another major collaborator had joined Ayers : former Patto and Tempest guitarist Peter ‘Ollie’ Halsall. Until his untimely death in 1992, Halsall would be in Ayers’ band at every available opportunity.

‘By the late 70’s, Kevin Ayers’ recorded output had become less frequent. This coincided with the beginning of his semi-retirement in Mallorca. Yet the sunny and relaxed atmosphere of Deya didn’t completely spoil his creativity, as he’s kept releasing albums regularly in the last 15 years, albeit less frequently than in the early 70’s (and admittedly his early 80’s Spanish-only releases coincided with an all-time low in terms of creativity). Furthermore, his live appearances have multiplied in the 90’s, both with his band and with the liverpudlian group Wizards Of Twiddly.

‘In subsequent years, Kevin Ayers has toured extensively in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, performing mainly duo gigs with Carl Bowry on guitar (ex-Wizards Of Twiddly). He also played two series of Californian dates in 1998 and 2000. A live album from the 1995 tour, Turn The Lights Down, was released in early 2000. In 2007, he finally released a new studio album, The Unfairground, including guest appearances by Phil Manzanera, Hugh Hopper, Bridget St.John.’ — http://calyx.perso.neuf.fr

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The Soft Machine ‘Soon Soon Soon’, live in 1967
‘Soft Machine’s music was a rainbow of sounds and songs drawn from gamelan to pop, via jazz and Terry Riley’s minimalism. There was nothing quite like it. They played on the same bill as Pink Floyd at the International Times launch party in October 1966 and became regulars at the UFO club on London’s Tottenham Court Road in the spring of 1967. They were, along with the likes of Pink Floyd and the Nice, one of the underground bands of the moment. And, like most head-expanding underground bands, they were met with baffled incomprehension and even hostility outside London. “I only ever walked offstage once”, says Ayers. “It was when the beer bottles started flying. Not my scene.” The band moved to France where they were welcomed as Dadaist heroes and played venues like the Museum of Contemporary Art in Paris.’ — The Guardian

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The Soft Machine ‘Hope for Happiness’, live in 1967
‘Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt of The Soft Machine were far more musically literate than I was, and I think my simplicity bored them. They were going more in the direction of jazz and fusion, which didn’t interest me. I was strictly pop. They were into what I consider to be self-indulgence. It’s stuff you play for yourself, and ‘fuck the audience’… so I took my simplicity elsewhere.’ — Kevin Ayers

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‘Eleanor’s Cake’, 1969
‘Joy of a Toy is the debut solo album of Kevin Ayers, a founding member of Soft Machine. Its whimsical and unique vision is a clear indication of how Soft Machine might have progressed under Ayers’ tenure. He is accompanied on the LP by his Soft Machine colleagues Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge and Hugh Hopper. After a Soft Machine tour of the USA with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Ayers had decided to retire from the music business. Hendrix however, presented Ayers with an acoustic Gibson J-200 guitar on the promise that he continue his songwriting. Ayers repaired to a small London flat where he composed and arranged a whole LP which was then presented to Malcolm Jones’ fledgling Harvest label where it was recorded by Peter Jenner for the then exorbitant sum of £4000.’ — collaged

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‘Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong’, 1969
‘After an extensive tour of the United States opening for Jimi Hendrix, a weary Ayers sold his white Fender Jazz bass to Noel Redding and retreated to the beaches of Ibiza in Spain with Daevid Allen to recuperate. While there, Ayers went on a songwriting binge that resulted in the songs that would make up his first album, Joy of a Toy. The album was one of the first released on the new Harvest label, along with Pink Floyd’s releases. Joy of a Toy established Ayers as a unique talent with music that varied from the circus march of the title cut to the pastoral “Girl on a Swing,” and the ominous “Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong”, based on a Malaysian folksong.’ — collaged

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‘Stop This Train’, 1969
‘On a railway train to anywhere / Something happened finally / The driver said he saw no station / And we were riding aimlessly / The train was filled with sleeping passengers / Going nowhere for the ride / Spoken whispers filled the carriages / No one cared to look outside / Conversation aimed at anyone / Bouncing questions off the wall / Except for two excited children / Burning caterpillars in the hall / All at once, I got quite frightened / Standing up, I gave a shout / I see a station just in front of me / Stop this train and let me out … ‘ — KA

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Kevin Ayers & Syd Barrett ‘Religious Experience’, 1969
‘An avid enthusiast of Syd Barrett, the wayward ex-Pink Floyd genius, Ayers felt Syd’s contribution could enhance his latest composition. On the way to Abbey Road studios, Kevin called into Barrett’s flat and requested his presence on the session. And so it was on November 9th 1969 Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett worked on the first version of “Religious Experience”. Present earlier in the day were Richard Coughlan and Richard Sinclair from Canterbury band Caravan. After some consideration it was felt that Syd Barrett’s psychedelic guitar contribution was too uncommercial and the track overlong, and thus the track remained unreleased for over a decade.’ — collaged

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‘Why Are We Sleeping?’ live in Paris, 1970
‘For his 1972 tour, Kevin Ayers revamped ‘Why Are We Sleeping’, one of the signature songs he had written and sang during his days as a member of The Soft Machine, into a ghostly a cathartic avant-rock song that he intended to rerecord for his second solo album, although the plan was abandoned when he felt the studio version lacked something.’ — collaged

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‘Margaret’, 1971
‘In 1971, Kevin Ayers started recording what would become his most acclaimed album, Whatevershebringswesing accompanied by members of Gong and his previous backing band The Whole World. Praised by NME, Record Mirror and Rolling Stone, the album realised all the musical aspirations Ayers had harboured since the inception of Soft Machine. As with most Ayers albums, a collision of disparate styles confronts the listener but in this instance they work to extremely powerful effect. The title track with Mike Oldfield’s guitar accompaniment and Robert Wyatt’s wracked harmonies would become a template for Ayers subsequent 70s output. The album includes the terse vignette ‘Margaret’.’ — collaged

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‘Let It Get You Down’, 1972
‘Bananamour is the fourth studio album by Kevin Ayers and it featured some of his most accessible recordings, including “Shouting in a Bucket Blues” and his whimsical tribute to Syd Barrett, “Oh! Wot A Dream”. After Whatevershebringswesing, Ayers assembled a new band anchored by drummer Eddie Sparrow and bassist Archie Legget and employed a more direct lyricism. The centrepiece of the album is ‘Decadence’, his withering portrait of Nico: “Watch her out there on display / Dancing in her sleepy way / While all her visions start to play / On the icicles of our decay / And all along the desert shore / She wanders further evermore / The only thing that’s left to try / She says to live i have to die.” Perhaps the strongest and most influential song is the dark opener, “Let It Get You Down”.’ — collaged

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‘May I?’, live in 1972
‘In early 1970, Ayers assembled a band he called The Whole World to tour his debut LP Joy of a Toy that included a young Mike Oldfield, David Bedford, Lol Coxhill, Mick Fincher, the folk singer Bridget St. John and Robert Wyatt. After a UK tour, Ayers took the Whole World into the studio to cut an LP, produced, like his debut, with Peter Jenner. The line-up produced a heady mixture of ideas and experimentation with two distinctive styles emerging; carefree ballads like “Clarence In Wonderland” and “May I?” abutted the avant garde experimentation of songs like “Reinhardt and Geraldine” and “Underwater”. The album has since become a best seller in Ayers’ catalogue.’ — allmusic

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‘Caribbean Moon’, 1973
‘”Caribbean Moon” was a Kevin Ayers single released shortly before his third LP Bananamour. Neither song was featured on the LP but both regularly appeared in his live set at the time. A humorous promotional video infamously referred to for years as ‘the gayest rock video ever’ was shot for the single, stills from which are featured on the cover.’ — collaged

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‘Irreversible Neural Damage’, 1974
‘”Irreversible Neural Damage”, once of the most experimental songs on Kevin Ayers’ (fifth) album Confessions of Dr. Dream, was used as the soundtrack for the famously psychedelic and controversial 1970s French film Marie Poupée, which starred Kevin Ayers’ estranged ex-lover Nico.’ — collaged

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Kevin Ayers & Brian Eno ‘The Letter’, 1974
‘Lady June’s Linguistic Leprosy is a experimental music/spoken word album by poet Lady June (a.k.a. June Campbell Cramer). It features musical contributions by Kevin Ayers and Brian Eno including the track “The Letter”. The recording was made for £400 in the living room of Kevin Ayers’ Maida Vale home. The original release was originally a limited pressing of 5000 copies which quickly sold once followers of Eno and Ayers realized that they contributed to the recording. The album has been reissued subsequently by Market Square Records.’ — Wiki

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‘Falling In Love Again’ live @ Supersonic, 1976
‘”Falling in Love Again” was Kevin Ayers’ final release on Island Records. The flip side, “Everyone Knows the Song”, was an Ayers original. After the release of this single, Ayers signed to Harvest Records, and both tracks became part of his 1976 album, Yes We Have No Mañanas (So Get Your Mañanas Today). The single was also re-released a few months later by Harvest in parts of Europe but featuring the Ayers original “The Owl” on the B-side.’ — collaged

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‘Help Me’, 1976
‘Yes We Have No Mañanas (So Get Your Mañanas Today) is the seventh studio album by Kevin Ayers, released in June 1976. This LP marked Kevin Ayers’ return to the leftfield Harvest label. Producer Muff Winwood employed a straightforward pop production that clipped some of Ayers’ usual eccentricities from the tapes but gave the set a direct and focused impact. The songs fall into to two thematic groups; tales of love and loss (‘Love’s Gonna Turn You Round’ and ‘May I?’) coupled with sly digs at a music industry with which Ayers is clearly becoming disenchanted (‘Ballad of Mr. Snake’ and ‘Mr Cool’).’ — collaged

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‘Ballad of a Salesman Who Sold Himself’, 1978
‘Rainbow Takeaway is the eighth studio album by Kevin Ayers. The core band is essentially the same as its predecessor, Yes We Have No Mañanas (So Get Your Mañanas Today). Rainbow Takeaway marks the close of the 70s Ayers progressive sound, with Billy Livsey’s synthesizer flourishes on ‘A View From The Mountain’ providing a final coda to that era. Soul and Country elements are also present on Rainbow Takeaway coupled with the reggae rhythms on the standout track ‘Ballad of a Salesman Who Sold Himself’. The eccentric Ayers mélange is in full effect on the chaotic closer ‘Hat Song’. Ayers retired to Deià, Spain shortly after the album’s release.’ — collaged

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Kevin Ayers & John Cale ‘Howling Man’, live in 1981
‘Kevin Ayers’ early 1980s album Diamond Jack and the Queen Of Pain is very close in essence to mainstream rock, with Ayers’ endearing eccentricity buried too deeply beneath synthetic polish. Recorded in Spain, largely with Spanish musicians and producer Juan Ruiz, the record was endlessly delayed and released originally in the Netherlands on Roadrunner in 1983 and picked up in the UK by Charly Records who also put out the perennial ‘Howling Man’ featuring the viola stylings of John Cale as a single.’ — collaged

*

p.s. Hey. So, today I go out of town, first to this town Tarbes to work on ‘The Pyre’ for three days, and then to this town Poitiers for a day to give a talk. I should be able to do the p.s. tomorrow and Wednesday pre-work, although maybe more speedily than I normally do. Whether I’ll be able to do the p.s. on Thursday and Friday is a question mark at this point because those are days when I travel in the morning, and I’ll let you know the deal on that in the next couple. Starting on Saturday, I’ll be back in Paris, and everything will run normally again. ** Starlon H, Hey. Thanks, man. College break, nice, nice intake there. The novel you want to write has a lot to work with, I mean a lot of potentially very compelling material. I say that as someone who had to spend two-plus years recently in an inter-sibling battle over my mom’s estate, and it was intense. So, your mom is saying that you’ll have a fight ahead because your dad doesn’t want to make everything perfectly clear in his will? My mom’s will was only semi-clear, but it would have been clear enough if one of my siblings didn’t get resentful of what another sibling received and started a war. Anyway, yeah, that could be very rich, the novel. Vollman’s method sounds like a really good one. You sound like you’re doing good and being very productive/ forward thinking. That’s real great to hear. ** David Ehrenstein, Ghosty’s on Facebook, but he’s not there very much, but he’s more there than he is here. Nice about your great time at the awards ceremony. Wow, I did not know that about PTA’s next film being Pynchon’s ‘Inherent Vice’. How very interesting. That book could be quite a movie, actually, now that you mention it. ** Rewritedept, Hey. Wow, you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, I didn’t realize that. Really hard to pick a fave Simpsons episode for sure. The one where Lisa took ‘acid’ was pretty sweet. Your collages look great, man. Kind of tough/sharp but graceful too. I like ’em. Very cool. I did see that pic where, amidst the grouping of pics, one can see that pic of me and Malkmus. Obviously, major for me when I get to be in his presence. Thanks. ** Cobaltfram, Fun friend, yes. Is he still there? Paris is chilly and a bit wet, but I’m out of here, so no big. Yeah, I read the BoingBoing tribute to Aaron Swartz. The persecution of him is horrifying enough, but his depressions and, obviously, his suicide, is very painful. Happy new week. ** Misanthrope, Live sporting events can be a blast. Of course, for me, baseball, except that, when you see the Dodgers live, you don’t get to hear genius Vin Scully’s play by play, so there’s a slight drawback. You know I kind of hate American football anyway, but the two times I went to a football game, I thought it was endless and even more boring than on TV, but its pace is just not mine. But basketball, yeah. I didn’t know that about Benatar, and, even though I have no feeling for Benatar to begin with, that feeling is considerably less now. What you don’t know won’t hurt you? ** JoeM, Hi, Joe! Yes, that was our Antonio. Had a sad, startled moment when I was recovering the post and saw that. Nice Crisp quotes, of course. One of the quote masters, that guy. I don’t, however, know why you think I would relate to that one quote because I don’t, or, for that matter, why you think I wouldn’t admit it if I did, but it is interesting that you thought so. T’would be cool if you got to London for/with the Miz, and then there’s Paris, which would spread the coolness to me, but, yeah, whatever works. I love the Bowie song/vid too. Good to see you, J. ** Ken Baumann, Ken! Thanks on behalf the Ghost with the upset tummy. I heard about that 40 degrees thing. Wowzer. It sounds so pretty, though. Los Angelenos wearing coats! And … scarves maybe? Stay inside, though, yeah. VICE thing? Exciting, that, and novel work … the big cheese of excitement there. ** Steevee, Glad the flu seems to have a been a phantom, and I hope you get that dosage thing sorted, of course. I could have sworn JF came out, like, five or eight years ago? Hunh. ** Kyler, Hi, K. I did find some snippets, yes, and I’m going to check them out while I’m sitting around waiting for the dancers to warm up, the lighting guy to fiddle with the spots, etc., which is always most of what takes up the time in these situations. Cool about the card and power interventions and the related boon. Lovely Monday. ** Patrick deWitt, Ha ha, yes, truer words hath ne’er been spoke. ** Oriol Rovira Grañen, Interesting. It translates pretty well, I think. Thanks, man. ** Postitbreakup, Hi, Josh. No, the first person ‘father’ character has no say/control re: the third person stuff. They’re all just my linguistic cast. Using different tenses has an interesting effect, I think, that hopefully works even when readers don’t notice it, although it is interesting to me that a lot of people don’t. I mean, the tense shifting in ‘Guide’ is intensive and paramount to how that novel works, but I can’t remember that structure having been mentioned or written about hardly at all. Thanks for the kind words, my friend. ** 5STRINGS, Second read of the Emo thing only upped its ante. Sweet. 5 minutes? How the heck? Magic, that. I should write an Emo horror novel. It’s probably too late though, I don’t know. Nice Irish quote. I’d never heard that one. Words to live by. ** Wolf, I did do the dog thing in your absence, but I knew you’d find it, oh trepidatious one. And I’m glad I got a taste of your goo. You must be de-lagged by now, no? Ever been to Tarbes? It’s next door to Lourdes. Hometown of Mr. Capedevielle. Not much of a place, from what I’ve seen. How about Poitiers? I hear it’s not too bad. ** Scunnard, Hey. You’re getting your UK? And it’s no sweat, other than the dough extracting? I would imagine that, given France’s almost religious belief in bureaucratical snafus, there’s a lot to not look forward to on the Yury thing, but we will see. ** Allesfliesst, Glad you’re feeling better, Kai. Learning how to sleep is a most noble cause. Hypnosis, why not? As I may have said before, I was and may still be a famously easy lay as far as hypnosis goes, and it did some pretty inexplicable shit with my memory, for instance, so I’m kind of pro that. Very sad news about Aaron Swartz, yeah. ** Chris Dankland, Hi, Chris. My weekend was okay, and yours? Interesting about Saunders’ sales figures. Actually, my surprise is that a book of his sold that many copies. I’m not a huge expert on the sales figures thing, but my former agent Ira used to talk about the sales figures of literary fiction a lot, I guess because he handled a lot of literary writers. That most books sell less than 1000 and that 3000 to 6000 is the average or better than average for bigger lit. books makes sense and sounds about right to me, as does Tao’s numbers, if we’re talking about either the hardcover run of a book or the sales during the first year or three of the book’s life. It’s kind of quite shocking, no? And there’s a lot of obfuscation on the part of publishers and sometimes the writers themselves to keep that lower number secret. The thing is that, with those sales figures, they don’t count books that sell used or second hand or as remainders, and I think that’s where a healthy number of a book’s sales are, so the official numbers aren’t really that telling ultimately. I mostly don’t want to know and try not to know what the sales figures are on my books because it freaks me out, and I’m apparently an unusual case because my books keep selling pretty consistently over the years and stay in print, which is not very common, I guess, but I’m told that my books sell better, albeit over time, than the average literary book tends to, which pretty is weird because my books are very far from best sellers, let me tell you. I saw that guy’s video review of ‘TMS’. That made me so very happy, as you can imagine. Thank you for putting it on ‘TH’. I hope you write that thing. It’s a very interesting idea, topic. I agree with you very much about the way books effect people personally, and I think the power a book can share and create in that personal way very much compensates for its smaller reach in terms of numbers. I know I wouldn’t trade that gift for a huger fan base or whatever. Yeah, I could go on, and I have elsewhere, about the intimate and cooperative and transformational relationship between a book and a reader. I hope you write that piece. I would be very excited to read your thoughts on that, and I think it would be a very useful and helpful p.o.v. to put out there in Alt Lit culture and beyond. Thank you, Chris. You’re hugely inspiring, as always. ** Alan, Hey. Nice proverb. Yeah, I get the Emerson one, but, unless someone spouts quotations all the time, which can be really annoying, I do think it’s interesting when people choose to quote rather than give something their own stamp ‘cos you get the secondary mind’s gift, and then you get the interesting decision by the quoter, i.e. why they might have chosen that one quote, why they chose to make their own thoughts subservient to it, etc. I don’t know. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi. I have this feeling that VG snuck in here and looked around over the weekend. Just a feeling. Travel advice: I prefer the Eurostar because it takes you right into the heart of Paris, but I don’t know what happens to that preference if you have to add traveling from Scotland to the Eurostar’s starting point. I do think the Eurostar, in itself, is much easier and cozier. Hotels: no problem, but tell me if there’s an area of Paris where you would particularly like to stay, and if you want to give me some sense of your price range, that would help. Great about the Soundclouding of your DJ set! I’ll listen once I get settled and netted-up again. Everyone, should you want a little something extra to add to or divert you from the Kevin Ayers concert, _B_A is your man with the plan. As he says, ‘I put my DJ set from Friday’s zine launch on SoundCloud, where it’s now available for free download: Ben ‘Jack Your Body’ Robinson – The Outsider Mix. Outsider Music, Incredibly Strange Music or indeed anything outside the music industry. Anyway, it’s my idea of fun.’ Looking forward to it! ** Dungan, Hi, Sean! I did, I do, it’s a total beauty. Risograph … huh, I know what is. Cool. Oh, man, you got the famous, rampaging West Cast flu? Shit. Glad you’re reassembling. Your comment was wholly cogent, if you weren’t sure. I didn’t know of that LK podcast, no, or about the NYT thing for that matter. Thanks a lot for those tips. I’ll pursue them post-short-plane flight. Feel better and stay great, man. ** Sypha, Hands across the water, fellow quotee. Dude, yikes, about the Urgent Care thing, etc. I hope the input of the big A and the big S leave you fully enhanced. ** Jebus, Hi. The school angle thing might work, I don’t know. Logically and theoretically, it has some sense about it. Knowing when the stew is ready, exactly. Some weird combination of boredom and good instincts necessary there or something. Thanks about my novel. I’m doing my darndest to make it work and finish it, and, well, to make it positively readable, of course. Stay warm. ** Bill P. in Chicago, Hi. Cool about the friends reconnection. Oh, that’s okay about the sending work thing. Whenever you’re ready and whenever you feel it could be helpful. But if your end of the week self-imposed deadline helps and works, yeah, happy to bear its fruits. I like the denseness of the sentences in that quote you shared. The way it slowed my eyes down and made them/me doing a complicated backtracking dance was cool. ** Bill, Hi, Bill. I haven’t seen ‘In the House’ yet, no, but I hear good things, better than the usual recent Ozon-type good things. I saw your email with Butoh on the subject line in my box this morning, thank you! I’ll get to that when I get my first downtime down south. Thanks! ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T. Great Korine quote, yes. Very him and very sharp. A real boon. Thanks a lot for that, and I hope your day really counts. ** Okay. I’ll go get ready for my trip now, and I will see you tomorrow, and, in the meantime, enjoy some of the strange and awesome fruits from the career in progress of the one and only Kevin Ayers.

‘Aesthetics is an issue that should be of concern to all people involved in the ultimate selection and design of a noise barrier. It is often felt to be as important as the noise reduction provided by the barrier and is the most subjective of any aspect of noise barrier design, with the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” often used in discussing noise barrier aesthetic treatments. Whether a jagged, stepped, sloped, uniform, non-uniform, colored, plain, straight, curved, or textured barrier is desired at any given location is a decision left to the responsible organization based on its policies and procedures regarding design philosophies, community input, and any other factors which are considered in the decision making process related to barrier aesthetics. Public input should always by considered in the aesthetic design of noise barriers.’ — Federal Highway Administration

The Hundred in the Hands/Andy Stott Keep It Low
‘Named after the phrase the Lakota Nation gave to the Fetterman Battle/Massacre of 1866 in Wyoming — in which Crazy Horse led his warriors to a victory that resulted in the death of 100 white soldiers — the Hundred in the Hands fuses synthpop with post-punk and dream pop elements. They were influenced by artists such as Young Marble Giants, Wire, New Order, The Cure, De La Soul, Buddy Holly, Broadcast, Gang Gang Dance, and LCD Soundsystem. The Andy Stott remix of the first single from the album is a different beast entirely, with the Modern Love CEO and creator of ‘knackered house’ turning the light pop drama of the original into a soporific, tranquilized march.’ — collaged

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Pelt New Delhi Blues
‘Pelt were formed by guitarists Mike Gangloff and Skip James Connell in 1993 in Richmond (Virginia). With Pat Best and Jack Rose. Unlike other pursuers of the lysergic gospel, Pelt rarely sacrifice chaos for the sake of melody (Total Denigration is the only “acid ballad”). They stick to noise as the medium and as the end. Each track eventually loses its identity and leaves only sonic debris behind. The album is played with virtually no percussions: guitars are more than enough to raise this kind of hell.’ — collaged

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High Wolf RTT
‘France’s High Wolf possesses a natural-born ability to zero in on the tones most conducive to inducing transcendental states. Prolific without wearing out his welcome, this guitarist and manipulator of effects boxes looses fervid streams of fever-dreamy drones that suffuse any room they enter with mystery. High Wolf’s tracks carry the uncanny sense of sounding as if they’ve been sluicing since the beginning of time, and that he had the graciousness to siphon them for teasingly brief absorption before they shimmer off to the vanishing point. This elite droneur is one of the few musicians who could title a release A Guide To Healing without it coming off as an ironic gesture or a laughable boast.’ — holymountain.com

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Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin Vaccination (For Thomas Mann)
‘In the world of instrumental electronic music, you’re nothing without your own sound. Without vocals and without an instrument that you can manipulate with your body, it’s harder to insert “you” into the music. And harder still to have that “you” be so thoroughly “you” that listeners pick up on it and can identify you from your sonics alone. Both Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin (better known as Oneohtrix Point Never) have gotten there. Each has his own aesthetic and you can hear them inside of it. Hecker’s is more immediately identifiable. Since 2001, he’s created a run of good-to-amazing albums that are typically built on static and shifting drones, number-crunching music that is also intensely physical and tactile. Lopatin’s approach is comparatively playful and also more steeped in appropriation, as he finds ways to incorporate the cast-off music of the past and make something that is both affecting and very much of this moment.’ — Mark Richardson, Pitchfork

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Natural Snow Buildings Live at Hebden Bridge Trades Club, UK
‘This prolific duo have already logged over 20 releases in eight short years, not including numerous side projects. Drone and other forms of minimalist music is fairly easy to duplicate but when it takes on spiritual dimensions and transports it to holy places, it’s an all-too-rare experience in the currently glutted experimental music scene. Natural Snow Buildings are definitely one of those bands that possess the brute power and fertile imagination to transcend and ascend above the humming hive of clone drones. If you’re digging the recent rash of drone and minimalist bands, this should prove to be a jewel shining out of the mire.’ — Cult#MTL

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Kevin Drumm Live @ Lausanne Underground Film &  Music Festival
‘Kevin Drumm’s greatest successes in his long career have occurred when the chaos of his music utterly overwhelms the listener’s sense of authorship. Of course, he’s always in control, but quite early on, with albums like the classic Sheer Hellish Miasma or Horror of Birth, the illusion of reckless abandonment to sonic violence overtakes any sense that anything other than some mad, inhuman force controls what we’re hearing. Such a feeling might derive from a number of sources: sensory and affective overload, the sheer impenetrability of the architecture of the piece, the inability to determine the source of the sounds, activation of fear and pleasure centers in the brain, or finally just total immersion. With so few gaps in the musical landscape, there is no time to think.’ — Tiny Mix Tapes

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Holly Herndon Movement
‘Electronic music meant for clubs tends to get shelved far away from work by academic composers. But within Holly Herndon’s immersive soundscapes, the dance floor is always just a step away from the lecture hall. The San Francisco musician bridges brainy compositions with techno sensibilities on her debut album, “Movement,” drawing equally from traditions founded by avant-garde heavies like Karlheinz Stockhausen and techno legends like Kevin Saunderson. Herndon has a solid background in both worlds, so her approach doesn’t sound forced. She’s working toward an electronic music doctorate at Stanford these days, but her obsession with programmed sounds started in Berlin, where she began haunting nightclubs as a teenage exchange student.’ — SFGate

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ZS Live @ SXSW
‘ZS’s music has described as “brutal-prog”, “brutal chamber”, “post-minimalism” among others. They have said their music is sometimes either very loud or very soft and also says on their website that “it is primarily concerned with making music that challenges the physical and mental limitations of both performer and listener. Manipulating extended technique, unique instrumental synthesis, and near telepathic communication, ZS aims to create works that envelop the listener and unfold sonically over time, evoking unspoken past, present, and future rites and ritual.”‘ — discogs

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Silent Servant Invocation of Lust
‘Juan Mendez, aka Silent Servant, has stoically been serving the darkened, after-hours crowd something decent by which to swing and sway for well over a decade. His sizable oeuvre on the Historia y Violencia label, and with the on-hiatus Sandwell District collective, is among the best no-bullshit techno of the naughties. In Gilles Deleuze’s prophetic ideological diatribe Postscript on the Societies of Control, he writes, “There is no need to fear or hope, but only to look for new weapons.” It’s up to each of us to determine which masters we serve, and Mendez is ultimately in the service of something quite sacred: the bloody dance floor.’ — The Quietus

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Bee Mask Live @ the Tribal Haus
‘So much of writing about music is about scale. Something is ‘expansive’ or ‘contained’; ‘claustrophobic’ or ‘cavernous’. It’s rare for something to be described as microscopic; music seems to exist at a scale that we can immediately apprehend. But Bee Mask (aka Chris Madak) makes synthesiser drone and low voltage hum that sounds like peering through a microscope. Which gives it a grandeur all its own. Maybe Wagner should have eschewed magical rings and valkyries for alleles and corpuscles.’ — Three Thousand

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Shed I Come By Night
‘Sonic fragments seethe. Tarnished acid bubbles oscillate. Snatches of melody are confused and irregular, the awkward interior facets glowing with longevity. It suffocates with its bulk. An uneasy vocal fragment swings back and forth over yet more scorched terrain as blistered, uncouth and jagged ideas protrude from Shed’s minimal landscapes. Shed hasn’t reinvented the wheel, but he has captivated us with his sonic mottle, daubed onto the classic edifice of techno’s irresistible structures. Techno can appear one of purest genres, and we’ll thrive here in its warm breath forever.’ — Matthew Bennett

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Forma OFF
‘Forma’s debut was a welcome ray of light in the usually pensive, doom-ridden synth scene, and the trio’s mischievousness is thrown into overdrive on ‘Off/On’. We’ve already established that the band have an enviable collection of real analogue gear, and they put it to great use here building on the templates set out by Giorgio Moroder and John Carpenter back in the late 70s. ‘Off/On’ is far from simplistic retro fetishism however and while the tracks have an eerie quality, there’s a brightness that you’d rarely expect to find on most records of this kind. Maybe it’s a nod to synth pioneer Jean Michelle Jarre (just check ‘FORMA278′) but it sounds like the band are formulating a core sound, something that defies simple characterization.’ — boomkat

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Raime We Must Hunt Under The Wreckage of Many Systems
‘Raime are an enigmatic London-based duo seeking to re-establish electronic composition as a physical and emotionally inquisitive force. Their music offers a creeping, unavoidable sonic truth, moving steady and relentless from the speakers and weaving vast waves of sound, both beautifully intricate and artfully industrial, around gut-shaking rhythm cycles. Raime draw explicit inspiration from the marginal mavericks of early European goth, minimal dance and synth wave – artists largely omitted from the current master narrative of post-punk history, who strove to make music at once cerebral and visceral, futuristic and atavistic.’ — numusic.no

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p.s. Hey. So, I guess I should say, wow, the world didn’t end, etc.! ** Alan, My favorite is ‘Serial Mom’. Right behind it would be ‘Female Trouble’ and then ‘Cecil B. Demented’, I think. ** Unknown/ Pascal, Hey, initially mysterious Pascal! Equipment from 2002, yikes. Does it have a floppy disc port? Uh, tomorrow’s post doesn’t have any videos, so if you and your gray-haired comp can hang in here until then, it should get okay for the weekend at least. Man, I so appreciate you saying that about George. It means so much. And your typing his name even means a lot because creating meaning and feeling and memory for him is maybe the most important goal of my work. I wouldn’t be who I am as a person and maybe wouldn’t even be a writer, or certainly not the writer I am, if it wasn’t for him. He meant the world to me, and his death is almost unbearable, and creating work in his memory and for him is so little, but it feels like a necessity, and it’s all I can do. Anyway, really, thank you for saying that, Pascal. It is a shame that ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ is Rhys’ calling card, although it seems that, as time goes on, the earlier novels are catching up. Dude, heavily awesome about the ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ themed day! That’s thrilling! Thank you so much for that! If I don’t talk to you before, may Dublin transfigure into a fest in your presence. ** 5STRINGS. That is Xmas cheer if I ever saw it. You’ve got the whole image stack in your hands. Everyone, one of the savviest maestros of the image stack genre aka 5STRINGS made a Xmas pile. I’m happy to announce that it awaits you here. So, you want to look like them? Interesting. Really, you choose middle-aged C. Thomas Howell over the Tiger Beat one? That’s interesting too. Nah, I think my ass is a recluse for some sort of good reason. Don’t worry about it. It’s as snug as a bug in a rug. You probably have more fun, but I’m cool with the funnish. Oh, yeah, Analbook is cool, and the privacy issues are so much less problematic there. ** Will, It just occurred to me, all credit to you, that being scatter-brained is an essential part of celebrating. I wonder if that’s true. Seems like it. Not to mention the obliterating of patterns. You did the celebratory proud, man, it sounds like. Never have watched a moment of ‘American Horror Story’. I had a chance in LA to watch an episode when in LA, but I was told that I should watch the series from the beginning, so I begged off. But I will. It seems like the show right now. I have seen four episodes of ‘The Walking Dead’, and I did quite dig it. Thanks about the post. No, I haven’t watched that lecture on ‘Boom’. Man, yeah, it sounds like a must. I’ll go find it. Thanks re: my holidays. Mine should be quiet in the nice way, and I hope yours find the perfect balance between input and output that makes it qualify for membership in the sublime. ** Scunnard, Hey. Mm, I think maybe because John and I are friends and because he reads my blog, that made a Day seem daunting or something, I don’t know. I hope he liked it, gulp. Sometimes I feel like that Dennis Cooper baby’s parents are deliberately playing with the similar name thing, but I’m probably dreaming. One of their videos is called ‘Dennis Cooper meets Richard Branson’. I mean, I don’t know, what do you think? Until I pronounce your name in your presence and you look at me agog, I will maintain that those who can’t pronounce your name properly are vocal cord-challenged. I saw your email in my box this morning. I’ll open it and write to you today. No problemo, man. ** Cobaltfram, I’ll write to you today too. Yesterday got away from me. But I got the email, and, yeah, awesome! I want to see ‘The Hobbit’. The 48 frames rate thing is just too enticing. And I loved the ‘LotR’ movies, and I’m not ashamed to say that. Okay, I’ll get the pen, and, gosh, there are probably all sorts of things that my coked up birthday whore will be able to do with it if I remember to max out my ATM withdrawal limit first. Oh, right, I’ll ask John, but, yeah, he won’t mind ‘cos he’s like that. And the whole movie is watchable on Youtube, so he obviously doesn’t care re: that. ** Rewritedept, Hey. I figured the Hans thing wasn’t a stroke of genius on my part. Your name is Italian. Hooray for my psychic abilities. Little noses are cool ‘cos noses keep growing, as you undoubtedly know, and so you’ll probably have a biggish nose on your eventual deathbed, and you can die with a perfectly organized face, which seems like it would be better than not. Sucks about your shittily malaisey day. However, nice about the mystery solutions. Hope the pot helped. It can do that. ** David Ehrenstein, I second everything you said about John. He really is just about the nicest, kindest, most generous person in the world, in addition to his mega-talents. I’ll have to get that ‘Cry Baby’ DVD. Cool. ** Billy Lloyd, I might not get to go either since I stupidly have still not bought a ticket. Sheesh. I do that too. I mean, I eat almost the exact same thing every day for forever, and I have no problem with that. Maybe I’m part automobile or something. So, the noodles were a great shock to the system, and I’m already tempted to get on their track. Whenever I’ve been in London, it seems like everybody there is drunk as soon as it gets dark, so being there with a non-fluid based head-oriented high seems like it’s the way to go. Well, you should move to, like, Rome then. Although the Italians aren’t the best English speakers. Or you could learn Italian. Or … hm. Some places are made for great visits and not for great living. I feel that way about NYC, but people who live there think it’s great, and both times I lived there, I thought it was great for about a year before I went, Get me the fuck out of here. Well, I get the feeling most people here would recommend that you start your John Waters experience with ‘Female Trouble’. You certainly can’t go wrong if you start there. I’ll toss in my favorite, ‘Serial Mom’, as another option. ** Bill P. in Chicago, Hi, Bill. Nice pair of saints you’ve got there. Interesting about how the film seemed to differ with that audience in tow. And it survived the shift with your respect in tact. That’s interesting too. Nice, man. ** Steevee, Calling Divine John’s ‘longtime companion’ is a weird way to put it. No, they were never a couple in that sense at all. I’ll go find your ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ review. Hold on. Oh, there it is. Great, excited to read it. Everyone, here is the always very savvy, brainy Steevee’s review of ‘Zero Dark Thirty’. As always with his writings, a must read. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Oh, that would be really fantastic if you can come to Paris for Mike’s retrospective. I would finally get to meet you and hang out with you, which would be major. And I would love to meet your mom. Yeah, keep me posted, and, if you need any Paris advice in any way, just let me know. Great! That is an awesome artwork idea, man. Way to use a title too, ha ha. Sweet. Obviously, go for it. ** Paul Curran, Yeah, about the Watersian here. Ha. Google Plus ate you. Me too. There’s something creepy there, but I guess we’re long since Google’s bitches. ** Paradigm, Hi, Scott. Kind of amazing how John aced that beloved cultural icon shift. Especially given that he has to be the least careerist, back-stabbing guy ever. John’s a good friend of mine, and, yes, he is utterly down to earth and kind and great. I don’t know how he has managed to stay like that given the massiveness of his fame. One of the rare examples of how fame doesn’t inherently corrupt. Yeah, same deal here in France. There’s a deep-seeded paranoia that is peculiar to the US. And to Russia also, at least, but, in Russia’s case, it’s thoroughly understandable, but in the States, it seems like a strange contagion or something. Okay, yeah, see, those three ideas are all really, really good. Just reading them gets my brain fleshing them out. I can see why it’s hard to choose, but, on the other hand, it’s not like the ones you don’t pick first will go away or start seeming less interesting. Mm, I don’t think I ever start with ideas like that in mind. I feel like I always start with the same idea, and then I try to open it up more widely or in a different way. Usually, when I get what I think is a good idea akin to the kind you’re talking about, I’m already writing something, and then I just incorporate it into what I’m already building as an additional trajectory or side-trip or something. Like, say, in ‘TMS’, the Flatsos thing, which I’m kind of proud of. That erupted or bloomed in process. I don’t know. Does that make any sense? I reserved the second Buche yesterday, and I’ll see it/pick it up on Monday. It’s this one. Yury and I took a vote, and that Buche won. Hope that work didn’t overwork you yesterday. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hey, Jeff. I know, weird about the late breaking John Waters Day. Thanks about it. Glad your roof is secured. No, I have no skills in that regard at all. I’m okay at thinking and talking my way through crises in a practical way, but when it comes to handiwork, I’m all thumbs. I don’t even know how to take a photo with my iPhone even though Yury has explained how to do that simple thing to me over and over. No, I haven’t that guy’s earlier film, but I want to now, of course. I did know that he’s von Trier’s nephew, and I’m so glad that the apple fell that far away from the tree, ha ha. ** Sypha, It’s only the early John Waters films that have the ‘gross out’ thing. Watch ‘Serial Mom’. It’s not gross in the slightest, and it’s fucking hilarious, and you’ll like it, I’m pretty sure. ** L@rstonovich, Hey, man! Thanks for thinking of me. Yeah, nice about the Bresson bit in ‘IJ’. I had a really good talk with David about Bresson once. Beautiful paragraph about perpetual adolescence. Really beautiful. Probably the same, in my case, I guess. But I have no idea how people become totally adult like they so often do. I can’t figure it out. What made that happen? Did it happen in a flash, or was there an ongoing erosion of some sort that ‘matured’ them, or what? It’s a total mystery to me. I feel like I’ve just always lived my life and paid attention to everything like you’re supposed to do, and it makes sense that I wouldn’t have really changed that much. Why people change so drastically post-adolescence makes no sense to me. I don’t know, man. It’s interesting, I think you and me, we should be happy to be overgrown kids, you know? A hit single? Awesome. Get that shit down on tape, or, uh, into technology’s memory storage, or however they do that these days, ha ha. You will totally finish the novel next year. Crazy, right? But you will. And how great is that going to feel not to mention be. Love to you, buddy, and have a Xmas with a bold, italicized X, and enjoy your access to American holiday food that I sorely lack. You can’t find eggnog here to save your life, man. ** Un Cœur Blanc, Hi. It seems preserved and to be nourishing itself to me. When some say something, it’s always important to remember that it’s just some, and it’s only some for a good reason, or I try to remember that. Welch is so wonderful, isn’t he? I know, I agree. Thank you, my friend. ** Marc Vallée, Hi, Marc! How great to see you! Early very Merry Xmas! Thanks about the JWD. No, I hadn’t caught your Year End List. Thank you. I’ll read passionately and in detail in just a minute since I think you’re the last commenter of the day. Everyone, the great photographer and all around top notch fella Marc Vallée has posted his ‘END OF YEAR REVIEW: MY TOP TEN PICTURES’, and that is your cue to click this. You’ll be glad. Oh, man, I would love to get the zines. Thank you so much! My address du jour is: c/o Centre International des Recollets, 150 rue du Faubourg St. Martin, 75010 Paris, France. Thanks a bunch, Marc! And it’s really great to see you! ** Okay. Seeing as how the world hasn’t ended yet, I propose you attend a gig today. Most of you probably won’t, but it would be cool and potentially rewarding if you do. In any case, tomorrow I’ll see you.