Really, Really Alternative Music

Perhaps you've always known deep down in your heart that rhythm and melody were overrated. After all, those Platonic ideas of harmony, time, and were invented in an era when the world still pretended to make sense. Mitchell "Texas" Missouri, our local expert on industrial music and other far-out sounds, has complied for us a list of some of the artists that transcend the boundaries of what "music," and, indeed "good taste" are. So, throw off the shackles of corporate-dictated tastes and check out some of these bands:

Big City Orchestra
BeatleRape
Unbelievable album samples Beatles music and reconfigures all those cliche riffs and lyrics into a form that is unrecognizable. . . almost.

CC Nova
Milk Cult
The instrument list on this one includes a "Learn Morse Code" LP burned with makeshift aeresol flame thrower, played over telephone onto friend's answering machine, then re-recorded through phone again using a Sony electret condenser microphone and a Beethoven 78 rpm lp found in trash at Goodwill, played at 16 rpm through a faulty stereo amplifier and two reverse gates.

Crawling with Tarts
Operas
Uses 78 rpm discs, especially one-of-a-kind amateur-cut discs from the 1930s through the '50s.

Crawling with Tarts
Operas # 3 & 4
Use amateur disk recordings, plate bell, institutional disks, drums, chalices, and a 3-meter cordophone made out of ham cans.

Joseph Dorfman
The Stones of Jerusalem
and
Yitzhak Sadai
Trial 19
These two compositions come on the same cd together. "Trial 19" is "electo-acoustic" music, the story of Jews persecuted in the Crusades. Totally frightening and brilliantly crafted. "The Stones of Jerusalem" is considered "musique concrete" and is also a brilliant piece.

Rolf Enstrom
Directions/Tjidtjag och Tjidjaggaise/Slutförbannelser
"Electo-acoustic" music from a classically trained musician. Very skillful. Electro-acoustic music takes acoustic samples, and does electro things to them.

The Hafler Trio
Almost any album, except for maybe Bootleg or Fuck or Masturbatorium, but start with Bang, An Open Letter.

Holger Hiller
Little Present
Vignettes of real sounds of Japan illustrate this story. Alternates vignettes with songs.

John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Two Virgins
An old-school classic

Mauve Sideshow
Musical, collage-y, drifting, ominous

Nocturnal Emissions
Mouth of Babes
Samples baby sounds as the basis for musical compositions. Excellent liner notes, the music is mainly a curiosity. Quite disturbing.

Nurse with Wound
The Sylvia & Babs Thigh High Companion, The Ladies Home Tickler, Large Ladies with Cake in the Oven
Almost nobody does it better than these guys. Samples collage darkness.

John Oswald
Plexure
The inventor of "plunderphonics": sound sampling taken to its logical extreme.

Mike Patton
Adult Themes for Voice
What this guy can do with only the human voice and a microphone is pretty incredible. [Mike Patton is the vocalist for Faith No More. The one time, I saw them live, they were incredible. However, at a later show he stuck a microphone up his own ass. The sounds were reported to be Something Else.—Trout]

Pain Teens
Born In Blood/Case Histories
Where grunge and collage collide.

People Like Us
Lowest Common Dominator
Disco has always been funny, didn't you realize? Samples, disturbed repetitive riffs. A barrel of monkeys ain't this fun.

Roger Reynolds
Another "classical" musician working in "electo-acoustic" music. the range of stuff he's doing is wide but includes text cut-ups.

David Shea
The Tower of Mirrors
Beautifully done concept album - excellent use of samples, subtly done. A+

David Shea
i
Much different kind of album than tower of mirrors. Lots of cartoon samples.

Various artists
Soundscape Amsterdam
It's worth the effort to try to find this one. a collection of audio portraits of the city of Amsterdam from 9 different artists.

Stock Hausen & Walkman
The ultimate (?) in comedy sampling.

Dave Soldier
Smut
Very strange album takes lyrics from smutty poems from the Middle Ages and sets them to music [Gee, sort of like Karl Orff and his Golliards in "Carmena Burana?"--Ken]. That stuff doesn't really fit this list, but at the end of this record is "matarile," an audio portrait of Harlem. ". . . most of the timbres including most of what appear to be electronic effects are actually derived from sounds made by the children. These are supplemented by unidentified children recorded in Harlem in the 1950s, and city noises."

Carl Stone
Kamiya Bar
Japan hasn't sounded this good since Holger Hiller's Little Present.

John Watermann
Babel #1
Incredible recombinant use of English verbal phonemes to simulate natural speech, but babelized. Brilliant.

Gregory Whitehead
The Pleasure of Ruins (and Other Castaways)
Whitehead does lots of playing with his own voice and sampling to tell some curious little "stories" (sort of).

Lots more music like this can be found at

http://www.soleilmoon.com

and

http://www.othermusic.com

Got any pet sounds? E-mail us at editor@corporatemofo.com

Posted January 1, 2002 10:57 PM


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			Really, Really Alternative Music by Mitch Mitchell
			Perhaps you've always known deep down in your heart that rhythm and melody were overrated. After all, those Platonic ideas of harmony, time, and were invented in an era when the world still pretended to make sense. Mitchell "Texas" Missouri, our local expert on industrial music and other far-out sounds, has complied for us a list of some of the artists that transcend the boundaries of what "music," and, indeed "good taste" are. So, throw off the shackles of corporate-dictated tastes and check out some of these bands: Big City Orchestra BeatleRape Unbelievable album samples Beatles music and reconfigures all those cliche riffs and lyrics into a form that is unrecognizable. . . almost. CC Nova Milk Cult The instrument list on this one includes a "Learn Morse Code" LP burned with makeshift aeresol flame thrower, played over telephone onto friend's answering machine, then re-recorded through phone again using a Sony electret condenser microphone and a Beethoven 78 rpm lp found in trash at Goodwill, played at 16 rpm through a faulty stereo amplifier and two reverse gates. Crawling with Tarts Operas Uses 78 rpm discs, especially one-of-a-kind amateur-cut discs from the 1930s through the '50s. Crawling with Tarts Operas # 3 & 4 Use amateur disk recordings, plate bell, institutional disks, drums, chalices, and a 3-meter cordophone made out of ham cans. Joseph Dorfman The Stones of Jerusalem and Yitzhak Sadai Trial 19 These two compositions come on the same cd together. "Trial 19" is "electo-acoustic" music, the story of Jews persecuted in the Crusades. Totally frightening and brilliantly crafted. "The Stones of Jerusalem" is considered "musique concrete" and is also a brilliant piece. Rolf Enstrom Directions/Tjidtjag och Tjidjaggaise/Slutförbannelser "Electo-acoustic" music from a classically trained musician. Very skillful. Electro-acoustic music takes acoustic samples, and does electro things to them. The Hafler Trio Almost any album, except for maybe Bootleg or Fuck or Masturbatorium, but start with Bang, An Open Letter. Holger Hiller Little Present Vignettes of real sounds of Japan illustrate this story. Alternates vignettes with songs. John Lennon & Yoko Ono Two Virgins An old-school classic Mauve Sideshow Musical, collage-y, drifting, ominous Nocturnal Emissions Mouth of Babes Samples baby sounds as the basis for musical compositions. Excellent liner notes, the music is mainly a curiosity. Quite disturbing. Nurse with Wound The Sylvia & Babs Thigh High Companion, The Ladies Home Tickler, Large Ladies with Cake in the Oven Almost nobody does it better than these guys. Samples collage darkness. John Oswald Plexure The inventor of "plunderphonics": sound sampling taken to its logical extreme. Mike Patton Adult Themes for Voice What this guy can do with only the human voice and a microphone is pretty incredible. [Mike Patton is the vocalist for Faith No More. The one time, I saw them live, they were incredible. However, at a later show he stuck a microphone up his own ass. The sounds were reported to be Something Else.—Trout] Pain Teens Born In Blood/Case Histories Where grunge and collage collide. People Like Us Lowest Common Dominator Disco has always been funny, didn't you realize? Samples, disturbed repetitive riffs. A barrel of monkeys ain't this fun. Roger Reynolds Another "classical" musician working in "electo-acoustic" music. the range of stuff he's doing is wide but includes text cut-ups. David Shea The Tower of Mirrors Beautifully done concept album - excellent use of samples, subtly done. A+ David Shea i Much different kind of album than tower of mirrors. Lots of cartoon samples. Various artists Soundscape Amsterdam It's worth the effort to try to find this one. a collection of audio portraits of the city of Amsterdam from 9 different artists. Stock Hausen & Walkman The ultimate (?) in comedy sampling. Dave Soldier Smut Very strange album takes lyrics from smutty poems from the Middle Ages and sets them to music [Gee, sort of like Karl Orff and his Golliards in "Carmena Burana?"--Ken]. That stuff doesn't really fit this list, but at the end of this record is "matarile," an audio portrait of Harlem. ". . . most of the timbres including most of what appear to be electronic effects are actually derived from sounds made by the children. These are supplemented by unidentified children recorded in Harlem in the 1950s, and city noises." Carl Stone Kamiya Bar Japan hasn't sounded this good since Holger Hiller's Little Present. John Watermann Babel #1 Incredible recombinant use of English verbal phonemes to simulate natural speech, but babelized. Brilliant. Gregory Whitehead The Pleasure of Ruins (and Other Castaways) Whitehead does lots of playing with his own voice and sampling to tell some curious little "stories" (sort of). Lots more music like this can be found at http://www.soleilmoon.com and http://www.othermusic.com Got any pet sounds? E-mail us at editor@corporatemofo.com Posted January 1, 2002 10:57 PM Backtalk Name: Email Address: Comments:
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