THE MEMBRANES Early tracks

First singles & ep's from  John Robb's subversive gang, The Membranes. The early, less noisy, less known -necessary though for a complete picture- phase of a band that opposed to trad rock... offering us exciting ugly songs of love and fury.

Fashionable Junkies (7'' flexi, Vinyl Drip Records, 1980)
a1. fashinable junkies
a2. almost china

Muscles (7'' / 12'', Vinyl Drip / Rondolet Music, 1982)
a1. Muscles
a2. Great mistakes
b1. All roads lead to Norway
b2. Entertaining Friends

Pin Stripe Hype E.P. (7'', 12'', Rondolet Music, 1982)
a1. High St Yanks
a2. Funny Old World
b1. The Hitch
b2. Man From Moscow

The Membranes existed up to 1990. Apart from mainman John Robb, Membranes for sometime were: Coofy Sid, Mark Tilton, Wallis Tadpole, Keith Curtis, Nick Brown, Mark Standing and others...

Artwork by Simon Clegg [pity never seen (?) work of his elsewhere)]

Listen to Membranes

NED SUBLETTE: Adventures In Black & White

Ned Sublette is a texan multi-talented artist, musician, photographer, producer, labelman, musicologist... Since 70s he's been living in New York, where he has collaborated with many important avant artists (Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, John Cage, Love Of Life Orchestra, Lenny Pickett a.o.) and also has written books about the history of american and the latin-american music.

As a performer and composer he is mainly interested to create forms where his "white" country-western roots style encounters the pulse of latin music (cuban, carribean etc.) and the voices of "black" America.

Two of his most significant works are the albums "Ships At Sea, Sailors And Shoes" (Triple Earth, 1993) and "Monsters From The Deep" (Triple Earth, 1997), both collaborations with lyricist Lawrence Weiner and the soul-vocal group of The Persuasions.

"Ships At Sea, Sailors & Shoes" (1993)

"Monsters From The Deep" (1997)

"Realisations", The Discreet Pop Signals of Mark Beer

Released on Belgium's Double Dose label in late 1980 and related to the starting days of the famous belgian Les Disques Du Crepuscule, Mark Beer's single "Realisations" offers a couple of tracks made of just the necessaries: a voice, a vanished guitar, an erased bass, a laconic synth...  These quiet, ultra-minimal pop signals rather than songs compete in tranquil simplicity the compositions of the contemporaries Young Marble Giants, and express the best way the short and  discreet passage of their own creator from music.

a. Love Dances Warm
Jean-Marc Lederman, electronique invisible
Frank Corneli, vanished guitar
Clive Pierce, percussion
Mark Beer, voice, erased bass

b. The Small Death
Thomas Dolbi, polyphonic synth
Jean-Marc Lederman, electronique
Mark Beer, funeral drum, vocals

cover by B. Hennebert (the great cover designer of Disques Crepuscule)

Realisations

Y RECORDS: Adventures In Rhythm

Y Records was one of the Rough Trade associated independent record companies, and one which paved the way for the evolution of  funk-dub-ska-jazz influences in post-punk/new wave era. The label was created in 1980 by music producer-manager Dick O'Dell and hosted several bands, specially ones derived from Bristol's indie scene: The Pop Group, Glaxo Babies, Pigbag, Mouth, Maximum Joy...
Y lasted up to mid-80s; then became part of bigger music companies.
Most well known artists: Pigbag and (early) Shriekback. A remarkable Y release: Sun Ra's legendary single "Nuclear War" (1982).

The Y Collection 
01 MOUTH take your coat off (1982)
02 MAXIMUM JOY building bridges (1982)
03 PULSALLAMA devil lives in my husband's boby (1982)
04 POP GROUP colour blind (1980)
05 SHRIEKBACK my spine (is the bassline) (1982)
06 CHRIS REEVES after the romance (1982)
07 PIGBAG six of one... (1982)
08 TESCO BOMBERS hernando's hideaway (1982)
09 MAXIMUM JOY man of tribes (1982)
10 THE VINCENT UNITS carnival song (1981)
11 SHRIEKBACK despite dense weed (1982)
12 PIGBAG dozo don (1982)
13 DISCONNECTION bali ha'i (1982)
14 SHRIEKBACK mothloop (1982)
15 GLAXO BABIES dahij (1980)
16 SUN RA nuclear war (1982)

compiled by LaFolieDuJour

Y Records  

Polish Avant Jazz, The Yass Scene

Milosc

Trytony

Jacek Olter

Mikolaj Trzaska

Yass forms one of the most interesting chapters in history of recent polish music. As a term, Yass, used  initially at the dawn of 90's by the avant-jazz outfit Milosc in order to describe the band's musical differentation to Polish Jazz status of that time. Not much after though, the term extended its meaning to manifest the innovative music direction  of many other similar bands, (activated mainly in the cities of Gdansk and Bydgoszsz)...until finally to become synonymous with a whole new avantjazz stream, a movement  that would play an influential role to the development of  contemporary jazz and the new improvised music in Poland.
Guided mostly by the free-jazz spirit the Yass musicians and their successors explore both the native origins of polish jazz and its modern position into the international field. They suggest crossings with radical rock (R.I.O., post-punk...), world music, improvisation, new technologies; even encounters with other art forms such as theatre or poetry...

A mini introduction to Yass artists and other polish jazzmen:

01 Mikolaj Trzaska serpent transparent
("Jacek Olter i 50 Artystow", 2006)
02 Tomas Gwincinski & NonLinear Ensemble fool moon august 2001
("The Moon Music", 2002)
03 Mikrokolektyw running without effort
("Revisit", 2010)
04 Meritum pieciolini
("Meritum", 2004)
05 Niebieski Lotnik spruty jak sweter
("Love Surprise", 2000)
06 NRD ojczyzna nasza dobroc, dobroc dobroc
("Sport I Religia", 1998)
07 Mazzoll ropa swietej anny
("Single 3", 2000)
08 Tymon Tymanski looking for Kusto
("Jacek Olter i 50 Artystow", 2006)
09 Cukunft utwor 5
("Itstikeyt/Fargangenheit", 2010)
10 Mazzoll & Knuth Diffusion Ensemble piesn powracajacych dzieci
("Azure Excess", 1999)
11 Leszek Mozdzer golenie glowy
("Pub 700, 2004)
12 Trytony nieudany black sabbath pod woda
("Tance Bydgoskie", 1992)
13 Gwincinski, Richter, Skolik ufologia trumn
("Jupiter, Urizen, Wernyhora, Trungpa", 1998)
14 Milosc luke the skywalker
("Milosc", 1993)

compiled by LaFolieDuJour

Yass / Polish Avant-Jazz  

Lenny Pickett with The Borneo Horns

Dancable, avant-edged acoustic jazz, performed only with winds and percussions by New York's Borneo Horns Trio and guests. Leader of trio, the once Tower Of Power reedman, Lenny Pickett, well known also as arranger/ horn section director in many popular artists' albums. Pickett plays tenor sax, clarinets, flutes (pre-recorded flutes & clarinets in "Solo For Saxophone And Tape"). The rest two Borneos are saxophonists Stan Harrison (alto) and Steve Elson (baritone, soprano). Leroy Clouden is on drums. The set though isn't completed without the eclectic contributions of  Nelson Bogart on trumpet and flugerhorn, Laurie Frink also on trumpet, Howard Johnson on tuba, DaveBargeron on tuba and trombone, Roger Squitero on  various percussions and Ned Sublette on banjo.

The album recorded in NY and released in 1987 on Carthage, sublabel of Hannibal Records.

Lenny Pickett w Borneo Horns

Tongue Wrestling, The poet LYDIA TOMKIW

American poet Lydia Tomkiw was born in Chicago in 1959 and died in Arizona, aged only 48. Although her literature work was acclaimed in underground and even overground circles (one of her poems was included in the first edition of Best American Poetry 1988), a wider fame and recognition came via ALGEBRA SUICIDE, the band she formed along with her husband, Don Hedeker, circa 1982.  

The fruit of couple's artistic collaboration was several albums, ep's, compilation tracks, and live audio-visual performances where Tomkiw's recitations and the new wavish guitar-synth  sounds of Hedeker (who played, with few exceptions, all the instruments), created a unique combination of direct, daily-life poetry and minimalistic pop music.

Jealous

Jealous of the human heart, so ugly yet exhalted;

Jealous of the blood it keeps.

Jealous of fast cars and hot colours,

Of monks with their vows of silence,

Of  leather wrapped around the skin of silly boys.

Jealous of sex and all its power,

Of romance and how it makes you swoon,

Of men who can grow beards or not,

Of women who can play the cello,

Jealous of love and how much it's desired.

Jealous of hair that comes and goes as it pleases,

Of weather, which no one can control,

Of infants who can sleep all day,

Of lacewings that don't sleep at all,

Of houseflies and their zillion eyes,

The windows to a zillion souls,

Jealous of saints and their tickets to heaven,

Jealous of birds and their simple brains,

Jealous of people who are naturally prompt,

Of those who have too much money,

Of those who are younger and more famous than I,

I am jealous of those are older and wiser,

Jealous of good liars and lotto winners,

Jealous of the vast sky above me,

Of the threat of hell below me,

I am jealous of the world and the beauty it holds.

Jealous of the color green, so fresh, so moldy,

So much the gorgeous God of envy.

 (from "Swoon")    

Algebra Suicide's adventures lasted up to mid-90's. Their final work, "Tongue Wrestling", was made in 1994 (Widely Distributed Records), when Tomkiw and Hedeker had been already divorced.  

The following year Tomkiw collaborated with artists as Edward Ka-Spell and Legendary Pink Dots and presented her solo album, "Incorporated", but in spite of her further artistic plans, she gradually went obscure...

Tomkiw spent the last period of her life next to her family in Phoenix, Arizona. She passed away in September 2007.

Algebra Suicide albums: "Secret Like Crazy" (compil. 1987), "Alpha Cue" (1990), "Swoon" (1991), "Tongue Wrestling" (1994)... plus "Real Numbers" (live, 1988) and "Summer Virus Night - Live in Germany in 1990" (2009).

"Look there, when I leave,  for

A trace of a glimmer,

A soft, lucid shimmer, too lofty to see;

It will be what's left of me after i'm gone"

Lydia Tomkiw

Tongue Wrestling

SHRUG "Septober Octember No Wonder" (UK, 1989)

Formed in 1985 in Middlesbrough by Robert Nichols and Richard Pink, SHRUG have been mainly a live band known for their unsual gigs with three drummers, funny costumes, masks... Their first releases were the 12'' "Neville Wanless EP" (1988) , and the album "Septober, Octember, NoWonder" (1989). In 90's they recorded only some singles, but the band remained active and recently a new EP "Shrug... In A Quango" (2008) appeared. SHRUG's music combines the sharp punk/post punk attitude with garage influences; the social descriptions with strange lyrics and  psych-inspired themes.

Septober Octember No Wonder   

NITS " Quest " (Netherlands, 1995)

 

QUEST is a rare-material (b-sides, alternative takes, unreleased tracks) bonus disc included in the limited box-set edition of their 1995 best of, "NEST". To tell the truth, it holds no great unknowns, no surprises -it's mainly for the devotees. What it says, more or less, is what you 've already known from the proper albums of NITS:  One and only dutch band back in '80-'90 was able to lay the bridge between avant art and the wide pop audiences so enduringly.

NITS Tear Falls

Quest

ULTRAVIOLETS: At The Edge Of Garage Spectrum

Too Little Too Late (1992)

 

 Changing Times (1990)

'Εδρασαν ως Ultraviolets και Psychoviolets στις αρχές της προπερασμένης δεκαετίας, όταν η μόδα της γκαραζοψυχεδελικής αναβίωσης είχε, αισθητικώς τουλάχιστον, φθίνει πλέον για τα καλά. Ο Bob Ramskill και η παρέα του, απ' το Κάνσας, στηρίχτηκαν όπως και άλλοι σε μια εκδοχή του ήχου των 60'ς και της 80'ς επαναφοράς του (Rolling Stones και επιγονοι, Wipers, κλπ..), κατόρθωσαν όμως να ξεπεράσουν σε περιεχόμενο, ερμηνευτικό πάθος και ψυχικό δόσιμο τους περισσότερους απ΄τους ομότεχνούς τους αναβιωτές, αποτυπώνοντας ενα αίτημα ευθύτητας και γνησιότητας μέσα σ'ενα περιβάλλον οδύνης, σημαδεμένο απ' την αλήθεια της ζωής και τα ναρκωτικά. Τρία τα συνολικά τους δισκογραφήματα, γεμάτα άγρια, ηλεκτρικά, μελαγχολικά τραγούδια. Άνθη πανέμορφα, τρομερά, από εκείνα που φυτρώνουν στην πέρα πέρα μόνο άκρη του γκαράζ φάσματος.

Exceptionally good garage-psych band from Kansas, US, (started as Ultraviolets, finished as Psychoviolets) verifying once more the simple rock'n'roll truth: no matter the form, to make a great music, it takes a great soul.  

Albums:
The Ultraviolets "Changing Times" (Music Maniac, 1990)
 The box / A place called hell / Screams / A Better day / D-train / Fade to grey / Now i know / Where are you / Do what you want / In our world / Set me free / Changing times / Life in the real world

The Psychoviolets "Too Little Too Late" (Restless, 1992)
Too little too late / 1000 voices / Stoned / End of it all / Addicted to the thought / Feel like giving up / Think twice / I' m down / On the edge / Come on

The Psychoviolets "Teen Trash Vol.2 (Music Maniac, 1993)
Swear to god / So strange / Can't go back / Time / Welcome Death / Flesh meets knife / Endless Days / I gotta move / What is this / As they do / Addicted to the thought / Too little too late / Stoned / D-train / Screams / Do what you want / Now i know / Life in the real world / The box / I'm down

Too Little Too Late
Changing Times

JACK OR JIVE LIGHTS " A Solo Exhibition " (JAP, 1994)

The minimalistic/ethereal sound paintings of  Jack or Jive could have attracted more attention if they  were out sometime in middle to late eighties, on the 4AD's catalog, for example. Nevertheless the duo doesn't adopt the tried atmospheric pop fragility without blending it with the quiet, allusive art of the japanese landscape... 
"A Solo Exhibition" -that finds the band changing its name to Jack Or Jive Lights- flows perhaps a bit more presumably than its predecessors, it uses though the same elixirs: The dream-awaking voice of Chako is far enough to hold itself the "exhibition" still worth visiting.

More Jack Or Jive at LaFolieDuJour: "Prayer" + "Expatriation"

A Solo Exhibition

V.A. F/ear This! (ITA, 1987)

Italian double cassette/double vinyl compilation (plus booklet) released in 1987 for benefit of  A/Rivista Anarchica monthly magazine. Subtitled as "a collection of unheard music, unwritten words and unseen images inspired by fear", it includes contributions from italian (Two Tone, Detonazione, La 1919, Gregorio Bardini, Franti, 2+2=5, Thelema, Giancarlo Toniutti...) and international artists (Embryo, Annie Anxiety, Don King, Possession, Body & the Buildings, etc.).

A + B sides
C + D sides