HANNS EISLER / DAGMAR KRAUSE

HANNS EISLER [Leipzig 1898 - Berlin 1962]

"Open the window. Remember that the street noise is not mere noise, but it is made by man" H. EISLER

DAGMAR KRAUSE : Eisler's songs were written with sharpness and precision, bound by tenderness and strenth. They are an encounter with some of our more worthwhile feelings. He set the pace for the fight against stupidity in music.

Mutterns Hande, music: HANNS EISLER, poem: KURT TUCHOLSKY
(taken from DAGMAR KRAUSE's "Panzerschlact: Die Lieder Von Hanns Eisler" )

Mother's Hands (english version, translation by Malcolm Green)

MUTTERNS HANDE

Hast uns Stulln jeschnitten
un Kaffe jekocht
un de Töppe rübajeschohm -
un jewischt un jenäht
un jemacht un jedreht...
alles mit deine Hände.

Hast de Milch zujedeckt,
uns bonbongs zujesteckt
un Zeitungen ausjetragen -
hast die Hemden jezählt
und Kartoffeln jeschält...
alles mit deine Hände.

Hast uns manches Mal
bei jroßem Schkandal
auch'n Katzenkopp jejeben.
Hast uns hochjebracht.
Wir wahn Sticker acht,
sechse sind noch am Leben...
Alles mit deine Hände.

Heiß warn se un kalt.
Nu sind se alt.
Nu bist du bald am Ende.
Da stehn wir nu hier,
und denn komm wir bei dir
und streicheln deine Hände.

Kurt Tucholsky, 1890-1935

FERDINAND RICHARD " En Forme!! " (FRA, 1980)

Spirited by the same uncompromised/anarchic style found, more or less, in all Etron Fou music, "En Forme !!", first of the two solo FERDINAND's albums, combines (through skillful performing and surrealistic imagination) the unpredictable/rawer sounds of band's earlier days with proto-flavour of the 80's/post-prog experimentations that were to appear in Etron Fou's and Richard's future works.

"EN FORME !!" played by: FERDINAND RICHARD (bass, guitar, vocals, composition), JO THIRION (piano), MARGOT MATHIEU (saxophone), HELMUT HARD (drums)... and released from french label CELLULOID.

From the many others FERDINAND RICHARD's bands, projects, etc.... we recommend GESTALT ET JIVE , Richard's collaboration with ALFRED HARTH, STEVE BERESFORD, ANTON FIER...

EN FORME !!
(13 tracks, approx 39 min)

Penelope Houston

In 1988 the punk-folk-pop star Penelope Houston recorded her first acoustic indie pop LP "Birdboys". From this great album i have chosen the track "Bed of Lies", an odd lovesong whose painful lyrics, is contrasted with its luminous tune.

Expressing the grevious loss of love in an almost cheerful way, Houston's fragile voice enhances the beauty!

Bed of Lies

V.A. KNITTING FACTORY WORKS vol 1

HISTORY (early years)

written by Knittting Factory founder MICHAEL DORF

The first part of LaFolieDuJour tribute to the legendary club-label

KNITTING FACTORY WORKS vol.1

THE JAZZ PASSENGERS - if i were a bell ("Plain Old Joe", 1993)
THINK OF ONE - fabula roza ("Juggernaut", 1998)
WILLIAM HOOKER - pure imagination ("Distance Between Us", 1998)
FRIGG - die welt gefallt mir nicht mehr ("Brecht", 1999)
MARK DRESSER - fakir ("The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari", 1994)
REBECCA MOORE - lamp shop ("Admiral Charcoal's Song", 1996)
KISS MY JAZZ - you don't talk ("In Coffee We Trust", 1997)
HASIDIC NEW WAVE - tzur mishelo ("Jews & Abstract Truth", 1997)
ROY NATHANSON - bus ("Camp Stories" o.s.t., 1996)
''CAMP STORIES'' BAND - hine ma tov ("Camp Stories" o.s.t.)
CUONG VU - pure ("Pure", 2000)
JOE LOVANO - worship ("Future Jazz", v.a. comp, 1999)
PARADOX TRIO - rufus seven ("Flying At A Slant", 1997)
DON BYRON - allure of entanglement ("No-Vibe Zone: Live at KF, 1996)
HASIDIC NEW WAVE - eliyahu hanovi ("Jews & Abstract Truth", 1997)
KISS MY JAZZ - last house at the edge of the park ("Doc's Place Friday Evening", 1996)
W. HORVITZ & ZONY MASH - climacum after hours ("Brand Spankin' New", 1998)
MARK DRESSER - the circle is closing in ("The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari", 1994)


KFW pt.1

PIERRE BASTIEN & MECANIUM "Musiques Machinales" (FRA, 1993)

Bastien's meccano-constructed robotic orchestra

energized by spinning of old turntables...

Same way hasn't it all begun?

People In Sorrow

MUSIQUES MACHINALES
(11 tracks, approx 47min)

SERGEI KURIOKHIN & HENRY KAISER "Popular Science" (US, 1989)

album sample: Foreign Accents (9:14)

Collaboration of experimental guitarist/free improviser HENRY KAISER with top russian avant-garde pianist/composer SERGEI KURIOKHIN (1954 - 1996). Recorded 1988 - 89 in Oakland, California.

HENRY KAISER - synclavier keyboard, electric guitar, production
SERGEI KURIOKHIN - synclavier keyboard

PETER JEFFERIES " A Chorus Of Interludes " (NZ, 1996)

AJAX Records release including compilation tracks, singles, collaborations and rarities from 'La Folie' favourite kiwi artist, Peter Jefferies.

PETER JEFFERIES (with ROBBIE MUIR) - Swerve


A Chorus Of Interludes

FETUS PRODUCTIONS "Luminous Trails" (NZ, 1985)

JED TOWN's uncomfortable, nightmarish, but subliminally attractive structures of industrial mess and pop ugliness.

For JED TOWN and FETUS PRODUCTIONS see also my previous note on FETALMANIA

LUMINOUS TRAILS
(10 tracks, approx 38 min)

BILL DIREEN: Buildings on a velvet land

Poet, author, playwright, and perhaps the greatest less discovered songwriter of NZ's diy culture, BILL DIREEN is responsible for some of the most important episodes of early lo-fi days. His '80 - '84 works - under various monikers (Builders, Bilders, Die Bilder, Bilderine, Soluble Fish, Urbs...) - spirited by haunted velvet psych visions and kiwish post punk rawness, place him at equal height to JEFFERIES bros, ALASTAIR GALBRAITH, CHRIS KNOX, SANDRA BELL...

The introductory compilation, we prepared here, includes selections from:
"Six Impossible Things", 7'', 1981
BILDERS - "Soloman's Ball", 7'', 1981
DIE BILDER - "Schwimmen In Der See", 7'', 1981
BUILDERS - "Beati/en Hearts", LP, 1983
BILDERINE - "Split Seconds", LP, 1984

Musicians : Bill Direen (voc, lyrics, composition, piano, guitars, percussion etc), Malcolm Grant (drums), Campbell Mclay (bass), Peter Stapleton (drums), Allen Meek (keyboards)... and also Steven Cogle, Maryrose Crook, Liz Silver, Lisa Siegel, Hamish Kilgour, Tony O'Blaney, Alec Bathgate, Chris Knox and others...

*Some of the material derives from 90's Flying Nun reissues.
For a complete discography see here.

Bill Direen

(22 tracks, approx 70 min)

V.A. Australian Compilations vol 1

20 tiny & very tiny lights on the australian post punk map.

1.IDIOM FLESH holiday ( 1982)
2.SYSTEMATICS bovine (1982 )
3.PROD a brick short (1981)
4.EST red tv (1980)
5.VIA VENETO empty (1981)
6.MORAL FIBRO take a walk in the sun (1982)
7.THE SAME in the door (1981)
8.WILD WEST chinchilla (1981)
9.THE GOAT THAT WENT OM pirate song (1980-81)
10.MOVING PARTS heart of darkness (1980)
11.SLUGFUCKERS tricked you! (1981)
12.BRRR COLD turtle maestros (1981)
13.METRONOMES sunday morning (1980)
14.THE LIMB ghost train (1981)
15.MAESTROS & DIPSOS heart and tongue
16.HEIGHT/DISMAY the tinning test (1980)
17.SUNDAY PAINTERS be objective (1982)
18.SCAPA FLOW the end (1980)
19.MAKERS OF THE DEAD TRAVEL FAST zebra crossing (1981)
20.SCATTERED ORDER it's our friends that kill us ( 1984 )

compiled by
LaFolieDuJour
Listen here

V. A. " Einigen Wir Uns Auf Die Zukunft " (GER, 1997)

The towards-the-end-of-the-century german post rock/experimental/electronic/abstract scene according to indie labels: Kitty Yo, Payola and Kollapse.
First class bands like Tied & Tickled Trio, Tarwater, Kante, Kammerflimmer Kollektiv... but most of the rest sound also fine.

Einigen Wir Uns Auf Die Zukunft
(14 tracks, approx 63 min)

CHRIS NEWMAN " New Songs Of Social Conscience / Six Sick Songs/ London "

"...singing the songs i do not try to be a singer but rather a singing self..."
CHRIS NEWMAN

Songs of social conscience. Songs occured with no preconception as to what they are "meant" to sound like. Songs made of the "not exceptional", grabbed from the bare, uncensored revelation of everyday material...

Chris Newman is a London born artist. He has studied music theatre with great Mauricio Kagel in Cologne. He is also a poet, an author, a visual artist...

The album consists of 14 compositions derived from 1984 (Six Sick Songs), 1990 (New Songs Of Social Conscience) and 1992 (London). Recorded in 1998 in Berlin.

CHRIS NEWMAN - composition, voice, lyrics
MICHAEL FINNISSY - piano, vocals

CHRIS NEWMAN - She Nose It