Биопсихоз

I logged onto this blog recently to discover that of all my page views, most of them were coming from Russia.  I have no idea why this would be, but it is an odd coincidence because recently I've been thinking a lot about Russian culture and music.
I've always been fascinated about other cultures, when I was young I was raised with Native American beliefs and rituals, because my parents are major hippies.  In fact one of my favorite stories is about how I lived in a tipi for over a year and participated in many a sweat lodge event.  This grew into a fascination with Asian culture and an appreciation for other ways of life that has extended to cultures all over the world.
I never had an knowledge of Russian culture when I was young, it is entirely new to me and brought on over the course of the last 3-4 years ever since I moved to Los Angeles and then to Oakland, CA.  I became enamored first with the writing, then the food, and then the music.
Although no "classic" Russian music has any interest for me, I developed an interest in some of the more industrial and experimental bands that have come out of Russia, in particular the works of Sergei Shubin and Биопсихоз.  Written in English as Biopsyhoz, this band is at what I would consider the forefront of Russian industrial metal music, and a really fuckin good band.
I discovered Biopsyhoz by doing one of my time honored routines:  going to a music store that features music from other cultures and randomly buying a CD based solely on cover art.  Through this, I've actually uncovered more great bands than any research or other method I've tried.  I didn't buy Biopsyhoz but my friend did, and so I got into them by listening to the CD he'd bought.
What a band like Rammstein did for Americans was make them realize that although it could be sung in a different language, music should be a universally appreciated idea.  You don't have to know what they're saying to appreciate it.  It is inevitable for me to compare Rammstein to Biopsyhoz because they're both foreign, both industrial, and both heavily influential.  For my money (or lack of it, as Biopsyhoz gives all their music away for free on their website) Biopsyhoz is better, though.
What does better mean?  I just like the dynamic involvement of experimentalism infused in their music.  Their is an aspect of the other-worldly, a funky and glitchy almost IDM like approach that makes it stand out and makes the music more memorable.
Whereas a band like Rammstain has some good songs and some forgettable songs, just like a lot of bands, Bioppsyhoz has only memorable tracks.  Really standout tracks are almost commonplace and going through their music creating a best of is difficult for me because I truly like about 100% of it.
They take some more unconventional approaches too when on certain tracks they invite other Russian singers, both male and female, some Russian rappers, and other guest musicians in to perform with them.  In fact one of my all time favorite tracks utilizes a female Russian vocalist and is a bit more of a pop/rock song in sound than their usual metal/industrial approach.
Please, enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-C3ju23MJI
До свидания!

No music here

Yeah, I'm not writing about music today.  Rather, CD's.  You know, the shiny, round things you probably have bought music on at one point.  I am a CD fan.  It's actually a controversial thing to like, because as vinyl becomes more and more back into the mainstream and MP3s/digital formats become more and more prevalent, CD's are being forgotten.
Everyone I know has said the same thing about CD's:
1) they skip
2) vinyl is better because of how it sounds
3) vinyl is better because often it contains download codes and you can have the hard as well as digital music
4) blah blah hipster bullshit.

Lemme just say this:  fuck vinyl.  No, I'm not saying that vinyl is a inferior format and I'm not saying those things aren't true, but what I am saying is that CD's will always have that awesome 90's feel to them and vinyl just won't.  All's I'm saying is that I love my CD's and I love to buy them.

I just bought a CD at the store, and I'm extremely proud of it.  I won't ever buy cassette though,. because seriously, who the fuck has a cassette player any more???

Fucked on a Pile of Corpses

Skullflower's 2011 release, Fucked on a Pile of Corpses, is one of the most intense releases I've heard.

Sheer. Yes, sheer.  As in pure, as in absolute.  This is my description of this release.  Very noisy, very intense, and definitely harder than a lot of Skullflower, or Matt Bower in general for that matter.  The first track, Hanged Man's Seed, is a great example.  Distorted, bizarre beats tremble in the background as shrieks blare out of nowhere and a dizzying throb of guitar pulsates in the background.  I just wish it could go on forever.
Something is very twisted and rotting at the core of this, the black soul is edging out and taking over.  This release does not hold out hope for humanity or the future, rather it squashes hopes and dreams like it was second nature.
Skullflower has dabbled in the droning, experimental, traditional rock and Ethnic music (hell, all of Bower's projects have) and this is nothing like that.  When I first heard this, it's hard to believe this comes from the same mind that brought us such freewheeling, happy-go-lucky Sunroof! releases like Temple Music and Rainbow Electric Sabbath.
Even earlier Skullflower, the dissident, rock band that is was, was nowhere near this imposing, hurtful, and scary.  When acting as a team, it seems Bower would often feel at ease just to sit back and create beautiful walls of freeform noise, and this is definitely not a team work, and not beautiful.  This is, as I said, Sheer.

Maximum volume recommended:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLQNnTQOrV0

Biggest news in 8 years

I know I'm a bit late to act like this is breaking news, but Boards of Canada, one of my favorite bands and one of the leaders of bizarre IDM music, is releasing their first album in 8 years come this July.
Something is to be said for a band that has stayed strong, and managed to make huge waves with every one of their releases, and stayed at the fore front of experimental music for the last 20+ years.  Something is also said by the legions of hardcore, devoted fans that have created websites, wikis, blogs, theories, and paid thousands of dollars just to have any bit of information about this band.
Thoroughly secretive, cult-like, and clearly very intelligent, the brothers Sandison have created musical voyages unlike anything else, whether it is ambient, IDM, downtempo, experimental, etc.  Their music has a very deliberate quality to it, so that even if it sounds like it has been aged by hundreds of years, that is the intended and desired effect.
The beginning was the impossibly rare Twoism release in 1995.  This was the first time anyone outside of friends and family had access to any of their music (which they had been making for several years before this release).  This became noticed by fans and other musicians alike, due to amazing tracks like Sixtyniner, Oirectine, Twoism, Smokes Quantity, and the quiet, strange 1986 Summer Fire.
Boc Maxima followed, with 20 tracks that ranged from beat oriented Chinook, Everything You do is a Balloon, June 9th, and Turquoise Hexagon Sun, to strange wandering snippets like Wildlife Analysis, Skimming Stones, Concourse and Carcan.
By this time, they had developed a following and caught the attention of the band Autechre and record label Warp.  Their next release, Music Has the Right to Children, was distributed more than anything previous to it, and again took audiences through the many visions of music the band had.  For the first time, they had a hit too, with the track Sixtyten and Roygbiv.
Things turned dark with Geogaddi, a very intense release that had some of their most intense songs and some of the more bizarre works.  Tracks like Gyroscope, 1969, The Devil is in the Details, and You Could Feel the Sky evoked a very dark and twisted feeling, and this for me is the highlight of their work.
We had a remarkably different The Campfire Headphase, bringing heavy use of guitars and slower beats to the mix, including their second, larger hit, Dayvan Cowboy.  With just 4 unheard Boards of Canada tracks, Trans Canada Highway came out with a similar style to Headphase, with less beats and more weirdness to it.

Fans are exploding with theories as to the new music, you can check out www.twoism.org or the major work of accomplishment that is www.bocpages.org or read this rave review: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/838-music-has-the-right-to-children/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYP6f4DQKLc

Touch Radio

Touch Radio

The idea behind Touch Radio is brilliant and unique.  You have a successful record company (Touch, out of England)  www.touchmusic.org.uk and then semi-regularly, you invite the artists signed to your label, as well as just about anyone who is willing to contribute, to release music onto your website, which will then be made free to visitors.
Giving people a sample of an artists sounds, giving the artists a way to attract fans and attention, and giving your website a league of followers who are looking to hear new, different sounds at no cost to them.  The majority of releases on the website are collaborations, and live performances.  However, the real attraction here for me, the reason I mention it in Strange Music Spotlight, is the bizarre and off the wall sounds that are sometimes featured on Touch Radio.
It begins as early as Touch Radio session 7, when sound artist Toshiya Tsunoda contributed "Studies of the sonic effects of physical vibration."  In this Touch Radio episode, many sonic complexities were presented including:  the sound of ceramic discs on glass plates while a sounds frequency causes them to vibrate, amplitude of audio signal switching, and an electromagnetic siren vibrating.
In further Touch Radio sessions, other sound tests and experiments were shown, but prominent sound artists who had ideas that although not usual in any sense, were brilliant and strange to say the least.  Experimenting with spoken word, twisted field recordings, and much more.
The musical entries are wonderful, including original music from brilliant artists like Fennesz, KK Null, CM Von Hausswolff, Z'ev, Daniel Menche, Steve Roden, Philip Jeck, Biosphere, and Oren Ambarchi.  The strange recordings for me are capped off with the entry "Gnatonemus Petersii" by Pahnotm Airwaves on Radio 59, in which a fish that emits a low electrical field to see with echolocation, is recorded and mixed into something altogether brilliant and completely different from any such music out there.
It is this continuing endeavor by Touch that must be shared with everyone.  Because really, have you ever heard the sounds of a fish living, up close?
http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/touchradio/

Aube (Page 2)

to further my rant about aube, i must first draw some outlines for exactly what his type of music is considered.  to quote wikipedia, ambient music is "music that is designed to be part of the environment."   now to me that could mean a lot of different things:  wouldn't it depend on the environment?  would different hostile environments perhaps get hostile music?  it is however still correct in its definition.  this music does fit an environment.  a crazy, slightly off environment.  one where you wake up unsure about your location, and may even feel like you're in danger.  as the mystery grows and panic sets in, your eyes are losing focus and you're falling and tripping a lot, and nothing is making sense.  something comes out of nowhere and your heart leaps into your throat, you realize it was nothing and you're calm.  this is the type of environment i think of when i hear this music.  something very ominous, alien, and possibly dangerous.

the ability of music to surprise you, to put you at ease, or to make you intrigued is something i really look for.  it's just so far removed from the typical radio music and the chorus that everyone seems to have stuck in their heads.  aube's making a statement about music itself, what music can be, and what it can be capable of.

there is no envelope to push, their is no definition to destroy when it comes to music.  there is nothing that is wrong or right, and simply put music is like beauty, in the eye of the beholder.  so with that meaningless afterthought, i conclude my thoughts on aube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH0KUXkva14

not too sure if this guy is dead or what, his website hasn't been updated since 2005, but it's amazing and gives much more information than mine:  http://rgnz.free.fr/aube/

hope you like it

Update 10/29/14:  I have just found out this musician has passed away!  He was only 54, and passed away September 25th 2013.  Man, that sucks.  Rest in peace, Nakajima Akifumi

Aube (Nakajima Akifumi)

Okay.
Entry one.
I've wasted three lines already!

Music is something that I find tremendously interesting.  I like a wide range of eclectic and strange stuff, and lean towards "electronic" and "experimental" music.  I have thoughts about it I've tried to share via a few very short lived websites, so now I thought I'd start a blog about it instead.  I do not have any idea how you'll find this if you do, but if you do I hope you like it.

Day 1
the strange world of japanese noise........

noise is very different overseas, it seems.  it's not this ridiculed thing, and it actually is pretty interesting.  i am into several american noise acts, but most noise and most people that like it tend to be in europe, canada, and japan.  japanese noise is ruled by several titans, all of them having a long history of making noise.
strange as a word does not describe noise music.  in fact, no single word, idea, or even this blog i'm writing can come close to "defining" noise, nor should it try.  rather, i'm just going to write about it, how i like it, and what the different "varieties" are

merzbow is perhaps the most known japanese noise musician.  his startling output spans hundreds of releases from the late seventies until now, and has remained quiet noisy and actually popular during that time.  if anyone you know has any knowledge of noise, they will undoubtedly know of his work.

my personal favorite however, is aube, also known as nakajima akifumi.  i just think its pretty amazing that all of his recordings are based on usually only one audio source, for example water.  he will take these recordings of water, screw around with them and mix them and layer them and so forth, and create dense, wonderful drone type sounds with them.  i just find this type of music fascinating.  the raw power of the sound can be overwhelming, and the drones can impact you in ways that you can't ever imagine water doing.
this type of music i just see as so eclectic, bizarre, and downright confusing sometimes.  like, i want to ask aube why?  why take water, or a light bulb, or a heart beat, lungs, a can, a floppy disk, a clock, fire, a building, steel wire, etc, why take these and turn them into these songs?  is it that you understand the sounds that these things can make that most of us are not aware of, and thus you feel you need to present them in this way?  is it just a test to yourself to make a whole track, a whole album, out of one sound source?

it is the concept of some musicians to include the sounds of the natural world (hence the whole genre of field recording) and aube's music is sort of related to this.  perhaps in some bizarre condition, you could hear sounds similar to the ones he makes in the natural world - given they they are for the most part from naturally occurring sources.  even the man made sources are usually not traditional sound-making objects.  a floppy disk, a can, a building, steel wire - these things were not designed with the sonic possibilities in mind.  we have seen other examples of this sound being used however, one of the notable related jobs would be a foley artist, who commonly uses man made or natural devices to make sounds.

perhaps in a way aube is doing this job as well.  perhaps the type of audio that he creates could be classified as creative foley.  he does use audio producing sound devices too, however.  often he will use a voltage controlled oscillator, small speakers have been used, and furthermore he has used a monophonic analogue synthesizer.  in his later recordings, it seemed his use of electronic sound producing machines was raised a bit, and he also began to combine multiple sounds into making single tracks and albums.  in addition to these two changes, he also began to remix the works of other musicians, as well as remix his previously recorded albums and tracks.

what makes this music deeper to me is the ability to really make an impact.  i first heard "cardiac strain" which is made using only the sounds of the human heart.  by playing with the sounds and mixing them, he was able to create interesting and really dynamic sounds structures.  the track "infatuation" is the stand out track for me, the high pitched cry in the background as the violent throbbing makes you hope and prey that your heart never sounds like this.  it is perhaps made more powerful by the fact we're listening to the sound of humanity, of the blood in our very veins, and the essence of life itself.

okay, i just want to post this.  more later i promise.  probably shouldn't have started writing while i was busy.