Aural Nightmare

Sources of Music Discoveries

Last.fm

There are literally dozens of well-known albums as well as lesserknown albums available to fully stream on this excellently well-kempt website, Last.fm, which is based in London, essentially a service which allows people with the Last.fm software to scrobble, or keep track on what anyone at any one time have been listening to. Below are a few full track album selections which are all worthy of more listeners. The only downside is that you can only listen to, or scrobble, once logged in, the full tracks once.

Wo Fat Psychedelonaut

Mico Nonet The Marmalade Balloon

Erik Amlee Afternoon Dream

Nadja Radiance of Shadows

Download This! #14

Krautrock & Related

Yatha Sidhra » A Meditation Mass

One piece divided into four parts clocking in at roughly 40+ minutes. This, space prog odyssey from 1974 is one of complete and utter joy.

Necronomicon » Tips Zum Selbstmord

The dark side of kraut rock. The lyrics are in German, the name is taken from a H.P. Lovecraft novel and some of the riffs are extraordinary.

Witthüser & Westrupp » Trips Und Träume

Folk psyche dipped in whimsical German.

Sperm » Shh!

This ensemble hailing from Finland bring together jazz leanings in a entirely unusual way.

Zweistein » Trip Flip Out Meditation

When krautrock could never get more out there, this strange gem proves its point by pushing the boundaries of the term rock and kraut.

Sergius Golowin » Lord Krishna von Goloka

The Midas touch is applied to this. Three songs in total which feel like a whole.

Brainticket » Cottonwoodhill
Stretched out and completely out there comes this from Brainticket.

Arzachel

This eponymous from Arzachel is a folk drenched psychedelic hippie masterpiece.

Popol Vuh » Affenstunde

The debut from the most legendary band to ever emerge from the Krautrock scene.

Download This! #13

A Krautrock Top Ten

Germany, 1970.

As is traditional around this time of year, it's time to look back at everything we have come to love throughout the decade. This said, it's time to pay homage to Krautrock.

You've Seen the Documentary, You've Read the Book, Now it's Time to Listen to the Music

Faust » IV

Also see So Far. The magnum opus of the whole genre from the opening track, referencing the genre, all the way through to the Faust moment where vocals from all directions take place in It's a Bit of a Pain.

Can » Tago Mago

Also see Future Days. Arguably the most influential rock album of all time, let alone Krautrock.

The debut from ex-Kraftwerk duo melding together an incessant and mechanical soothing post-rock, also paving the way for young stalwarts everywhere. Highlight "drills".

Cosmic Jokers » Sci Fi Party

As far away and out there as Krautrock can get, The Cosmic Jokers delve into the heart of space with sci fi psychedelic sounds.

Harmonia » Live 1974

See also Musik von Harmonia. Driving electronic sounding minimal yet complex in its simplicity, Harmonia delivered fresh and timeless music with their live album from 1974 featuring the duo of Cluster and Michel Rother of Neu!.

Amon Düül II » Yeti

Also see Wolf City. This band grew out of The Munich hippie commune armed with perhaps the greatest body of work to come out of it in Yeti; a sprawling rock masterpiece.

Siloah

From the Munich hippie commune Siloah bring together on their self-titled full-length songs about Krishna, sprinkles of acid psychedelic leanings and scattered with that delightful Kraut Midas touch.

Agitation Free » Malesch

Different Place, Same Tune

Paternoster

An Austrian band who just so happened to be associated with the Krautrock scene. This, their self-titled only full-length brings together interesting keyboard work, progressive rock tendencies, however the vocals are an acquired taste. An almost Floydian Syd Barrett feel is also added to the proceedings.

Friendsound » Joyride

Self-produced psychedelic acid drenched folk gem from the USA . Highlight "Love Sketch".

Download This! #12

Tibetan Bells

Biography by Linda Kohanov

The mystical sounds of Tibetan bells and singing bowls have been used for centuries in Buddhist meditation and religious rites. Henry Wolff and Nancy Hennings first encountered these instruments during a 1969 trip to India and Nepal where they studied with the Kagyu branch of Tibetan Buddhism. Since 1971, the duo has been releasing a subtle, haunting series of recordings featuring Tibetan bells, including a collaboration with Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart called Yamantaka. Wolff and Hennings also contributed their skills to the Philip Glass soundtrack for the film Koyaanisqatsi, which brought the transcendent sound of the bells to wider audiences. The uncanny resonances of these acoustic instruments produce music that often sounds electronically generated.

Lifted from allmusic.

Download This! #11

The Heads Rock

The Heads » Bedlam

The psychedelic visually and musically stunning live show from The Heads makes them a rare British rock band who can do no wrong. After a string of limited releases and tour splits during the last few years, this, another very limited release, finds the band in a more experimental frame of mind. Culled from studio outtakes and psychedelic effects sounding like they're in water. Bedlam was released to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Rocket Recordings, home to a new breed of psychedelic rockers and The Heads neatly take their place within this rooster of talent. Rock.

Download This! #10

Black Talisman

Endless Endless Endless » Black Talisman

A most interesting self-released relic here. Described as triumphant post-noise and stretched out bummer-wave, Endless Endless Endless, a New York/Jersey duo, have created a startling debut.

Read more via http://www.endlessendlessendless.com/?p=56

Question Time

w/ Metal Rouge

1. What is metal rouge and why is the e in metal spelt with an acute accent?
Andrew: The name Metal Rouge came about as a kind of joke. It has to do with the experimental/noise worlds ongoing romance with black metal, which is kind of a fad that we don't really relate to at all. It kind of came from the idea of there being Black Metal and White Metal (Unblack Metal) and wondering what Red Metal would sound like if it existed. It was a joke, but it just kind of stuck. I have no idea how it ended up becoming French. We've kind of dropped the accent on the 'e' because 9 times out of 10 everybody else does.

2. How did metal rouge come together?

Andrew: I'm from Auckland, New Zealand and Helga is from Los Angeles. We met in New Zealand where Helga was studying intermedia at Auckland University. Her art was sound focused and getting more and more performance based to the point where at some stage it became primarily music. I had just started performing around this time with Nest (my duo with Nigel Wright), in fact Nest's first ever show was on a bill with Helga solo. It was only a matter of time before some sort of collaboration would happen - it's quite a tightly knit scene in NZ - it seems that most people get around to collaborating with most people at some stage. I think when we first started we thought it would be a one-off thing, but there was something special there straight away - it worked from the outset. Our first practice became out first release (self-titled 3"CDR on CLaudia).

3. Who are your main influences?

Helga: Linda & Sonny Sharrock, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Can, Fela Kuti, Dead C, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Selda Bagcan, Gate, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Keiji Haino, Hae Kwan Tang, a lot of African music, Angus Maclise, Lee Ranaldo, Charalambides, Patty Waters, Matthew Bower etc.

Andrew: Nirvana, Lee Ranaldo, Thela (and associated projects), John Coltrane, Surface Of The Earth, Tsurubami, AMM, Yellow Swans, Charalambides, Harry Pussy, Eliane Radigue, Gate, Takehisa Kosugi, R. H. Blyth, Angus Maclise, Royal Trux, Asahito Nanjo, MHFS, Yu Kobayashi, Alan Silva etc etc etc

4. Do you have a top 5 album list, if not, a desert island disc?

Andrew: Ask me some other time and you'll probably get some other list, but 5 albums that have been important to me from time to time are:

Thurston Moore, William Winant & Tom Surgal - Piece For Jetsun Dolma
Surface Of The Earth - Interference
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Lee Ranaldo - East Jesus
Various - Le Jazz Non
Helga:
Sonny Sharrock - Black Women
Amanaz - Africa
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Fela Kuti - Authority Stealing
Can - Future Days

5. How many people do you usually get at an metal rouge live show?

Andrew: That varies dramatically depending on location. Locally it's the same 10 or less people at every show, elsewhere we generally fare better.

6. I've noticed metal rouge have only toured in their own home land and state, are there any plans to venture further afield and perhaps Europe?

Andrew: Nothing concrete at this stage, but it's most definitely on our agenda.

7. The majority of metal rouge massively growing discography is strictly limited and sell out quickly. Are there any plans to reissue the earlier music in the future?

Andrew: With a few exceptions most of it is limited by necessity rather than by design. I'm not big into the idea of limited collectible releases and would like our albums to be available for anyone who wants them. That said, due to the world of file sharing they pretty much are available to anyone who wants them, long before they're even out of print. With that in mind we're concentrating on getting new stuff out there right now rather than reissues. But hey, if there's anyone out there who wants to reissue our back catalogue as deluxe triple gatefold 180gm vinyl pressings, then by all means...

8. You are both involved in separate projects outside of metal rouge. Musically, they are similar and dabble in experimental music. Experimental music has recently took off in America, and one particular sub-genre is New Weird America, or the psychedelic freakfolk of MV&EE and Six Organs of Admittance. There's also a recently created label called Hypnagogic pop where Skaters and Pocahaunted are mentioned. Both labels were created by David Keenan of the Wire magazine. What do you think has inspired this new wave of transcendental experimentalism from America, if one could call it that?
Andrew: Wow. That's a question that could have an essay-length answer. Firstly it has to be acknowledged that 'New Weird America', 'Freak Folk' and 'Hypnogognic Pop' simply don't exist outside of the realm of criticism and analysis. Following a perceived thread through contemporary musical thought and then drawing a circle around the artists you come across is great when you're writing a thesis, but you're cataloging your own visions, not the visions of the artist. Hypnogognic Pop seems to me especially tenuous and laboured - with 'Freak Folk' at least it wasn't too much of a leap to draw a parallel between MV&EE and Six Organs, but can someone please tell me what the hell the Skaters have in common with Pocahaunted? I mean seriously.... There's nothing wrong with writing that explores the trends and patterns in music as they emerge, but it's alarming to see how rapidly some memes become set in stone. The great thing about so much music at the moment is that it is essentially genre-less. Why is it that people are so intent on making new corners that they can neatly tuck artists away into? Is it just human impulse to quantify and catalog? Or is it just that it's harder to sell music without a genre-tag? I don't know... I just find these new genre names so uninspiring - they make it seem like the music is over before it's even begun...
Indeed there seems to be surge of interest in left-field/outsider/experimental forms world wide, including but not limited to America. I'm not sure why exactly - I think there are many reasons. I also think this isn't a sudden thing, it's been growing steadily for years... I think the combination of the sudden tsunami of readily available information on counter cultural/underground history and the sudden availability of complete discographies at yr fingertips for zero down payment via filesharing has a lot to do with it. It's easier than ever before to realize that you're being fed shit and easier than ever before to realize that you too can participate in shaping your culture. I think it's a positive thing.

9. Are there plans to collaborate with other bands, if not, a split release?

Andrew: We're doing a split 10" lathe on Root Don Lonie For Cash with one of Clayton Noone's bands, although I'm not sure which one. No plans to collaborate with anyone at the moment, although we just finished a collaborative track with San Antonio abstract metal maven Husere Grav that will appear on one of his albums...

10. What's the future for metal rouge?

Andrew: Well our old label Seymour Records is no more - the Ephemeroptera Vol. 5 CDR tat we've just put out is both the final in that series and the final release on Seymour. We're starting a new label, Emerald Cocoon the first release on which will be an LP by the trio formation of Metal Rouge (with Caitlin C. Mitchell on drums and trombone), which is currently about halfway done. We hope to put out some non-Metal Rouge things out on it eventually also. We'll be on the Crows Of The World Vol. 3 compilation that Last Visible Dog are putting out sometime, and we're also doing a live CDR on Tim Coster's new Fictitious Sighs label later this year. There's more solo action happening, my solo project Un Ciego has a 7" lathe cut coming out on CMR, and Helga has been recording as Yek Koo recently too which will probably come out at some stage. We have lots more in the works, but I don't like to talk about stuff before I've delivered the masters or I feel like I'm just making shit up...

Metal Rouge is Andrew Scott and Helga Fassonaki. Their latest full-length release "Three for Malachi Ritscher" is available through all good record stores and was released on Root Strata.

http://www.emeraldcocoon.com

http://www.rootstrata.com

Download This! #9

New Weird America

A bustling music scene has taken shape in America. The recorded output from the majority of the bands in this continually expanding roster are mostly all instrumental. Channelling the Velvet Underground into the future doesn't even begin to describe the sound. Carefully selected and incredibly rewarding upon repeated listens. Make sure to see them live when they play your shores and pick up their releases wherever available.

Blues Control » Puff

Starving Weirdos » Shrine of the Post-Hypnotic

Religious Knives » Remains

Ex-Cocaine » Esta Guerra

Annea Lockwood

Download This! #8

Delicate Ebb and Flow of Thunder

These are all wonderfully stretched out single-track albums which make for one singularly incredible journey.

Jingle Note: It is imperative to purchase the music downloaded from Aural Nightmare wherever available.
Oscillation Collaboration

Jonathan Coleclough & Andrew Chalk » Sumac
The music of Andrew Chalk teamed with Jonathan Coleclough. The former is a pristine sound portrayal of sparse and desolate landscapes. Paired with Coleclough, Sumac brings both respective sounds together to form a wholly mammoth 71 minutes extended version of drone.

Charlemagne Palestine & Tony Conrad » An Aural Symbiotic Mystery
From the always excellent Sub Rosa, is this, majestic and magical melding of two Goliaths of minimalism. Simply astounding.

One Touch

Climax Golden Twins » Lovely
A magnificent reworking of older material from the usually abstract avant-garde rock group. With one word to justify its title. And it's not sleep.

The Necks » Drive By
Australian trio with perhaps their greatest single album, most of which are an hour long, this one is no different but each one is different.

The Rattling Cage

Yoshi Wada » The Appointed Cloud
Japanese exploration of a truly dark and menacing sound. Somehow, this, a live recording, is both chilling and rapturous.

Bunker » Bludgeon
Bunker make no bones about how ugly their music sounds, Bludgeon is unrelenting, pounding yet cathartic sense of beauty emerges from its ugliness.

Henry Flynt » C Tune
An incredible vision from one man and his guitar. This, from, Locust, is bold, hypnotic, brash and unprecedented. A strange hybrid of raga and hillbilly: but without the stompin’, blues, soaked in a bitter curmudgeon.

Download This! #7

Han

Derek Bailey / Han Bennink » Han

During March 1986 Dutch drummer Han Bennink and guitarist Derek Bailey played a short tour of London, England, from which this, a two-piece exploration of free jazz, presents Bailey's favourite excerpts.

Necroanal

Reasonably Comprehensive Noise Station

Feat. Doink » Invisible Dead End

http://www.soundclick.com/members/default.cfm?member=necroanal&content=station&id=414791

Spineless Shrinkwrapped CD-R

Hugo Zemp

Download This! #6

The Live Room

A smorgasbord of live unreleased material of which it gives me great pleasure to share. All lifted from music blog websites, credited where due.
» AMM w/ Gunter Hampel Group @ Frankfurt, March 26, 1972
» John Fahey & Jim O’ Rourke @ WNUR, May 30, 1998
» Group Doueh @ Festaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, July, 2009

Download This! #5

Few more bits and pieces

Feeling Good With Annie

Two sides of story-telling interspersed with sing-a-long. This LP is from '82. File under spoken-word, feel good, children's music.

Sinking Infinities » The Life of Riley

Two long tracks make up the third and last album from New Zealand duo Sinking Infinities. Students of the minimalist school where La Monte Young, Tony Conrad, and one Terry Riley graduated. This, from '07, was barely distributed at all.

Download This! #4

"like a neverending acid trip..." Last.fm [deleted user]

The Gamelatron

Download This! #3

Synthesizer, Pt. II: The One's That Got Away

Wendy Carlos » Sonic Seasonings
An electronic pioneer who plays much a part in the electronic music influence of today as yesterday. This, from '72, is the digitally remastered '98 version with three extra tracks which charts the journey through all the seasons. Ambient electronics in all its splendid glory. See also Elaine Radigue, Daphne Oram, and Pauline Oliveros.

Klaus Schulze » Cyborg

One can never get enough of the master electronic musician of Germany. And this, from '73 is certainly a huge display of cosmic electronics.

Tangerine Dream » Phaedra

The classic template of what was to become. Four brooding electronic tracks.

Tonto's Expanding Head Band » Zero Time

Sizzling electronics from American soil as opposed to German, from '71.

David Vorhaus » White Noise 2

The follow-up to An Electric Storm, which is a masterpiece of electronic avant-rock in its own right, came White Noise 2, entitled 'Concerto for Synthesizer'.

Sources of Music Discoveries

Amazon's Listmania!

Amazon's uniquely small, succinct Listmania! feature is a hub to finding out Amazon user submitted list recommendations for all of the items the website stocks; from electrical goods, household accessories, maternal pursuits to everything you ever wanted to know about tea*. Then, of course, are the music obsessed user submitted lists, of which there are plenty. To give you a better idea as to how they work, here is a small handful of Listmania! lists:

Download This! #3

Goodbye Teletext

A Synth-Based Top 10

Klaus Schulze » X
Released in '78. This double album and its predecessors alike (Irrlicht, Cyborg, & Blackdance) from renowned German electronic musician and arguably the first, stand the test of time as truly innovative synth space explorations of electronic music.

Bernard Xolotl » Journey To An Oracle

Making New Age sound like Old Age, this, from '77 is remarkably unlike any other of its ilk. Heavenly electronics.

Tangerine Dream » Rubycon

Highly influential period from one of the electronic ambient pioneers.

Steve Hillage » Rainbow Dome Musick

For this release, Steve Hillage, hailing from England, took what could be done with a rock guitar and made electronic rock music sound organic.

The Orb » The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld

The music of the Orb has many levels fit for both the dance floor and a Sunday morning hangover. Truly a monumental electronic masterpiece from the early '90s.

Jean-Michel Jarre » Oxygene

'76 and ahead of its time, Oxygene is an intelligent exercise in electronics from J.M. Jarre.

Kraftwerk » Autobahn

From their humble beginnings (Kraftwerk 1 and Kraftwerk 2) to successfully making the most extraordinary songs in the electronic pop genre, Kraftwerk really are Germany's greatest gift to electronic music.

Pyschick Warriors Ov Gaia » Ov Biospheres & Sacred Grooves

PWOG were a Dutch band active in the early '90s that manoeuvred strong, solid electronic sounds into a pulsating, energetic and primitive whole.

Morton Subotnick » The Wild Bull

One of the very first artists experimenting with electronics which still sound relevant and fresh as I imagine it did upon its release in the '70s.

Future Sound Of London » Lifeforms

'94 saw the release of this double album from The Future Sound Of London with endearingly quality electronic sounds fit for both dance floors and come-downs everywhere.

Download This! #2

Few bits and pieces.

 First up is The Wind Harp » Song from the Hill. Little known information gleaned from this apart from the fact that the LP was released in 1972, features a group of hippie musicians and a wind harp. Just under 1 ½ hours of incredibly soothing drone from the USofA. The following write-up is lifted from Aeolian harp via Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian_harp

In 1972, Chuck Hancock and Harry Bee recorded a giant 30 foot tall Aeolian harp designed and built by 22 year-old Thomas Ward McCain on a hilltop in Chelsea, Vermont. United released their double LP entitled The Wind Harp - Song From The Hill. (An excerpt of this recording appears in the movie The Exorcist.)

Next up is Volume 41 in the World Network series which sees a collection of music culled from Romania entitled Wild Sounds from Transylvania, Wallachia & Moldavia. An unusual array of versatile instruments and musicians alike, most notably; a violin with a horn.

Penultimate Download This! #2 is Water Music of South India. Again, very little information is to be found about this.

Finally, a collaboration between Ukranian group The Moglass and USA's Tom Carter and Vanessa Arn entitled Snake-Tongued Swallow-Tailed. Ghostly, eerie excursions into the furthest of rock and avant-garde terrorities.

NB: This release is now OOP.

More photos and further information can be found here:

Download This! #1

             » Blog Archive

              » La Monte Young - Just Charles & Cello in The Romantic Chord

"The new work was composed specifically for Charles Curtis, who has studied the performance technique with Young in the guru-disciple method of oral transmission over a period of years."

Useful Links

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Doink Discography

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Music Blogs

 Support Artists! Buy Records!
Featured on Aural Nightmare
La Monte Young/MELA Foundation/http://www.melafoundation.org

The Moglass/http://www.nexsound.org/rel.html

Tom Carter/Wholly Other/http://www.wholly-other.com

Vanessa Arn
World Network/http://www.worldmusic.net
The Wind Harp
FSOL/Future Sound of London/http://www.futuresoundoflondon.com
Morton Subotnick/http://www.mortonsubotnick.com
PWOG/Psychic Warriors ov Gaia

Kraftwerk/http://www.kraftwerk.com
Jean-Michel Jarre/http://www.jeanmicheljarre.com
The Orb
Steve Hillage
Tangerine Dream/http://www.tangerinedream.org
Bernard Xolotl/http://www.bernardxolotl.com
Klaus Schulze/http://www.klaus-schulze.com
David Vorhaus
Tonto's Expanding Head Band/http://www.tontosexpandingheadband.com
Wendy Carlos/http://www.wendycarlos.com
Vibracathedral Orchestra/http://www.vibracathedral.co.uk
Sinking Infinities
Derek Bailey
Han Bennink/http://www.hanbennink.com
Henry Flynt/http://www.henryflynt.org
Bunker
Yoshi Wada
The Necks/http://www.thenecks.com
Climax Golden Twins/http://www.climaxgoldentwins.com
Charlemagne Palestine
Tony Conrad
Andrew Chalk
Jonathan Coleclough/http://www.coleclough.plus.com
Ex-Cocaine/http://www.killertree.com
Religious Knives/http://www.religiousknives.com
Starving Weirdos/http://www.starvingweirdos.com
Blues Control

The Heads/http://www.theheadsrock.com