OOIOO (pronounced oh-oh-eye-oh-oh linguistics fans) is the all-girl quartet headed up by Yoshimi of The Boredoms (also immortalised in song by The Flaming Lips). However, don’t expect quirky pop-punk like Shonen Knife or quirky pop-rock ‘n’ roll a-la The 5, 6, 7, 8’s. OOIOO seem hell bent on pushing the boat out sonically and trashing any kind of genre convention. What is their music? There are little hints of post-punk, krautrock, post-rock and things not yet invented. With OOIOO the music leads the way, with vocals seemingly casually added on, like just another instrument taking part in a shared creative process. If I’m making it all sound arty, laboured or pretentious, then I am doing OOIOO a great disservice, as this album bounds along with energy, joy, innovation and is very danceable for a left-of-centre rock album thanks to some awesome drumming. “Green And Gold” is great fun to listen to and will surprise and delight in equal amounts.
a small chat with Jean-Hervé Peron of Faust!
Jean-Hervé Peron is a man who should need no introduction.However, it would be rude and lazy of me not to. It is now 35 years since Faust began their extraordinary transmissions from the studio. We, the world, are still scratching our heads and trying to work out where this music came from. How can we ever nail it down with such crude weapons as words? Listening to the works of Faust makes you crave for more words in the language to try and express what is happening to your ears.Jean-Hervé Peron is part of the multi-headed beast that is Faust. At the time of writing, he is part of a new line-up of Faust with Zappi and Ulan Bator members Amaury Cambuzat and Olivier Manchion.This new line-up played at Jean-Hervé’s Avante-Garde Fiesta in September 2005 alongside the likes of Uli Trepte (Guru Guru), Ectogram, Chris Cutler (Henry Cow, Art Bears), Charles Hayward (This Heat, Camberwell Now) and a set from Ulan Bator. The festival took place near Hamburg/Lubeck and Jean-Hervé even arranged for festival goers to be collected from the nearby railway station and airport (and cheapo airline Ryanair fly there!), so it shouldn’t have hurt the bank too much for anyone.Next up is the ‘Faust in Autumn’ tour of the UK and Ireland to come, so it is all go right now.I e-mailed Jean-Hervé a few questions by e-mail. Here is his response.Jean-Hervé: Hi Ned. Some among us have had the privilege to be visited by the Sacred Fire, this for no evident reason; as the seed blindly falls here or there, so Inspiration visits him or her without distinction: it just happens. It is even useless to hope for it or to prepare for it.Nonetheless, the duration and the intensity of this state of soul depends, without a doubt but only to a certain extend, on our personal behavior and on outer circumstances. This fire kissed me, devoured me. I have known love, jubilation, innocence. Within this period Faust was born.What happened then to this Fire, to Faust, and what will I become?For the sake of laughing, I shall say that, the fire being eternal, it does not bother about my whereabouts. Faust, being what it will be, remains what it was, with or without me; And as far as I am concerned, dear Ned, although I still do not fear to lose neither my teeth nor my time, it is undeniable that they inexorably abandon me and time seems somehow to bypass me. I must confess I am almost fully responsible for this, as my own philosophy tells me we are, consciously or unconsciously, the own makers of the circumstances around us. Of course, there are still the divine or banal unforeseenables such as… for example… for example…Ned: What are your current musical projects?Jean-Hervé: I am ever so glad to say that I have so many projects at the moment, the most actual being an avant garde festival in mid september. My beloved wife Carina and myself organize events regularly and this one is going to be fantastic. Check the line-up! Besides this immediate project, I am preparing the ‘Faust in Autumn’ UK tour for October and November. The ‘machine’ is a bit rusty so we are having some problems here and there. But we’ll get by with a little help from our friends, like the members of the Faust-Pages or Ankst Records or you.I am finishing the cd box of Collectif Met(z) it will be a box of three CDs plus a cd-video, the story of our encounters with Ulan Bator in 1995 and then 2005.I have started my own website Art-Errorist and I am developing my merchandising. That includes the re-productions of past live concerts, very old documents, collaborations with various artists. Oooh that is so exciting, and a lot of work.It is getting in shape though!What else? Well we have a big house with a big garden and we have five children and a few grandchildren. Keeps you busy, all this.Ned: How important is being independent to achieving your maximum creativity as an artist?Jean-Hervé: “Independent”? You mean financially independent? I am broke man, poorer than the poorest church-mouse as we say in Germany. This financial state is more inspiring than anything else.Or you mean mentally independent? Yes, I am free in my head. I think it is called inhibited? I have no problem with making a fool of myself, I feel I am the center of the world and I don’t feel it’s wrong to think this way; I have managed to get over the top after a mighty depression caused by past problems related with Faust. Well I do not know whether I achieve the ‘maximum of my creativity’ or not but I know it is extremely liberating/fulfilling to create music.Ned: How exposed are you to popular culture?Jean-Hervé: I am extroverted and thus I do expose myself quite openly to whatever comes my way, let it be a group of kids shouting or a klezmer band going wild or a pig eating or a concrete-mixer churning peacefully or the radio turned on to any channel according to the hazard of the moment.Ned: Given the chance, would you allow the mainstream to embrace you? For instance, would you accept a support slot with U2 or allow your music to be used for an iPod commercial?Jean-Hervé: I have heard that U2 is a very good band but they would never accept to play as a support act for Faust. or do you mean faust supporting U2? It would not be suitable. The audience would not be prepared: no I would not do it.My music being used as a commercial? Yes. I have done this already. I do not feel bad about it. I would NOT sell my music to a firm that I reject for reasons of ethics. I do not care about money in general.Ned: How did you first come across Ulan Bator?Jean-Hervé: Through Olivier Manchion who contacted us 1994 maybe, very quickly a friendship developed between us. We did a gig in Metz, France 1995. They helped us in our tour 1994 when I decided to withdraw from the tour.Ned: As half of Ulan Bator are now in Faust, will there be a full Ulan Bator show before Faust concerts on this forthcoming tour?Jean-Hervé: No. Ectogram will be supporting us. I like them very much. They give me strength. They spread vibes of love and dedication. I am glad they accept to support us on this difficult come-back.Olivier and Amaury and Zappi and myself melt into Faust.Ned: What was working with Michael Gira (on Ego:Echo) like?Jean-Hervé: I sat early in the morning at the door of the recording studio. No one around yet, I blew my trumpet. They arrived. I went into the studio. Olivier sat beside me. I played one ton. A long time. Somebody in the mixing room liked it. It was done then. I left. I did not see him.Ned: Who do you most admire from popular culture?Jean-Hervé: Edith PiafNed: How do you feel about the strong interest in Kosmische music and it’s influence on music’s present mainstream?Jean-Hervé: It is an absolute natural phenomenon: we were avant garde 30 years ago. Now we are simply modern, soon we will be out of date. But I’ll be dead before I get old.C’est le printemps chez les herbivores! Love and respect.
AOKI Takamasa + Tujiko Noriko – 28
“28” is a collaboration of intuitively beautiful music. It is a marriage of the electronic and the voice. This album holds a warmth and soulfulness rarely encountered in digital electronica. The gorgeous, haunting vocals of Noriko are treated too at times with stuttering, layering and subtle effects. Digital funk underpins the laid-back soundscapes they create. It’s a wonderful collaboration that builds a whole world between your speakers (or in the space between your headphones). The musical marriage of cutting edge digital sound and the human voice makes a match in heaven.
LUNZ “LUNZ/REINTERPRETATIONS”`
Lunz is a collaboration between Grammy nominated composer Tim Story and Hans-Joachim Roedelius. For anyone not yet familiar with Rodelius contributions to German cosmic music, I’d recommend Cluster “Cluster II” and Harmonia “Musik Von Harmonia” as excellent starting points.
However, enough of the past, let us move on to the present. What does Lunz sound like? The music is dominated by the piano with subtle, analogue electronic accompaniment which at times serves the same purpose as an orchestra playing some of Gorecki’s more minimalist symphonies. Not until “Wobbly Flu Twilight” do the electronics begin to raise their head a little higher and take the lead. By the time we get to “Akimbo” they’re dominating the experience, rumbling along like some kind of classical music meets dub.
U2’s The Edge [2022 note: I was quoting him to try and give the music mainstream mass appeal] described this album as “A beautiful train ride of a record” but to me it’s less of trip and more of a story. It sounds like the soundtrack to some fantastic film, a journey of inner discovery and realisation like “American Beauty” but with a rural setting. The album “Lunz” has a great beauty and a gentle strength that overwhelms. This is not the sound of a man chasing past glories but a powerful and fresh piece of work, packed with inspiration and charm.
Although in some territories, “Lunz” and “Reinterpretations” are sold separately, in others they come as a double CD pack. “Reinterpretations” sees a varied array of remixes. Forget any notions of “dance remixes”, for all these reworkings seek to represent the music in a new guise but none of them seem to be trying to ‘work the dancefloor’. Instead, the remixes seem to be coming more from the leftfield, with people like former Fridge member Adem keeping large elements of the original and adding his own vocals, as does Half Cousin. Astrid Kane chips in a great remix which adds in Lloyd Cole on vocals and Manchester’s current finest Elbow also do their own remix. One of the most striking things about these remixes is how faithful they all seem to be. All of the songs are still recognisable, have a similar spirit but each one has the remixes own personality stamped onto it.
2022 note: the Bandcamp embed below is for a recent reissue of just the original album but remastered and with bonus tracks
LOOKING AT GOD’S PENIS
AMON DUUL II – “PHALLUS DEI” DVD
I mistakenly believed the only German cosmic DVD around was the “Can DVD” but when I spotted this one on Piccadilly Record’s website, my heart leapt – another live kosmische DVD? So, I went into the shop when I was in Manchester and took a look. £17 for a DVD of Amon Düül II performing the title track from their debut album “Phallus Dei”. That’s it. Mind you, as the track clocks in at nearly 25 minutes and Wim Wenders was one of the camera crew, I decided to go mad and buy it.
The film captures the band, before they released their debut album, playing a frenzied live session of “Phallus Dei”. Let’s begin with the negative points first. The sound and picture quality are not of today’s standards. There’s a noticeable hiss in the sound and the film is grainy. Still, it’s an underground film from 1969, not bloody Star Wars, so what do you expect? Let’s concentrate on the positives here and there’s plenty to chew on. Firstly, “Phallus Dei” is one of my favourite Amon Düül II tracks and this live rendition explodes with energy. The cinematography is defiantly different. A mixture of the band playing live, sunrise, sunset and even a few blackouts. The band footage doesn’t zoom or pan, but band members wander in and out of the frame.
There can be no doubt that this DVD is a little bit on the expensive side but it is a fantastic historical document – a collision of pioneering greats of both music and film. Sure, it may lack the razzle-dazzle of the “Can DVD”, it’s is still well worth getting your mitts on it. It stands up well to repeated viewings and if you buy & support this, who knows what other DVDs may come out of the woodwork?
CAN – FUTURE DAYS / SOON OVER BABALUMA / LANDED / UNLIMITED EDITION
I’m delighted to say that today the latest Can remasters arrived. To say I was happy was an understatement. Landing on my desk at work were “Future Days”, “Soon Over Babaluma, “Landed” amd “Unlimited Edition”. All 4 are packaged in exactly the same manner as the previous 4, with plenty of previously unseen photos, new sleeve notes and exceedingly good sound remastering.
I had only heard these albums on the previous CD issues, never on vinyl, so to hear these versions is like having an extra dimension added. A giant step closer to how those elusive records must sound.
Ambling through these 4 recordings, you can feel the evolution of Can. For a start, “Future Days” was their last album with their second vocalist, Damo Suzuki. For me, the marked difference with “Future Days” is that they seem to be slipping into a groove. The songs feel more affable, more laid-back but never lazy. There’s an overwhelmingly peaceful feel to this album. Could this really be the same band who recorded “Aumgn”? It’s more the band who made “Bring Me Coffe Or Tea”. Confident, laid-back but as innovative as ever.
On “Soon Over Babaluma”, they find themselves stripped down to the essential musical 4-piece that many view as the heart of Can. However, as soon as guitar wizard Michael Karoli takes the microphone for the aptly named “Dizzy Dizzy”, it becomes clear that Can have been completely unfazed by any departure. “Soon Over Babaluma” sees Can flirt teasingly with more conventional song structures, only to leave their typical forward-looking vision all over them. “Come sta, La Luna” sounds like a cross between Latin jazz, an Eastern european funeral lament and reggae. “Splash” again has a slight Latin feel to the keyboards, while Karoli teases impossible sounds out of his instrument (it’s hard to tell if he’s playing a guitar or a violin, such is his unique style). Meanwhile, Jaki & Holger bash out a frantic, nevous amphetamine rhythm.
“Landed” meanwhile sees Can take a veracious bite into rock. The album leaps into life with the big sing along of “Full Moon On The Highway”. I have to admit to being previously a bit suspect about “Landed” but hearing it here in top notch sound, it’s qualities become a lot more aparent. “Vernal Equinox” sees Karoli doing the same kind of guitar shamanism that marked him so highly on “Mother Sky” while Hogler & Jaki get frantic and Irmin gets off into the voids of space. “Red Hot Indians” is a bizare, tribal, funk stomp and “Half Past One” is the kind of psychedelia that only Can could conjure up. Of course, there’s still outrageous journies into inner space such as “Unfinished” which is over 13 minutes of Can at their furthest from earth.
One of the joys of Can is that they never made albums that sounded even remotely similar. Hell, even over the course of one album you were served such a banquet of sounds that it was hard to credit that you were listening to 1 bands’ studio album and not a well-crafted mix tape. So, when you tuck into “Unlimited Edition” which is a compilation of 19 unreleased tracks from 1968 to 1975, you know you’re in a pretty wild place. It’s got tracks with their two very distinctive vocalists, Malcolm Mooney (on 4 songs) & Damo Sazuki (on 5 songs) and introduces their E.F.S. (Ethnological Forgery Series). With the CD filled up to the brim (1 hour, 17 minutes and 31 seconds worth of Can), this is a CD that can’t let you down. It’s always a major sign of a major talent when the stuff they throw away is better than the stuff most people release.
These remastered editions really are a joy to own. They work in normal CD players, but give it that little extra when popped in a SACD player. Whatever your thoughts about CDs as a format, these remasters are essential if we want Can to be embraced by a generation that doesn’t embrace vinyl. It’s proof that we are not wrong about this music to see such care and attention lavished on it. If you’ve already got these albums on vinyl and don’t own a SACD player, then you probably needn’t worry too much about buying these, but if you have just downloaded them or bought the earlier CDs or if [SHOCK] you don’t own them at all then get your arse down to your local record shop and buy these. They may be a little dearer than this weeks chart releases, but you know for a fact that you are going to be playing them for a very long time!
Cranes – Particles & Waves
Brief history lesson, Cranes first came to prominence in 1990 with their debut release for Dedicated the “Inescapable” EP. They had the misfortune to find themselves suddenly hyped hysterically, lumped in with the shoegazing scene by some lazy music journos and then, to top it all off, even got labelled as goths by some of the even duller hacks. All of which was pretty outrageous stuff. Cranes were a breath of fresh air in the stodgy early 90’s music scene. Innovative and atmospheric, their unique sound fused classical influences and some very obscure rock ones. It was music to loose yourself in, with Alison’s indecipherable lyrics leaving the mind free to imagine and more often than not conjured images of faded grandeur, like Shelley’s “Ozymandias”.
So, 14 years on from their emergence, where are Cranes now? Their influence can be felt all over the leftfield from bands like Mum, Sigur Ros and many more. However, the band themselves continue to chart new sonic territories and continue to unnerve and delight in equal measure. Nowadays, they’re as comfortable using their guitars as they are electronics and the sound now covers a broader range than before. Gentle electronics, acoustic strummings, big dubby sounds, haunting pianos, spacey guitars and
Alison’s haunting voice all fuse beautifully. “Particles & Waves” is classic Cranes – intelligent, moving, surprising and original.
!!! – Louden Up Now
Rhythm is rebellion. From the first blasts of rhythm and blues to the beat generation right up to acid house, the simple act of dancing has constantly been sidelined by society as an extreme act of defiance. On first hearing the sounds of electronic Detroit back in the 80’s, it sounded shocking. People are still shocked to this day by Can’s tight rhythmic Krautrock.
On the back of all this arrive !!! (pronounced chk chk chk), a band who’s very name looks like an act of defiance. Although they hail from Sacramento, most of them now live in New York, hence last year’s classic single “Me and Giuliani Down By The School Yard (A True Story)”, the song where the band blast off into wild funk in the great tradition of Talking Heads, Happy Mondays and Can while the singer blasts into New York’s draconian dancing laws. It all fits, the defiance of the dance. This album encapsulates all of the above. The rhythm, the rebel and rock ‘n’ roll. This is bloody essential. From the whigged out electronics of “King’s Weed” to the foul-mouthed funky freak-out of “Pardon My Freedom”, this album is bursting with attitude and invention.
Mice Parade – Obrigado Saudade
This album may have a January release date but there’s a mood to this album that suggests the inspiration lies in the last days of Summer. Looking at the press release, it says about the Brazilian title that apparently ‘Obrigado’ means ‘thank you’ whilst ‘Saudade’ is not a word that can be directly translated but is to do with “something between nostalgia, homesickness and lovesickness”. As you can imagine, there’s some beautiful music with a sunny kind of sadness pervading it. Multi-instrumentalist Adam Pierce plays a wide variety of instruments on here with great flourish. You can hear a great many kindred spirits in the music. There’s elements of Four Tet, Bark Psychosis, a pinch of My Bloody Valentine. ‘Obrigado Saudade’ is a gorgeous album rich in magic and music.
A Small Good Thing – Imaginary Westerns Vol.II
A SMALL GOOD THING – “IMAGINARY WESTERNS VOL II” (LEAF LABEL)
It all sounds very implausible, a film director from London, a psychiatric nurse from Leeds and a gas fitter from Hull. Together they hook up as A Small Good Thing and make incredible sound-scapes. Nods abound to sources as diverse as classical music, Western soundtracks, ambient acoustics and the vibe of great Western outdoors (among others). It might sound a bit bloated and pompous, but the whole project is handled with great subtlety and understatement. The atmospherics are heavy and the key words seem to be melancholy and minimalism.
Just when you are beginning to think this is a chill-out album ‘El Mariachi Loco’ bursts into a Mexican brass dance for a fleeting moment. However, this contrasts nicely with the dark, industrial landscapes of ‘Slow Rotating Machine’. As you can guess by the title, the images conjured up by this album all relate to the alternative West. The fact that the album’s most haunting moment, ‘Richard Brautigan’, is named after one of America’s great alternative writers – a man who could amuse, enthrall and disturb – serves as a strong pointer to this album’s inspiration. Dark, widescreen sounds for the early hours