idiedtrying - For When I'm Gone, From While I'm Here

#194) idiedtrying - For When I'm Gone, From While I'm Here (2011)

1. Opening Credits
2. The Cactus Planter
3. The Distance Between Falling and Flying
4. Somewhere Beneath the Sunshine
5. The Distance Between Falling and Flying
6. SoHelpMeGod
7. Ending Credits

Harpoon - Deception Among Birds

#193) Harpoon - Deception Among Birds (2011)

 1. To the Tall Trees
2. Prequel to a Lifetime of Dissapointment
3. Dreadnaught
4. Phlegm
5. Troglodyte's Delight
6. The Cut of His Jib
7. Shit Wizard
8. Deception Among Birds

Harpoon's 2nd and most recent album. in the 2 years since they released Double Gnarly/Triple Suicide  they've improved by leaps and bounds. they've added a 3rd member to the band in D.J. Barraca (bassist for Lair of the Minotaur, another great Chicago band that i'll be getting to soon). i don't know if that has anything to do with the sound change but i'm happy either way.

(if anyone cares, "To the Tall Trees" is the track off the Locrian split that i mentioned in my last post. i should've probably mentioned that then...)

Harpoon - Double Gnarly/Triple Suicide

Like Flies The Lies Swarm Around Your Head

#192) Harpoon - Double Gnarly/Triple Suicide (2009)

 1. Company Man
2. Lefty
3. The Midget and the Duchess
4. The Cacographer
5. Walter Reuther
6. Buddy System
7. Sloth-Ass
8. Frogs, Boils, Locusts...
9. Throngs
10. Bad Beekeeping
11. You Should Be Longer
12. The Difficulty in Listening to the Elderly

i first heard these guys on a split they did with Locrian. they're a 2 man drum machine grind band from Chicago featuring Toney Vast-Binder (of 7000 Dying Rats) on vocals and Dean Costello handling guitar, bass and drum programming. at times it reminded me a bit of Plague Bringer but the riffs aren't as good and the vocals are occasionally a little...i dunno, sometimes i just don't dig 'em. overall it's a pretty rad album though.

Uw Hypotheekadvies - Nature or Nurture

#191) Uw Hypotheekadvies - Nature or Nurture (2008)

 1. De Magneet
 2. -8 Doublures (Part Two)
 3. Bela
 4. (D. Turpin/B. Rogers)
 5. De Kandidaten
 6. Helmut Wagner
 7. Rennen Ruud!!!
 8. -8 Doublures (Part One)
 9. Zonder Laura
 10. De Hit
 11. Iedereen Moet Wel

noisy as hell experimental rock from the Netherlands. in the cd case it says that "all songs and improvisations" were recorded in September/October. i don't know if that means the tracks are all improv or if some stuff was written and some improv-ed or what the deal is but the results are pretty sweet. limited to 400 copies, it's definitely worth checking out if you can get your hands on it.

Nadja/Black Boned Angel

#190) Nadja/Black Boned Angel (2009)

 1. I
 2. II

another Nadja collaboration, this time with Black Boned Angel, whose album Verdun was the 3rd album i posted about here.
the violent noise/drone doom of Black Boned Angel combines perfectly with Nadja's dreamsludge to give us two 20+ minute tracks of brutally heavy noisy doom. these guys really play off each other well. i know they've worked together on at least one other album, i'll have to try and track it down. this was great stuff, i hope these guys continue to work together.

Psychic TV - Live in Basildon

#189) Psychic TV - Live in Basildon (2011)

 1. Thee Degenerate
 2. She Touched Me
 3. Unclean
 4. Riot in Thee Eye Ov Sky
 5. Southern Comfort
 6. Roman P.
 7. Retinal
 8. Ov Power
 9. Godstar

in my previous post about the Psychic TV Themes box i mentioned that you got a 7th disc if you ordered directly from Cold Springs, this is it. it was recorded on July 13 1986 at the Basildon Peace Festival in Gloucester Park, Basildon UK. musically it's not really like the Themes box at all and is more on the industrial/goth rock side, which i like but unfortunately the sound is pretty bad. it sounds like a bootleg and is even kinda glitchy at times. i guess i shouldn't complain too much since it was "free" but it's probably not a disc i'll revisit any time soon.

Psychic TV - Themes box set

#183 - 188) Psychic TV - Themes box set (2011)

Disc 1 - Themes
 1. Piano and Clarinet
 2. 23 Tibetan Human Thigh Bones
 3. Cowbell, Bicycle Wheels and Vibes
 4. New Guinea Headhunters Pipe, Large and Small Drum
 5. Piano and String Machine
 6. Recording made at Jonestown, Guyana at the time of the suicides
 7. African Initiation Drum and Animal Tusk Horn
 8. Various Temple Bells, Gongs, Cymbals and Vibes

Disc 2 - Themes 2
 1. Themes 2 part one
 2. Themes 2 part two
 3. Themes 2 part three
 Unclean
 4. Unclean
 5. Mirrors
 6. Unclean Monks


Disc 3 - Themes 2: A Prayer for Derek Jarman
 1. The Loops of Mystical Union
 2. Elipse of Flowers
 3. Mylar Breeze (Parts 1 and 2)
 4. Mylar Breeze (Part 3)
 5. Prayer for Derek
 6. Rites of Reversal

Disc 4 - Themes 3
 1. ???
 2. ???

Disc 5 - Themes 3 part 2
 1. ?
 2. ?
 3. ?
 4. ?
 5. ?
 6. ?
 7. ?
 8. ?
 9. ?

 Disc 6 - Themes 4: Lady Jaye
 1. I'm Making a Mirror
 2. I Like the Holidays (A Children's Story)
 3. Gobbledegook
 4. Mother Jack (A Children's Story)
 5. Candy Factory
 6. I Love You, I Know
 7. This is the Final War

Psychic Tv is the band Genesis P-Orridge formed after Throbbing Gristle. i love TG but for some reason i never really got into PTV. i decided to start with this 6 disc (or 7 discs if you order it directly from the label) set. i had only heard a few PTV tracks but nothing like what was in this set. here's what Cold Spring has to say about it:

For the first time, all THEMES albums by PSYCHIC TV released together, in a sumptuous, matt laminate, spot-varnished box set. The music itself was designed not only as soundtrack but also for subsequent use by Initiates of The Temple Ov Psychick Youth in their rituals as Functional music intended only to aid in the process of making things happen. It is a practical tool. Thee essential collection of rare, archive and modern PTV ritual / esoteric musick!
Each CD has been carefully remastered and is presented in it’s own matt laminate, spot-varnished mini-LP sleeve. The box also includes a 32-page booklet of rare photos and essays.
“Themes” was originally released in 1982 as a limited bonus LP with the first 5000 copies of the legendary PSYCHIC TV album “Force The Hand Of Chance”. Musicians: Stan Bingo, Peter Christopherson (Coil, Throbbing Gristle, Soisong), Genesis P-Orridge, and David Tibet (Current 93).
“Themes 2″ was originally released on LP in 1985 by Temple Records and subsequently reissued as an extended CD version by Cold Spring in 1997. Musicians: Genesis P-Orridge, Alex Fergusson, John Gosling (Zos Kia, Coil, Mekon). “Themes 2″ is presented here as a 2 CD set, including the full vinyl version – plus the original “Unclean” 12″ and it`s two B side tracks that were recorded in the same sessions.
“Themes 3″ was originally released on LP in 1986 by Temple Records and is presented here for the first time on CD, completely remastered. Musicians: Genesis P-Orridge, John Gosling (Zos Kia, Coil, Mekon), Mark Sangerman, Monte Cazazza. “Themes 3″ is presented here as a 2 CD set, with an unheard, yet legendary version performed in Boston, US by Genesis P-Orridge and John Gosling under the title of “Pagan Easter”.
“Themes 4″ is a brand new Psychic TV album, recorded by the late partner of Genesis P-Orridge, Lady Jaye and Psychic TV. Compiled by Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Ryan Martin and Bryin Dall. Musicians: Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Larry Thrasher, Bryin Dall.

each track on Themes 1 is named after what the recording contains. the liner notes state that "Almost all the instruments used were acoustic but many of them have specifically ritual or Psychic properties and that is why we chose to use them. Certainly the illogical intensity of these recordings far exceeds those made with conventional acoustic instruments."
as mentioned in the statement from Cold Spring this album was recorded as both a soundtrack to The Temple of Psychick Youth's First Transmission and as "Functional music intended to aid in the process of making things happen."
i really dug these tracks, especially "Tibetan Human Thigh Bones".

Themes 2 collects tracks used in Derek Jarman films while Themes 2: A Prayer for Derek Jarman collects tracks that were used but were previously unreleased. the liner notes state that while Themes 1 was to be used "at the time it was released within ritual to try and consistently generate certain psychic states...", Themes 2 is to be used as "a facilitator of internal psychic and emotional observation."
there's a lot of cool experimentation throughout these tracks and a couple more straightforward pieces, i'm interested to see the films they were written for.

Themes 3 Disc 1 is a live recording of Thee Temple of Psychick Youth done on April 22 and 23, 1984 in Chicago. it was an event featuring "almost 20 video monitors, slides, super 8 films and video projections" presented "in an assemblage manner that made it impossible to focus on more than a third of the images at any one time." it was set up this way with the intent to answer the question "does the leakage from the edge of vision find a more direct path to the 'subconscious' and result in a more primal and evocative effect?"
Themes 3 Disc 2 is a previously unheard alternate version of the set on disc 1 that was recorded April 22 1984 in Boston. it was almost entirely pre-recorded tape and video.
they're both cool records, it's a shame there's no video of either performance though.

Themes 4: Lady Jaye is a disc that collects tracks that were all written by Lady Jaye. Cold Springs says it's a new album but it's more of a "rarities" collection with 2 previously unreleased tracks. 

all in all it's a rad box set and is worth picking up for Genesis' liner notes alone.












































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KMFDM - What Do You Know, Deutschland?

Es Ist Existenz Mit Schwerer Konsequenz

#182) KMFDM - What Do You Know, Deutschland? (1986)

 1. Kickin' Ass
 2. Me I Funk
 3. What Do You Know?
 4. Zip
 5. Conillon
 6. Itchy Bitchy
 7. Deutsche Schuld
 8. Sieg Sieg
 9. Positiv
 10. Lufthans
 11. Itchy Bitchy (Dance Version)
 12. The Unrestrained Use of Excessive Force

so Adam's choice for the theme is "2nd Chances".

i got into KMFDM in the mid-90s when Juke-Joint Jezebel was a big single on the radio. i picked up a couple albums and loved them. later i borrowed this one, which is their debut, from a friend. i was very disappointed. where were all the cool beats and rad metal-ish riffs? this was nothing like the other albums i had listened to. instead of the beats and riffs there were..shitty basslines and simple drum machine patterns. the lyrics were pretty stupid and for the most part didn't seem as aggressive. i listened to it once and gave it back.

when Adam decided on 2nd chances i figured this would be a good time to check out the album again. i picked up the 2006 remaster version that includes the original tracklist plus the tracks that were included on various re-issues and the Kickin' Ass single. there are also some great liner notes that give a little backstory on the recording of this album and where all the tracks come from. as for the music, i appreciate it a lot more than i did. they did some pretty cool stuff with limited resources. unfortunately i still think that the lyrics are pretty shitty. although Zip, which is a warning about zipping up your dick, is fairly amusing. 

while it doesn't compare to 90s era KMFDM, or even the current line-up, and the stupid lyrics ruin Raymond Watts' (oh yeah, i forgot to mention that Raymond Watts was pretty much a full member of the band at this point and recorded most of the record as well) awesome voice, it's actually a pretty rad album. initially i viewed it as a shitty start to an awesome band but now i think it's cool to hear how different these guys were when they started out.

Nadja/Troum - Dominium Visurgis

#181) Nadja/Troum - Dominium Visurgis (2010)

 1. Part 1
 2. Part 2
 3. Part 3

this is a collaboration between Nadja and the German experimental/drone outfit Troum. i'm not super familiar with Troum but i've heard a couple tracks and dug what i've heard. anyway, the back of the record states that the album is the "result of a spontaneous improvisation" in a studio in Germany and that there were no overdubs or processing or anything made after. Parts 1 & 2 are drone-y experimental pieces while Part 2 is more of a Nadja track. overall it's a cool record, it's a shame there's no video of them in the studio though.

King Creosote + Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine

#180) King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine (2011)

 1. First Watch
 2. John Taylor's MOnth Away
 3. Bats in the Attic
 4. Running on Fumes
 5. Bubble
 6. Your Own Spell
 7. Your Young Voice


it's crossover time again. this time it was Adam's pick. he hasn't done his post on this album yet so i'm gonna keep mine brief.
this is a collaboration between singer/songwriter King Creosote from Scotland and English electronic artist Jon Hopkins. i'd never heard of either of these guys before and really had no idea of what to expect so i was pleasantly surprised to find the album was a kind of blend of folk/pop and electronics. i really enjoyed the mellow, sometimes melancholy arrangements. it's a great summer downer album. i also really enjoyed Creosote's voice, it sounds very familiar at times but i can't quite place it. 
i would definitely check out each members solo stuff.