I'm not particularly sure myself of his work, I really have heard little from this side of RIO.


But this is something I have had sitting around for a long time, have not listened to it a whole great deal, but is kind of enjoyable.

1979

L. Voag, THE WAY OUT
It should be that calling a piece of music "punk rock" is much more specific than calling it simply "punk"; after all, the former term clarifies that this isn't classical, isn't jazz, isn't koto music. Yet mostly, the basic punk concept--- "I don't _want_ to pay for no goddamn lessons first!"--- was and is a rock concept, and the punkiest-sounding, most defiant efforts in other genres are, in fact, devised by people who've spent thousands, even tens of thousands, of hours becoming fully masterful at the traditions they wish to subvert. And L. Voag, at first, was yet another primitive driven to rock, leading the punk band The Homosexuals. But it didn't take him more than a year or two to ask himself "why can't a beginner-level jazz bassist, a bad clarinetist, a bad gypsy-violinist, an enthusiastic fledgling drummer or two, and an incompetent but versatile singer like me make jazz music?". It was a good question, and to judge by the evidence of this Wayside Music disc, he must've answered something like "because it would sound cruddy. But that's what studio tricks are for!".
THE WAY OUT is a fairly quiet album anchored by thoroughly convincing, if simple, jazz bass and by quasi-jazz drums that are interesting because of miking oddities, weird artificial volume alterations, fake reverb or deadening applied for no more reason than "this sounds cool, eh?", cut'n'paste rhythm, and unusual choices in percussion: from snare to cymbal to tuned triangles to bicycle-bell to hospital beeping sounds to detuned banjo hits to pioneering equivalents of rap-music "scratching". Soft drones and tremoloes of many heretofore nonexistent types join in, and so does folky acoustic guitar. Altered vocal samples from unknown media are presented for sound rather than articulation (I especially like how "Franco's Prayer" alternates sung a capella, line by line, with what a swarm of insects would sound like if instead of buzzing they were arguing about sports at incomprehensible speed). But even at its most clamorous, say "Boxing And Sparring With The First Dimension" or whichever song has tuneful females singing "Hatred of all things fair! Destruction of nice hairdos!", every weird little element can be individually picked out, and plenty of songs allow tiny silences to crack their unpolished surfaces. Voag could quite possibly sing, but prefers to either squeak or intone like a Homer Simpson with less intellectual gravitas. It's entertaining that way, and this Mr. Science Blows Things Up Without Hurting Anybody approach to jazz does not require any previous appreciation for Miles Davis. Fortunately.

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Anyone know if the "Homosexuals" are worth checking out? If so I would be interested to hear. 

I love L Voag's The Way Out, and I used to have a couple of limited edition tapes he made as well. He toured Japan playing with Tim Hodgkinson and (I think) Chris Cutler as part of The Work in the early 80s, and has also appeared under other aliases. He is currently part of Die Trip Computer Die, and goes by the name Xentos 'Fray' Bentos. A true original, but not one to be included in the archive I think.

Syzygy wrote: I love L Voag's The Way Out, and I used to have a couple of limited edition tapes he made as well. He toured Japan playing with Tim Hodgkinson and (I think) Chris Cutler as part of The Work in the early 80s, and has also appeared under other aliases. He is currently part of Die Trip Computer Die, and goes by the name Xentos 'Fray' Bentos. A true original, but not one to be included in the archive I think.

I'm happy to someone else gets much love out of this album as well. Now you have me interested in these limited edition tapes . What were they like? Worth trying to track down?  Also thanks for this extra information. I would also have to agree with you as to I don't they would be one from the archives. But defaintely one to track down if you are into that post-punkish era music. I think this one would sit nice next to the Decayes' - Not Yet album. Are you farmiliar with this one Chris? A very strange album, quite influenced by the synth punk scene, with in uncouth lyrics. Yet another one on the NWW list.

ShW1 wrote: Hellow everybody   1. I'm quite new to RIO, and find it quite hard to get to know this music, because i cannot buy any CD that mentioned here, and i want to listen to some of the pieces before buying, and not to a sample less than one minute, if there is any sample at all   emusic that was mentioned here helped finding some of the major bands/artists, but not all   could you give some more sites that give this music?

Welcome

Yes, RIO does not seem to be the easiest style of music to come by. For other websites, I'm really sure, I have never used sites such as emusic. Most the music I get comes from blogs or trading CD-r with other people. Just check you PM and I think it might be more helpful.

ShW1 wrote: 2. nevertheless, i want to give a recommendation:   I would like to recommend on Thin Pillow. (same name for the album and "band") actually its not a band: all pieces composed by David Shamerock, and performed by him and friends. David Shamerock belongs to the current wave of american avant-guard rock bands and artists (such as: Thinkin Plague, SleepyTime Gorilla museum, Hamster Theatre ...) although he is using 20th century techniques, his music is very melodic, and goes flowless. it is very atmospheric. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thinpillow   Thanks !

Thanks for this recommendation, I will definately try and find some more samples of this band. Though this will probably be when I get back my nice internet; which should be hopefully by the end of this month. Fingers crossed.

Also I just had to put up this image from the bands site, love this style of photography:

Also I just had to put up this image from the bands site, love this style of photography:


[/QUOTE]

Great photo, BV.

Shw1: 'Thin Pillow' sounds like a band from 1969 with a funky cover and a crazy bio on the back.
     
    
    
    

Edited by Atavachron - October 08 2006 at 23:53

Was looking around for information on Ground Zero and I came up with this interview with Otomo Yoshihide I though people might be interested in, enjoy.

OTOMO YOSHIHIDE

Interview by Jason Gross (May 1998)

I first heard about turntablist/guitarist Otomo Yoshihide through one of his many projects, Ground Zero. Plays Standards amazed me- he led his band to tear apart and reconstruct "Those Were The Days," John Philip Sousa, Victor Jara, Brecht, soundtrack composers and Burt Bacharach. Like any great interpreter, he loved all the songs while at the same time, made them his own. This was just the tip of the iceberg for him- a culmination of his work and tribute to his heros. Otomo has been releasing material for about ten years now through dozens of projects and collaborations including work with Lawrence 'Butch' Morris, Carl Stone and Eye from the Boredoms as well as movie soundtracks. His work is made of complex sound collages, samples and abrasive sounds, mixed and remixed together. His equally impressive recent work is found on Gentle Giant on his own Sound Factory (1997) CD and on the wild Miracle of Leviation compilation (along with Ruins, Jim O'Rourke, Melt Banana and others).

Enormous thanks go out to Christian Marclay, Yoshiyuki Suzuki and Michael Hartman for their help with this.

---

PSF: When you started making music, you were doing tape collages. What led you to doing this?

Most influence comes from French musique concrete, Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry. Also, there was some kind of rock stuff like Pink Floyd, always tape effects. Mostly contemporary composer's tape work, also Japanese '60's music. I really loved music when I was a teenager but I had no idea about how to play any instruments. My father is an electric engineer. Naturally, I knew how to make an analog system from my father. My mother was a big fan of jazz and rock. So, between my mother and father...

PSF: Jazz has been pretty important to you also as an influence.

Yes, the biggest! In the '70's, especially the Japanese free jazz music. It's not only music, it's also philosophy. I read about the free movement and the underground culture and theatre. I just looked up to that.

PSF: You studied ethnomusicology at school- did that effect your work later?

That was eighteen years ago! I almost forgot about that. (laughs) Maybe it had some effect, especially when I was thinking about music. I tried to be a musician but I couldn't. I went to one teacher and then another teacher and then another, trying to get something but I couldn't. The teacher of ethnomusicology really liked me and helped me a lot. He gave me room and that really helps.

PSF: Were you self-taught with music then?

I got my idea almost by myself. Maybe some great books, great records, some great live music was my teacher, especially Masayuki Takayanagi, the Japanese free music pioneer. I haven't covered his material yet myself- he's too deep for me.

PSF: When does free music work for you?

That's a philosophical question. I think I'm always which direction each part is going. It's really difficult always. My ideas are changing. I can't say exactly what way but for me, the most important thing is the process. Maybe if I tried to make coffee but I couldn't and I made tea, the process is still important and WHY I changed to go this way. So I'm always thinking about process. My CD's are each one of these processes.

PSF: You've had video artists work with Ground Zero. Is visualization an important part of your work?

Hideaki Sasaki is a video artist and he was my neighbor at that time. I tried to make a joint (collaboration) between Ground Zero and visual images. But when I played at shows, I really couldn't see the videos. That was always a problem. Maybe if I put the music and video together, the audience could see something between the video and music, visual and sound for some kind of effect.

For me, I don't want to give an answer for the audience so I have some answers in my music but the video has a different answer. So the people have to think about these kind of different answers. Maybe sometimes it's really against each other but I try to make this kind of situation. Sometimes it's successful, sometimes it really doesn't work. It's a process between coffee and tea! (laughs)

PSF: Plays Standards was full of some of your favorite music. What led to do that project?

When I made that, I was really down, in some kind of slump. Always thinking of negative things. I tried to rethink again, so that I had to think about my past. I tried to research my past and listened to a lot of music. So, that gave me a new idea, Plays Standards. After that, I decided that I didn't need Ground Zero anymore. That's not the only reason. Also, the Consume project came along. I didn't want to do this because I wanted to be open to processes with other people.

PSF: The last part of that Consume project was where people then sent in remixes.

Yeah, I got 200 tapes and I listening to everything without seeing the names. I just listened to the music and chose 14 or 15 tracks. It was like a cycle, where I had sampled music, then remixed it and then had other people remake the music.

PSF: You've done a lot of soundtrack work. How do you work on music to match the film?

That's a very different story for me because with the film music, I'm usually working with mainstream films, not avant garde films. I have to make some kind of good soundtrack for effect for the film. The most important thing is how to make a good effect for the film. I don't want to do the same thing always for this kind of typical film. I try to change. I have some switches and patches in my head that I change. This side is Ground Zero side and this side is film music side. (laughs) Sometimes they are mixed up.

Usually I'm making music for Chinese and Hong Kong films and they really don't know about avant garde music. They just only know my soundtrack work. It's too bad. I always give me Ground Zero CD's but they always say 'my CD player must be broken... it just makes noise, no melody, no rhythm' (laughs) But especially in Japan, last year, I did some good work with some directors who really know about my 'dark' side.

PSF: One of your projects is Mosquito Paper where you've said you wanted to bring together music and speech. What were you trying to do exactly?

For me, it's almost finished. One of these is one actor reading a documentary novel, a diary of a man who did a starvation diet. He didn't eat anything for three months. The actor reads the novel and I'm conducting for orchestra, a very strange type of orchestra, with acoustic and Japanese traditional instruments and jazz instruments. All the musicians didn't know about the story before the recording so all the musicians had to listen to the story. They didn't about the next pages so they had to think about what was going on about this strange guy who did this suicide. But in this suicide, he didn't write any reason for it. He wrote about the process of dying, not why he did it. I still don't know why (he did it).

PSF: Could you talk about the Sampling Virus project?

I started that about eight years ago and made one CD for Extreme in Australia. This is for use by anyone. If someone wants it, I can sent them the sampling tapes and they can sample anything from me and make anything. Then they get something just from the material. So it's kind of a virus, influence process. Still now, I can hear my virus from CD's. I'm happy that Stockhausen will be using this. I'm just happy that everyone can use it. It's never my music because the sampling virus is sounds from TV. I think it's almost finished because everyone can sample very easily.

PSF: You've also promoted some concerts and festivals.

I was a member of the board to put together the Music Merge Festival (in Tokyo) but it's really difficult and it was a financial disaster last year. We tried to make some kind of meeting from the different worlds, different music styles where everyone is an avant gardist but from a different world. That was our dream but reality...

PSF: You've written some articles about what you call 'noise' music.

I've written some things because I wanted to introduce Japanese music fans to new things. That's the main reason why I write articles. I never wrote about 'noise' music but I use the word sometimes. Usually Japanese people think of it as Merzbow but I really don't want to say that it's junk. Everybody has different possibilities and Masami Akita is making a different type of music. If I write for the typical music audience, I have to say 'this is kind of noisy.'

PSF: How do you see the music scene in Japan?

The underground scene is not big, it's never big- that's why it's underground. I really don't know about the Japanese pop music scene. The underground scene isn't big but it's very interesting, especially with all the young people. They just start and make CD's, like Kazunao Nagata who does the Zero Gravity label. Okura Masahiko, he's a saxophone player. Also, Taku Sugimoto and Yoshide Ami. More and more, there's a lot of young kids making new, strange music. Also, the Japanese underground club scene is very energetic, like DJ LKO. It's really interesting.

PSF: What are planning to do in the future?

I just started a project called ISO. It's not only my project, it's with Yoshimitsu Ichiraku who's a drummer and Sachiko Matsubara, who's a sampler player. Filament is another project with Sachiko and we'll release a CD soon on Extreme.

Geck0 wrote: So are you going to this then? OOIOO are the only band I know!

Haven't decided yet Gecksy. Looks all a bit tree-huggin' for me

Syzygy wrote: Yoshida Tatsuya/Haino Keiji - New Rap. This is what Ruins might have sounded like if it had been the bassist who missed the first rehearsal instead of the guitarist. The sound here is recognisably electric guitar and drumkit all the way through, with the odd (extremely odd) vocal here and there. It's fast, brutally heavy but also remarkably melodic in places. What it's got to do with rap is anybody's guess, but fans of Boredoms/Flying Luttenbachers style lunacy should give it a spin.

Chris, I love this album (in my top three for this year), this was one of the two albums which introducted me into the Japanese scene. I brought it alongside Boredom's Pop Tatari. I only can agree with the words you have presented us with. Haino is an amazing guitarist (from my perspective), and is not to shabby on the old drums when he gives them a go. Have you check out any of his other works? He has been going since the late '70s and has one massive discography.

Also another suggestion for those who like this album. You should love this one.

Korekyojinn - Isotope (once again released on John Zorn's label)

"A slashing, razor sharp live concert from one of the most powerful bands in the Tokyo underground…an all-star instrumental trio with members of Ruins, Altered States and Bondage Fruits. Astounding mini-masterpieces filled with an intense energy and incredible detail, this is a CD that will astound you, exhilarate you and fill you with the joy of being alive. Included as a bonus is an outrageous unreleased composition from the recording session of their second CD, Arabesque, but for the rest of the CD you are transported to a small sweaty club in Tokyo to witness one of the most amazing instrumental ensembles on the planet."-Tzadik

XIII wrote: Thx guys for the answers. I fell across ZNR recently...a french band that makes me think of EFL, but influenced by Satie and Debussy. (It's actually a continuation of the band Barricade, which was part of ''Dupon et ses Fantômes'', a french collective including EFL...) Here's the link whit three great sample: http://david-f.livejournal.com/154052.html The lyrics, if you understand french, are hilarious.

avestin wrote: Hi guys, I just came across something and I guess Adam will know it. It is called Le Silo and the album I got is 8.8     http://www7.ocn.ne.jp/~tolsilo/contents/lesiloeigo.html

avers, this is my friend Miyako's (Koenji Hyakkei/Yozigenn/ad infinitum) main band! Been bangin' on about them for an etenity on me thread!

Seen them live a handful of times. Always great. Gotta love a band that can discuss the timbre of Univers Zero and still drink you under the table