RALPH LUNDSTEN
from EMS to Andromeda
the early works of Ralphus Rex

by Alan Freeman.

Ralph Lundsten is one of those enigmatic characters in new-music, in that he's pushed-on with his unique avenue in music regardless of style, fashion, or even a logical progression in his own career. He's an explorer, an eccentric, an individual unique talent. The thing is, though, that when someone follows their own vision, that vision will change throughout their life based, not only on the advancements in technology, but also on their state of mind, emotional and social development. Thus, as with the music of Tangerine Dream, what Edgar Froese & Co. played in their early days is nothing like what they do now. This is also the case with Ralph, and (similarly) what we're interested in at Audion is the early works of Ralph Lundsten, the avant-gardist...
Ralph Lundsten was born 1936 in Ersnäs, Sweden. At a young age he started exploring the avant-garde, and was obviously fascinated with the new technology installed at the Stockholm Electronic Music Studios (aka EMS). He started electronic sound exploration in 1959, and found an aid in Leo Nilsson, with whom he collaborated for a number of years. These formative experiments involved use of oscillators, early studio-based synthesizers, along with extensive use of tape-collage and echo/delay techniques. Also, (quoting original LP cover notes) Ralph "became famous as a visually creative artist through his prize-winning motion pictures, his noted exhibitions at home and abroad, and his exciting experiments with electronic pictures and sound sculptures" - yes, Ralph proved to be a man of many talents!
It didn't take long for Ralph to discover unique techniques instantly recognisable as his, these involved clusters and patterns of notes/tones, seemingly sequenced or looped, all in a very odd, quirky style. Based on early studio photos all this was done with tape trickery using a hybrid of musique-concrete and Terry Riley type "feed-back" or "Frippertronic" techniques. Nowadays a similar effect can be achieved using a digital pitch-shift delay in tandem with other echo and delay devices, but to create the complexities of what Ralph Lundsten did in the 1960's is still not easy. And, to do it with his unique panache is nigh-on impossible! Back then digital effects didn't exist, and even solid-state echo devices were rare. So, the mind boggles as to how he did it. A clue is probably given on an LP cover, where he is holding two Stylophone type pens over (and connected to) some sort of metal transducing plate. I can imagine that many of the early works took weeks and weeks of intensive studio work, experimenting with and modelling waveforms, cutting and splicing tape, setting-up tape decks with extra record and play-back heads, passing the sounds back and forth through all sorts of filters reverb, and obscure processing devices, etc., etc. Actually, it seems he was spending too much time in the EMS (Stockholm was a prolific centre for new avant-garde talent), so Ralph set up the first independent electronic music studio in Sweden. He built his Andromeda Studio at his home (a fanciful painted wooden house) in Saltsjö-Boo near the coast, east of Stockholm. There he could spend as much time as he liked experimenting and recording, developing the unique Lundsten sound.

The majority of Ralph's early recordings (1964-73, plus a few later works) are now documented in the 4CD set ELEKTRONISK MUSIK. In this set we have what would amount to around seven vinyl LP's worth of material, and thus it's a great value introduction.
Each disc has a focus...
ELEKTRONISK MUSIK (ACD 27) 76'30
This explores most of the purely electronic creations (some with Leo Nilsson) from the period 1968-70. These are works with buzzing tones, rasping modulations, and stark non-melodic textures. The opening Through A Landscape Of Mirrors is one of Ralph's coldest, brutal works. It slices through the stereo fabric, and plays a surreal dance in the air. Sonically comparable to the early works of Morton Subotnick, this 1970 work is purely Ralph Lundsten in the bizarre use of tone and sound patterns. The TELLUS/FÅGEL BLÅ LP is documented next. In these works Leo's more conventional use of electronic sound counterpoints the underlying cheekiness of Ralph's "springy" looping effects. Whenever I listen to this, I'm reminded of Louis & Bebe Baron's "Forbidden Planet" soundtrack, but it has the form of progression closer to Conrad Schnitzler's ROT. For 1968-69 this is pretty remarkable and innovative stuff, bleak but vivid in sonic textures. Also aptly cold is the 4 part Vintermusik a mini-prelude to Ralph's later "Nature Symphonies", followed by the 1968 Lundsten & Nilsson single Feel/It which is pretty close to some Pierre Henry (from the same period), and Mizar a solo Lundsten work involving strange oscillator tones and sonic intermodulations.
ELEKTRONISK MUSIK (ACD 28) 77'37
Apart from the opening EMS Nr 1 this disc is made up of shorter works and suites. I'd long wanted to hear the "innovative" EMS Nr 1 from 1966, and I wasn't disappointed. It has to be the most extreme and intense of his creations. Five other collaborations with Leo follow this, and all are strange spooky stuff, ideal music for weird psychedelic or Science Fiction movies. The earliest work in the set Atomic Twilight (1964) is very "Forbidden Planet" with its gliding tonalities (at the opening) building into a cyclical montage of instrumental sounds and voices. In later times Ralph got involved in scoring ballets for various people, and purely for fun he did the little suite På Vigliga Tår "On Tottering Toes" the first piece in the set to really show the underlying humour in Ralph's music. Finally, the "Suite For Electronic Accordion" takes us closer to Pierre Henry's darker works of the era, but due to the unlikely instrumentation it remains bizarre and unique.
ELEKTRONISK BALLETTMUSIK (ACD 29) 77'41
So, onto Ralph's ballet scores, the commissioned works that further stylised Ralph's musical development. These are the material that correlate more with those of Igor Wakhevitch (see Audion #40) notably as some are compositions for Carolyn Carlson, and she obviously knew exactly what sort of feel she wanted. This is a uniquely visionary style of Ralph's, in that he includes story elements of the works in the music, adding to the drama by sound association and mood. In "Erik XIV" Ralph's bizarre use of electronic looping is developed to great effect - a major development in the distinctive Lundsten sound - with the textural elements gaining in complexity. With "Gustav III" keyboards and other instruments feature much more extensively. I suppose this period can be seen as the transitional phase of Ralph the avant-garde experimentalist to Ralph the musician. It's still rather strange stuff, however! The lone track Ristingar "Rock Carvings" centres on cosmic flutes (and unfathomable instrumental textures), and counterpoints a strange rhythmic element, before it flutters off with serene voices. 1973's "Gunnar pa Linderände" works on elements of the previous ballet scores and also his other major work (not featured in this set) FADERVAR. It's a really creative and beautiful opus that can almost be experienced as a musical painting.
HORRORSCOPE (ACD 30) 76'17
This is also, largely, commissioned works, but with the focus on Ralph's "Horror Music". This disc starts with the rather out-of-place 1979 track Horrorscope, a groovy kind of synth-funk number dosed with horror sound effects (in the vein of the tongue-in-cheek DISCOPHRENIA). The major works here are surreal spooky suite "Midnattstimmen" full of creaking doors, ghoulish voices and all sorts of weird electronic textures, one of my favourites, and the great opus Nattmara which ends the set with crazed electronic abandon. The other pieces here are oddments from various vinyl releases, largely strange stuff, excepting the "Heaven By Night" trilogy which is more
sci-fi/fantasy, and the cosmic synth Waves Of Darkness from 1983.
In all, an excellent set, but with one major omission: the classic Cosmic Love, which doesn't seem to be documented on CD presently.
Above I mentioned FADERVAR, a classic of Ralph's from 1972. Various CD reissues have appeared to date, but the only ones I've been able to get are unfortunately co-billed with another work of inferior calibre. A strange one really, in that it's subject matter (FADERVAR means "Our Father" and relates to the "Lord's Prayer") is not really of any interest to me. But, like many Pierre Henry works (for instance) the concept can be taken as superficial. Judging it as just music, it's a cosmic opus of breathtaking originality, featuring ethereal flutes, otherworldly chanting echoed voices, organ, and lots of those uniquely Lundsten trade-marks, like sonic/textural transmutations, and brilliant use of echo/delay and cyclical patterns.
Ralph Lundsten's "Nature Symphonies" started as two album-long suites made in 1972 and 1975. Based on mythological fantasy and a relation between Ralph's music and the sounds of nature, these are very complex, feature guest musicians, and are more "musical" than much of what I've described before. It all amounts to a fascinating cross-pollination of genres. The CD release JOHANNES & HULDRAN/STRÖMKARLEN unfortunately omits a few tracks from these (3 are included in the ELEKTRONISK MUSIK set). Later "Nature Symphonies" would seem to be a cash-in on this "franchise" but bear little relation to the 70's pioneering works.
As polyphonic keyboards came in and Ralph's Andromeda studio became more advanced, he increasingly worked with other musicians, played synthesizers, and gradually moved away from the bizarre studio techniques that made his early work so special. He established a supersession group: Ralph Lundsten's Universe, who were (in a way) his "Cosmic Jokers", stars of Swedish rock, jazz and pop, doing something more outlandish. The album RALPH LUNDSTEN'S UNIVERSE is still not bad, in it's mixture of electronic music, progressive rock and fusions, and (occasional) craziness. It's follow-up DISCOPHRENIA was much better than the title suggested, but proved (from my viewpoint, that is) that the classic era of Ralph Lundsten was over. The third "Universe" project ALPHA RALPHA BOULEVARD marked the end of the 70's, and a new phase.
Ralph has since become the purveyor of lush and atmospheric new-age musics, and has increasingly created a whole new genre of his own again, a kind of offbeat easy listening music, often very sweet and soundtrack-like. Apparently he's quite famous in his homeland now for these later works, and apart from still being prolific and highly active in music, he tends to turn-out rehashed samplers by the bucket-load!



edited from AUDION #43. Autumn 2000

Zeuhl on a limb, the innovative Orient-Express

Cocktail Molotov + 5 bonus tracks

by Orient-Express

Reissue of the 1980s cassette only release, plus 19 minutes of rare quality bonus material, by this groundbreaking French experimental RiO / Zeuhl type fusion duo. Issued in 2015 as a 50 copy CDR edition, and now on Bandcamp download.

From Audion #5, page 20, review by Alan Freeman...
Despite their name, Orient Express are typically French in every way. They play a music that has grown through French rock and jazz cultures since the late sixties, an explosive cocktail of diverse and exciting ideas, through which this exceptionally talented duo challenge the listener and succeed with impeccable virtuosity.
Pascale Jakubowski (seemingly the leader) plays piano and bass clarinet, she’s also an exceptionally talented vocalist capable of performing virtually every type of vocal utterance one can imagine. Erik Baron plays bass guitar and is indeed adept at making it sound like anything from a cello to a Chapman Stick. They are also aided by all manner of devices, drum-computer, etc. In the booklet that accompanies the cassette, the two musicians quote their influences - Pascale comments that the use of text on Eno & Byrne’s My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts inspired her vocal technique to a great extent, as well as ethnic chants, the experimental use of phonetics by the likes of Tamia, Meredith Monk, etc. Her bass clarinet playing reminiscent of Michel Berkmans (I know he pays bassoon and oboe, but the style is similar), though she doesn’t quote any such influence. Erik quotes people as diverse as Klaus Schulze, Stockhausen, Magma and Bela Bartok, as having influenced him over the years.
Requiem opens the tape with orchestral sounds, strange vocals and percussive bass, and moves through glissandi and abstract phases, with some fascinating vocal gibberish. Orient Express follows with some manic piano attacks, akin to Art Zoyd (or ultimately Stravinski), building up in a crazed rhythmic fashion, backed by cacophonous echoed drum- machine and glissando bass. On Inarticulomortis Pascale lets rip, with multiple tracks of her voice reciting nonsensical things like "a ning-nang-ning-na nong..." over Stick style bass, as they say - weird but wonderful! On the other tracks we are taken through many moods, both violent and spooky, with never a dull moment anywhere. Thoroughly inventive music that should appeal to all lovers of RIO and/or modern avant-garde rock.

Auricle 2005 Sampler online as name your price download

Auricle 2005 Sampler

2005 was a very busy / prolific time of releases on the Auricle label. A total of 16 home-grown releases are documented on this sampler, all but one involving the brothers Alan & Steve Freeman (in Endgame, Extremities, The Scanner Game, Triax and Zircon & The Burning Brains), the other being a Jim Tetlow solo (also of Endgame, Extremities and The Scanner Game). Would have been more if Alto Stratus had done some sessions!

A unique sampler this, as the tracks are not merely selections from the albums, but are all remixws, many of them total reconstruction done by myself (Alan Freeman) in a Pierre Henry or Nurse With Wound like fashion, so that each piece represents the album yet is a new work in itself.

If you've never heard any of our music before, and are feeling adventurous, then give it a try!

The complex world of Italian prog and new music

An entry you may be surprised to see in our forthcoming Italian music book "A Fistful Of Spaghetti"

Luis Enríquez Bacalov
Composer (born 1933, Buenos Aires, Argentina) who worked mostly doing film soundtracks. He did a lot of excellent scores before he discovered rock music, including some Spaghetti Westerns and a few Giallos. Some films with Bacalov music in our video collection: Django (1966), La Vittima Designata (The Designated Victim, 1971), Milano Calibro 9 (1972), Il Boss (Murder Inferno, 1973), Un Hombre Llamado Noon (The Man Called Noon, 1973), Shoot First... Die Later (1974), Colpo In Canna (Loaded Guns, 1975), La Città Sconvolta (Kidnap Syndicate, 1975), Gli Esecutori (Street People, 1976), and Vacanze Per Un Massacro (Madness, 1980).



Bacalov's complete discography is at least 60 albums, of which the majority are soundtracks or used in films. Aside from initally trying to imitate Ennio Morricone (with whom he also collaborated), Bacalov's range was wide, from pastoral orchestral through to weird avant-garde (of which PITTURAMUSICA is a good example) and experimental jazz (album DESBANDES featuring Gato Barbieri). He also did funky psychedelic soul (some pieces in the "La Seduzione" soundrack) and all sorts of rock and pop styles (of which "The Summertime Killer" showcases, including two pieces that sound like New Trolls). His trademarks in the 70s became rich symphonic strings and Bach inspired melodies mixed with dramatic themes and rock rhythms.




For prog fans, his best material is these three collaboration albums he did with rock groups: New Trolls CONCERTO GROSSO (1971), Osanna PRELUDIO TEMA VARIAZIONI CANZONA (1972) and Il Rovescio Della Medaglia CONTAMINAZIONE (1973), all Italian prog classics. The Osanna collaboration he was particularly fond of, and he re-used a lot of the Osanna sessions over and over, in at least four more films after Milano Calibro 9. The second New Trolls collaboration CONCERTO GROSSO Nº 2 (1976) wasn't up to the standard of the first, but has its moments. There is now also a third CONCERTO GROSSO and abridged newly re-recorded versions of the trilogy.




Different arrangements of Concerto Grosso material in the film La Vittima Designata with Tomas Milian on vocals

p.s. Of course the book version won't include the video links, but this will no doubt give a clue as to the range of music we intend to include, sewing up the 60s/70s scene and beyond. And, yes, there's a similar article on Ennio Morricone too, plus all the usual suspects of Italian prog, the Nuova Futurista and all related genres. It's still work in progress. No doubt I'll post some more tasters here too!

A taster from the next edition of The Cosmic Egg CD-Rom

Nine Days' Wonder

Eccentric and unique vocalist Walter Seyffer had fronted numerous bands during the 1960s. He claims to have established the Mannheim based Nine Days Wonder in 1966, then known as The Graves, who gradually transformed into Nine Days' Wonder. A 1969 line-up is documented as: Rolf Henning (guitar), Walter Seyffer (vocals, drums), Winfried Schmidt (bass) and Bernd "Ravi" Unger (guitar). But Nine Days' Wonder proper (or, as we know them) gelled as a new line-up in February 1970, with an Austrian (Karl Mutschlechner), an Irishman (John Earle) and an Englishman (Martin Roscoe), to create a bizarre and fascinating rock fusion showing distinct Zappa and British underground rock influences.

Their debut LP, originally issued in a green foam rubber cover, but more widely known with the British Hipgnosis design, saw them present a music roughly in the same field as Supersister or Moving Gelatine Plates, sans the Canterbury references. Nine Days' Wonder were a distinctly Krautrock twist on the genre, radical, innovative and unpredictable. Featuring what was really only four tracks (two of them lengthy segued extravaganzas, full of bizarre unlikely diversions) NINE DAYS WONDER presented an exceptionally complex music featuring highly powered instrumentals, diversions into jazz fusion, high experimentation, and above all some of the most fascinating and eccentric songs on record. The vocal piece "Morning Spirit" has to be heard to be believed! This band also worked incognito as Maternal Joy releasing a single in 1971. Rare live recordings of the 1970/71 Nine Days' Wonder exist documenting them with some excellent material that never gained release on LP.

It's hardly surprising that the original Nine Days' Wonder didn't last long, apparently falling apart during their first British tour. Thus, searching for a new band, Walter met up with Michael Bundt's group Medusa, who he joined replacing Geff Harrison who'd gone on to Twenty Sixty Six. Anyway, as the legend goes, Bacillus quite liked what Medusa were doing but didn't want to sign up a new band as Nine Days' Wonder still had an open contract, so Medusa became Nine Days' Wonder. Paradoxically WE NEVER LOST CONTROL was very tame compared to the previous album, without the jazzy elements and instead being more richly textured progressive rock with hard-rock touches. It is still an excellent album though, when judged on its own merits.

In one sense, the third album ONLY THE DANCERS rectified some of the former album's shortcomings, with a return to Seyffer's eccentric and bizarre lyrics in some of the more dramatic longer tracks, and a wider instrumentation, but also featured a lot in the way of "bubblegum" pop, which was deemed catchy and fresh when I first heard it in the 1970s, but has now worn thin. A couple of luminary guests featured: Dave Jackson (Van der Graaf Generator) and Steve Robinson (ex-Twenty Sixty Six And Then).

The CD only archive collection THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIFE? has material spanning all this era, from an early aborted single, via an excellent early concert broadcast onto demos and rehearsal tapes, documenting the history and development of Nine Days' Wonder during their classic days.

As with most good rock bands, Nine Days' Wonder caused their own fateful end by attempting to go commercial - a tactic that generally backfires - and SONNET TO BILLY FROST was a disaster! Michael Bundt went on to form mainstream rock bands Nerve and Marilyn, and later established a solo career as a synthesist. Walter went on to the pop duo Wintergarden.

Still some copies of the old Rom available here
CDs at the UT Discogs shop

outer space electronics - new release!

APPROACHING INFINITY - EN PASSANT
Auricle AMCDR 285 68'05" 

Remastered duo works from Quadelectronic by Alan Freeman & Jim Tetlow, all recorded live with no overdubs. These impromptu live sessions reveal the unique chemistry of Alan and Jim at work, an intuitive way of interacting that goes all the way back to improvised sessions in Shapeshifter over 20 years ago, and further developed in Endgame and other projects since. Approaching Infinity is as much an attitude as a band name, which may be played out even more aptly in future live gigs. Cryptically titled En Passant - another chess move reference like Endgame - this debut sets the scene for further albums to come.

£8.00 + p&p worldwide PayPal mail-order

Endgame - what an adventure that was!

ENDGAME

Established in July 1999, Endgame comprised the brothers Alan and Steve Freeman (sound explorers since the early 1980s, mostly as Alto Stratus) joined by Jim Tetlow, a local friend who also had the desire to explore new sonic possibilities in free improvisation. Alan and Jim had been working together in Maureen Anderson's Shapeshifter (a Leicester poetry and space-rock type band) and already had a rapport. But, apart from that, Endgame started as a blank slate: no rules, no bounds, no concept, except the idea - just play, lead, follow, react or influence, and let the music take on a life of its own.

It started as an evening session once a week, all of which was recorded, and of which over half was deemed worthy of release. Such a productivity rate had to slow up eventually, especially as Endgame started to play live, and there were other sideline projects like Eruption (with Nick Mott from Volcano The Bear), Polymorph (with Maureen Anderson) and Extremities (with Dave Powell on hurdy-gurdy).

As Endgame music is instantaneous invention, it's hard to say where its roots and inspiration are. Initially it was a music that stepped on from German cosmic music in the manner of Lightwave, but with the serious avant-garde feel of Morphogenesis. Early Tangerine Dream and Kluster/Cluster are also obvious references, and the ghost of Karlheinz Stockhausen can also be heard, along with Taj Mahal Travellers or the "sound pools" of Agitation Free.

As of last count there were 95 Endgame releases in all (several of which are double albums), each with its own individual character, and all can be auditioned by Bandcamp or via special YouTube promotional videos. 

Endgame live at The Victory, Leicester circa 2001

Here are some choice reviews...

ENDGAME: CATALYST

The Freeman brothers, (authors of CRACK IN THE COSMIC EGG, and editors of AUDION Magazine), have also made music for many years. Their newest release, which also features a third member Jim Tetlow, is the answer for all those who long for the days of yore when TD was still tuned into the cosmos. Their “music” is derived from the improvisational mode of early TD and ZEIT, along with the more modern vibe of Lightwave, a splash of Kluster and hints of Holger Czukay’s experimentalism. The albums four extended tracks, on 2 CDs, combine for a total running time of 140:40, and the sonic constructs explored will have your mind reeling as the journey through the musical cosmos progresses. ENDGAME is a very impressive album, experimental in concept, yet listenable, with a great avant art presentation.

[by Archie Patterson in Eurock]

ENDGAME: AVATAR

From the increasingly prolific trio Endgame comes this latest double CD. Recorded over 4 sessions during October & November 1999 the 7 tracks here represent just a snapshot really of their work in progress. (Improvisation seems to me to always be ever developing, to be work in progress). In assembling the pieces for this album Endgame have labelled each disc with a separate subtitle. So let's start with disc 1. "The really deep cosmic one" - (by which I take it they mean deep as in distance rather than claiming to have found the meaning of life!) is made up of 3 tracks ranging from 12 minutes to a meagre 42 minutes! An obvious influence/similarity here is the dark semi abstract soundworlds of Lightwave. Endgame have that same sense of space & movement. But I also kept thinking of a much earlier sound, that of the improvisations of Amon Duul 2! Just in small sections, but it's there. Whatever, there is that same style of exploration going on. With a touch of danger. "The psychedelic twisted one" - is made up of 4 pieces going from 9 to 35 minutes. (I'm less sure that the subtitle works here - but never mind). The music while still having much in common with the first disc does tend to the more avant-garde, more like Morphogenesis - another acknowledged influence. But I can spot bits that remind me of Les Vampyrettes or the Moebius & Plank track Solar Plexus say. I could go on - but I think you get the idea really. This is improvised music that is well aware of where it's coming from. It's improvised music with an agenda & game plan. No it's not random noise or sound, it has a structure even if each piece didn't set out to have one. Endgame are going into it all with their eyes open - one on the past, one on the future & one on the present!

[Gary Scott - from Audion 45]

ENDGAME: TUNDRA

Once again in the cosmic courier service are the Freeman Bros. Alan & Steve along with Jim Tetlow and as always with synthesizers and guitars, tapes, loops and samplers best equipped for up to 47-minute spacewalks and for the frostiest ('The big freeze') and most glowing environments ('Atomsmasher / Cyclotron' ) on their 'Forbidden planet' explorations. Always following their curiosity and longing for desires, always on the lookout for Terra Incognita, lost time, the ultimate kick, the cosmic Phoenix egg and I'm sure (otherwise they would not be English), they know pretty well that 'cosmic' distinguished from 'weird' only a little s - the little snake ', with which all space and fun begins.

[Google translated from Bad Alchemy]

ENDGAME: C

A very happy customer...

As regards "C" one very amazed "wow!" It was bound to be something special what with being Session 100 and everything but it really goes out there somewhere. The good thing about an Endgame release is that I can hear certain trademarks developing, Yet here they have completely vanished... This has to be the most unique release so far. Hints of Cluster 71 somewhere, but by the time we reach Brain Stalking Quotient we are in totally unknown territory. Admission price is worth it for this track alone. [Peter Smith]

ENDGAME: ALLES UBER SCHIZOPHRENE?

(Auricle AMCDR 072/73) 2CDR 132m

Close your eyes and imagine a journey and I guarantee that however surreal you can make it the results will be nothing compared to the contents of this 2CD set (Disc One 58.55, Disc Two 73.09, and hours of fun)…

We begin our adventures in Leicester with a seemingly innocent toy instrument, and end up, well, we end up at the beginning again…are you ready? This is Endgame at their most surreal and abstract, much as I like every aspect of the groups output this facet is for myself, their most unique.

Second track in and reality is already loosing grip, Leaking Cerebral Matrix claws away inside your head with steel strings and nightmare drones, everything is implied rather than spoken, most unsettling. By the time we reach Redrum Si Gnimoc there’s no way back (or is that forwards?) A total claustrophobic nightmare indeed, no let up with Celestial Collision either, these two tracks were part of the epic sessions recorded December 01, only weeks away from the equally surreal “C” sessions, what on earth is running through the water pipes in Leicester?

None of this however can prepare you for The Inevitable Fake Ligeti (which I guess is a homage now). Found sound juxtaposed with that famous Endgame eternal loop system combine to create what for me is the landmark of the disc (at least on this playing) need I say more than tell you that there is no-one around at the moment who is producing anything close to this? All The Latest Gadgets.. starts off like pure NWW but then suddenly pulls you through into another sound dimension stretching and reversing images until your head turns inside out. Back to reality to change discs.

Are you still with us? Take a break if you wish, or perhaps you’d rather take a trip inside the cosmic oceans of Spray ? Amid the creaking bones and metal tones something sinister lurks. Later we find ourselves in The Church which starts off something like a twisted out-take from ATEM but soon ventures to even deeper and darker pathways, forget your guidebooks as this one is totally unique. Further on the sound of breaking glass pulls you back inside your body, Erupting Glass Lullaby is just that, but be warned, fall asleep to this one and your dreams will be full of toasted marshmallows, it starts off calmly enough but there’s something there in the corner of the room.

There’s so much more to this recording, so many more twists and turns, and I haven’t even mentioned the humour in the speech-links or the superb editing which really holds the whole thing together.

Furthermore as if this wasn’t enough of an Endgame epic, the first disc also contains a wealth of CD-ROM material. Marvel at the images of Tachyon Studio, loose yourself in the selection of mind warping graphics or simply get terrified by the sound montage and surreal journey around the UT store itself…either way a splendid time is guaranteed for all…

To sum up, the day that I received my copy of this epic collection I also received the new NWW disc, and I know which of the two releases is the most adventurous, Steve Stapleton and co. no longer need my voice of support, but the good spaceship Endgame and all who sail in her certainly do, and what’s more its deservedly so.

Put simply, if you are reading this review then you owe it to all concerned to purchase a copy of this release. Have a pleasant trip.

[Peter Smith in Audion 52]

ENDGAME: HEXED

(Auricle AMCDR 058) CD 61m

On the cover we see in brownish-dark yellow a blurry image that may be a militant centaur. Six tracks on this one. Catamount Minor Tremble is an intriguing title of a piece where a turbid Morse code rhythm effect locks in the listener, but on the same time lets him distinguish all sorts of surging sounds till it’s a all blown away by a blast of filtered white noise. Blasts that keep coming, bringing washes of vibrating sounds. Then the clouds of lo-fi distortion break a bit and some partials manage to escape and slither through. From behind the rumblings and blazings shimmers of ZEIT evolve, but only briefly. Unshaped vibrating sounds reaching for heights which culminates in a pinnacle of radio signals. Snehcteit Sumsa, could have been a title from a Bernard Szajner album, builds on echoing clouded metal-noise rhythms, which become louder and louder, shooting like angry rockets round your ears, countered by the occasional tender blows of toy trumpet. The piece dies out in the same manner after a rumble of machine-like noises and stormy blazes. Shards Of Glass is an excursion into spooky ambient shimmers, well anyway till distortion brings it back into noise territory. On Waste Disposal winds of detuned and synced oscillators start a vendetta. Audio cutlery is flying all round like in the film Carrie where the mother is nailed to the wall by knives and forks. Intriguing heavily treated sounds deliver a hypnotic quality. On Synthetic Fly Ceremony I feel myself transported to the nightly beach of nightmares in the ghostly movie The Fog. There’s No One There starts as a classic cosmic pie, but turns quickly into a much weirder, complex deepened soundscape highlighted by a muffled women’s voice who questions the fact that’s no one there. HEXED will grow on you in time.

[Roel Steverink in Audion 54]

After this Jim 's priorities became focussed elsewhere for a while and Endgame became a more sporadic happening, and with new technology the music changed, again becoming much serious and deep. Endgame also resumed playing live, which also led to the Improv Electronic concerts and Quadelectronic (now in its eleventh year), and many other related groups.

In all, there's too much Endgame to discover than can be covered in an introductory article like this. So, how about summing up with the latest Endgame release?...

ELECTROACOUSTICS (Auricle AMCDR 287/288) was an almost lost album, that chronologically fits in between INTRIGUE and PHOENIX from late 2006, rediscovered only recently. This is Endgame in deep sonic contortion mode, with a wealth of sounds undergoing live manipulation via a range of devices, and less of the usual recognisable synths and instruments. Largely intact, as it was performed, here are five very different tracks, each the soundtrack to its own imaginary mind movie. And, as listening yourself can say more than words, here's a taster for you...

A complete index of Endgame releases can be found on the Ultima Thule web site.

A condensed history of Stormy Six

When compiling information for the upcoming "A Fistful Of Spaghetti" Italian rock etc. encyclopedia, I came up this article on Stormy Six by truncating and revising the Rock In Opposition article from Audion #39 that I wrote back in 1997...

Stormy Six
Formed in Milan in 1966, the ten year history leading up to the distinctive Stormy Six sound is a strange one. Nothing is known about the original line-up, except that one Bruno Lauzi is credited as the original leader. Back in those days they covers of The Small Faces and  Credence Clearwater Revival songs. After this a shift in style occurred when new members Claudio Rocchi and Franco Fabbri joined the band.
On their 1969 debut album LE IDEE DI OGGI PER LA MUSICA DI DOMANI (The Ideas Of Today Are The Music Of Tomorrow) they'd moved away from normal pop music, to a more psychedelic mixture with folky diversions and even a weird freak-out number. This phase was short-lived however, and they changed again after Claudio Rocchi left. The second album L'UNITÀ was a folky and sedate collection of songs, whereas GUARDA GIÙ DALLA PIANURA was done as a contract filler and comprised of well-known protest songs.
After this Stormy Six started playing at the "L'Unita" festival of the Italian Communist Party and then went on to help establish l'Orchestra, and also expand their horizons. Since 1969, the nucleus of Stormy Six had revolved around Franco Fabbri (vocals, guitar, etc.), Luca Piscicelli (guitar, bass, etc.) and Antonio Zanuso (drums), together with a fourth member, expanding to a six piece with Carlo De Martini (violin, mandolin, vocals), Umberto Fiori (vocals, guitars, harmonica) and Tommaso Leddi (mandolin, violin, etc.) circa 1975. This led to a metamorphosis and a new original sound as heard in its first stage of development on UN BIGLIETTO DEL TRAM (A Ticket for the Tram), which mixed folk and progressive rock with lots of other genres, now fronted the unique singing of Umberto Fiori. A slight blip in their development style wise was the instrumental album CLICHÉ, featuring their music to two theatre productions "1789" and "Titus Andronicus". For this they sought the aid of jazz musicians: Guido Mazzon (trombone) and Tony Rusconi (drums) coming up with a magical album that's become an island unto itself.
L'APPRENDISTA (The Apprentice) could be seen as the definitive  Stormy Six, released at the time Rock In Opposition was established  (see RIO in the Clichés & terminology section). It saw a change in line-up too, with ex-Capricorno members: Salvatore Garau (drums) and Pino Martini (bass). The change isn't what you'd expect (Capricorno were a jazz-fusion band) but a complex refinement, introducing electric instruments to flesh-out the sound, and bringing in a more rock-based footing. On MACCHINA MACCHERONICA (Maccheronica Machine) Stormy Six had now become Seven. Carlo De Martini had left, and in came Georgie Born (cello) ex-Henry Cow, and Leonardo Schiavone (clarinet, tenor sax) ex-Maxophone, with Umberto now concentrating solely on lead vocals. Maccheronica is basically a made up gibberish language used in theatre, and there are a few pieces on the album that demonstrate this art. In all it's a whirlwind ride of innovation throughout.
After this AL VOLO (On The Fly) saw a move to progressive rock. Three members also collaborated with Cassiber (Chris Cutler, Heiner Goebbels and Alfred Harth) as Cassix. Then, in 1983 the band split up. There have been a number of reformations since, notably the excellent concert documented on UN CONCERTO from 1993.

Well, I think that sums it up in a nutshell!




Stormy Six CDs for sale at the Ultima Thule Discogs shop

Alto Stratus - quite possibly Leicester's longest running experimental band

The duo of Alan and Steve Freeman (owners of Ultima Thule, etc.), we spent much of our spare time during the early 80s experimenting with synthesizers, sound collage, etc., and during that period we recorded some 30 odd cassettes as Alto Stratus (and under other guises: as Vrije, Q.S.O., Electric Junk), also as soloists, and the trio with sound artist Nigel Harris in ZBB.



"Tachyon" was one the most fanciful and conceptual recordings from the early 80s, an era of intensive home studio work, experimentation, and honing skills as electronic artists. Our "studio" consisted of 3 cassette decks, a 6 channel keyboard mixer, and a few effects. Back in 1984, the "Tachyon" was thought to be "a theoretical particle, capable of travelling faster than the speed of light", whereas today scientists claim to have proved its existence. Such an idea amounted to a fascinating concept for an album. "Tachyon" is intriguing for us today, with references and influences of: Conrad Schnitzler, Teddy Lasry, Cluster, Dome, Heldon, The Residents, Stockhausen, Throbbing Gristle, etc. Being non-musicians, the way we put all this together is more from the viewpoint of sound-artists, relying more on colour and texture than normal melodic composition, yet it's surprisingly melodic! The resulting potpourri of all this is incredibly diverse, and still surprisingly fresh 15 years on. Digitally transferred by Colin Potter, with an obscure bonus track, this is some of the finest Alto Stratus, with infinitely superior sound and clarity. Now, on CD, it should last forever!



"Catharsis" was the first release from Alto Stratus in over a decade, but is not so much a reformation - more a continuation - working on ideas hinted at on older releases and with our other current project Endgame. It's partly the result of works in the Newt Hounds project, and an attempt to recapture the feel of Biomechanoid. The side-long "Necronomicon Suite" involves a 45 minute improvisation that amasses a wide range of styles (Dadaism and collage, through to cosmic synths and psychedelic rock) and is full of surprises, as are the three tracks that cover the second side. 90 minutes of unique Alto Stratus invention. And now, sporadically, Alto Stratus goes on, with many more releases, each a unique step along our own musical avenue!

Here's a totally improv live piece from 2012...





Buy Alto Stratus CDs here and downloads here

RUIN - Leicester's best-kept secret?

Undoubtedly the most ironic thing about doing your own magazine is how do you go about reviewing your own releases without seeming biased or egoistic. Often the trick is to do an interview or weave it into a feature. Or, best of all, get someone else that's a fan to do it! But there are cases where none of that is possible, and the only solution is to "throw the gauntlet".
A case in point here is Ruin, a Leicester band that have existed for many years, kind of lurking in the "underground" refining and developing their style from more basic
post-punk, blues and rock roots. A brother of the band leader, who we know as Wilf brought in some discs to the Ultima Thule shop a few years back that he thought we may like. My reaction was basically "like the jams and more experimental bits - dump the singer" a reaction that often means I never hear from the band again. But years later Wilf presented me with a new disc, grinning "I think you're going to like this one" - and sure enough, he was right.
This disc comprised rehearsal jams from 10 November 2011, with the usual trio of: Curly and Jack on guitars, plus Stu on drums, with Wilf featuring on electronics. Just three tracks of extremely creative music, that indeed showed many influences but also had a creative spirit unique to Ruin. I guess they'd put themselves into a special frame of mind and decided to do some post-rock type jams that would fit the Auricle Music ethos. The fresh vitality, disregard of convention (all buzzing, crackles and noises are intentional) and spirit of it all reminds me of Can in their heyday. Put that against their punky roots, and they come up with surprising results, a bit Public Image, a bit This Heat or Metabolist, and quite Krautrocky too, akin to the late great Rancid Poultry. Each track is a surprise, not least the last track which gets a lot more prog, and has a hint of early Twelfth Night or instrumental Courtyard Moth feel about it!
This November 2011 disc was later issued on Auricle as THE KNITTER (AMCDR 185) as a numbered edition of 20 copies. Soon after that Wilf turned up with yet more session discs, some involving him some not, and virtually all of them were excellent. After a few repeated listens and discussions with band members I distilled the March through to May 2012 sessions into two lengthy discs.
TENTACLES OF THE TRIPOD MASK (AMCDR 195) features seven tracks, five big ones and two short bridge/interludes. I was given free reign to mix and play with it however I liked, but I opted only to add effects and processing with the recorded material as source. Here we have a range of tracks including psychedelic jams, a spacey blues, freeform space-outs, at least one number that reminds me of early Volcano The Bear. Metabolist and Can are in there again, and two crazed Krautrocky freak-outs to finish it off. It leaves me emotionally breathless every time!
Keeping with the strange album titles SLIGHT RETURN OF THE HALF BAKED (AMCDR 196) is another double album's worth of material, this time with Curly expanding his instrumentation further (adding violin, Indian banjo, mouth organ) and some vocals - not normal singing though, but chanting in the manner of Faust or Metabolist. Jack also adds some keyboards. Again we have a track in the vein of Public Image Ltd., circa METAL BOX given a very strange stutter treatment, a venture into Hawkwind / High Tide territory, some really big extended space-rock treks and lots more, ending with the vast 23 minute opus War Neuro'sis.
By my reckoning Ruin can easily rival any of the best around at the moment. They have that special feeling of wanton abandon, daring to challenge themselves, experimenting fusing together elements we've never heard before. And they've been busy. So watch of for more from Leicester's best-kept secret!
[proudly presented by Alan in Audion #58]

Get The Blessing - jazz, but maybe not as you know it!

Get The Blessing 

I first found out about these when they were they were just known as The Blessing. That was at a gig at The Musician here in Leicester on Saturday 12 July 2008. I'd gone to see Black Carrot, then currently the most exciting band on the local scene. The quotes online actually gave little away "The Blessing are a blast" - Mojo. "At last: a noisy, thrashy post-jazz combo that sounds like a proper band" - Independent on Sunday. "Gloriously powerful" - BBC Music Magazine. "Seamless and startling" - The Times. So I had no idea who or what The Blessing really were, but was pleasantly surprised.
I half expected some sort of Material styled jazz-funk when I saw the line-up of trumpet, saxophones, bass and drums, and there was a hint of that - but here were put on a frenzied trip of updated electric Miles Davis type sounds, given quirky touches, a good few Krautrock references, especially Can type rhythms, and the two winds players often dabbled and played around with the electronic gadgetry as much as playing their instruments, so shades of Xhol Caravan too. It had taken them eight years to come to this, but it was well worth it - a new innovative jazz group that was British, a rarity indeed!
The Blessing comprised: Jim Barr: bass (he was producer, session/live bass player with Portishead ca. 1993-1997), Clive Deamer: drums (who had recorded with Portishead on numerous occasions), plus the two winds wizards: Jake McMurchie: saxophone and Pete Judge: trumpet. Apparently the name was a dedication to Ornette Coleman, not a musician that I'm into myself, but no doubt that's another of the elusive influences in their music I couldn't identify.
... Three years on, and album number three: OC DC again offers-up lots of surprises. It gets even more playful and eclectic than its predecessors. You'd think they were something to do with The Residents with the sweet-wrappered heads and tuxedos they wear on the cover, and the music reflects that a little. There are even themes that remind me of Faust's So Far or Picnic On A Frozen River, and we get boogie jazz with the backbone of early Glenn Branca. Maybe it's sometimes like an instrumental Gong meets Can meets Miles Davis meets..., but such descriptions are inadequate! I could go on name-dropping and fill the page up, but that would only confuse matters. Notably the tracks are slightly longer and the grooves even more "groovy". And, to use a well-worn cliché, they turn all their influences into something uniquely their own. [edited from Audion #58]

Get The Blessing restocks of 5 titles just in at our Discogs shop

The Myrrors - out there ritualistic psychedelic rock

One of my favourite bands of the moment, The Myrrors are like a time-portal into the past, with elements of Swedish progg underground, Krautrock and a mystical air all of their own creation. The title of their new album BORDERLANDS says it all!

For releases in stock at Ultima Thule on Discogs, look here

Audion magazine - back-issues still available

Audion magazine was established in 1986 and kept on for 30 years, with 58 issues and other publications. Most back-issues are still available. Some are last copies or odd second-hand / ex-display ones only. Grab a bit of music history and have a good old read!

Audion index/buy here: http://home.btconnect.com/ultimathule/audion.html

One-off and rare magazines here:
http://home.btconnect.com/ultimathule/UT-catalog-booksandmagazines.html 

Or buy via Bookogs: https://shop.bookogs.com/seller/ultimathulerecords/
at Bookogs you can view several pages from each issue!

Sonic Sculpture on Cosmic Egg

Obscure experimental free Krautrock jazz and electronics outfit, only ever previously issued as a demo, now available as a special limited edition on Cosmic Egg for those that love such weird stuff! In Sonic Sculpture I hear what could have been one of those groundbreaking albums on the CMP label a decade or so earlier, partly Krautrock, partly avant-jazz, and partly a genre no one has given a name for. In it elements of David Torn's "Tripping Over God" sit alongside touches of Günter Schickert, the crazier improv flights of 1975/76 era live Can, etc.. There are also fragments of abstract Dada like poetry, some of it in English, some in German, adding a Fluxus connection (Conrad Schnitzler, Albrecht./d references can be heard too). Add to that much that is their own and unique, and you have a heady trip that deserves to be more widely heard.

p.s. This is a different Wolfgang Seidel to the Ton Steine Scherben member and Conrad Schnitzler cohort (aka Wolf Sequenza).



Buy the release here:
http://home.btconnect.com/ultimathule/tachyon/sonicsculpture/01sonicsculpture.html

Dave Powell - the Hurdy-Gurdy man

A unique explorer in the use of the hurdy gurdy, aka "vielle-à-roue" and various other instruments. A great sonic explorer of unfolk "Industrial Folk Music" and electronic sound processing, with an original style.
He has expanded his range of instruments on his various solos and collaborations in Tartovisti.
Dave also plays in Triax, Extremities, Etherwheel and at Quadelectronic events.

Another new Auricle page on Bandcamp...

Con-Hertz - myterious Berlin 1980s electronics

After Conrad Schnitzler left Tangerine Dream & Kluster (pre-Cluster) in the early 70's, he went on to be one of the most prolific explorative synthesists, and made dozens of albums, mostly as small private editions. In the 1980's he established numerous other projects, Con-Hertz was the duo of Conrad Schnitzler and Wolfgang Hertz Heusmann (ex-Aussenminister, Model 81), who made two very different tapes: "Face On Radio" consists of extracts (chosen by Auricle) from six hours of Wolfgang's remixes of archive recordings by Con in the style of "Conal". Aptly different, "Contrasts" is a direct collaboration between the two musicians, presenting a good deal of Con's best formative computer-electronic music, both melodic and abstract.

Xylemexperimental YouTube channel

Lots of new uploads at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJdLa5QfQn8MV0YtA093S4w

Kevin O'Neill - Icon

First upload of the Kevin O'Neill catalogue.

Pioneering Welsh synthesist primarily active during the 1980s. Kevin was one of the rare examples of a unique talent with a distinctive personal style. True, he did occasionally display his roots and influences in his music, but he never set out to copy or emulate anyone. So Kevin was not another Schulze or TD wannabe, and this was what made his music so invigorating and exciting - we'd never encountered the likes of it before! For this reason alone Kevin's music has remained fresh and vital.
     Initially we presented our favourite two, his first and third cassettes, cleaned-up for an authentic sound sans hiss or defects and remastered by Alan Freeman at Tachyon studio. Since negotiating those, Kevin gave his permission to reissue all his other cassettes and also two archive collections, adding up to the complete collection.

Industrial music from the Interstellar Cementmixers

 CELL BLOCK Z

Back in the 1990s the Nottingham band The Interstellar Cementmixers decided to try out something different, something that was not their usual explorations into deep space. So they chose a new name and decided to put the accent on weird, and came up with this rather remarkable and twist work of electronic industrial type music...




Buy the CD here