When I worked in the city I found a record/cd shop in the Taft's arcade (I think it has a real name). The shop was Peril. 2 guys ran it Peter and Darrin. Sensing someone with a taste for the new, Darrin started pointing me towards various artists. Many of my still favourites are down to him - Steve Roden, Muslimgauze, Fax, Ikeda and of course the Dorobo label.
Because what I learnt later as I followed the shop to Swanston street (Peril 305) and then Elizabeth Street (Peril Underground) was that Darrin was Verhagen the man behind Shinjuku Thief and the label Dorobo and Iridium.Over time I collected all the output, plus more things he recommended.
It was thanks to Darrin I got into reviewing - he pointed me towards Vivisect who took my early and varied reviews (I always seem to go beyond the remit of my review home, hence the Ampersand), and my groundwork there got me in with Jasper and ambeince - then to my newsletter and blog.
I also became even more aware of packaging and the look of a label - Dorobo has a distinct presence and aesthetic which mutated into the Iridium and the editions. The consistency was developed in the music as well - without constrain it: Darrin himself worked in a variety of styles/persona, the Shinjuku Thief, Shinjuku Filth, Professor Richmann, eventually under his own name and e.p.a. while working in dance scores, straight albums in various forms and game soundtracks.
This is the black perspex box that holds the last 3 dorobo releases: you can just make out black | mass engraved on it and the disk numbers and the Dorobo logo. Inside three albums (e.p.a. black ice, shinjuku thief matte black and darrin verhagen black frost) continue the theme in black covers with gloss with music which is edgy and as minimal as the packaging.
This piece initially came into the series as a nod to Darrin and as another item in the collection of beautiful and special pieces (I also have the wooden box that houses the Witch Trilogy). But then when I looked at the photo I saw that it was something of a self portrait, but also of part of the room. So reflecting (no pun intended) some of the themes of this blog (my musical journey; the music; the packaging; thanks to people along the way) I have decided to call this number zero
In the days when albums were albums and made of 12" vinyl the album cover was a marvel. It could contain lyrics, images, stories, books and more. A few will come up in this series.
Brian Eno's Before and after science was itself a fantastic album - a series of odd songs that covered the territory described by Eric Tamm from hymns, through quirky pop to almost rock. You'd buy it anyway. But included in the sleeve were 4 art prints. Images by Peter Schmidt were included, and listed on the back cover as part of the album (Fourteen Pictures).
They are simple but beautiful pictures, and since buying the album they have graced the walls of rooms in various houses we have lived in. They are now in my office here - peaceful ambient images, which like the music get renewed each time you look at them
I was late to this but better than never.
Listening to Deborah Harry on Desert Island Discs, one of her tracks was When I grow up by Fever Ray. The 30 seconds they played intrigued me, so I went to the website to see who it was.
And found Fever Ray, bought the album, the live album and mix eps and was obviously hooked - the voice, the music, the tone.
So I went back and found The Knife albums - Silent Shout is a nice dance electronics, but with my eclectic preferences liked the 'opera' Tomorrow, in a year even more.
The recent release of a preview track from the new album mentioned that the male half had released some EPs as Oni Ayhun. These are available from various download sites (if you go to his website you will be directed to a shop where they are sold in Euros for less than the Australian iTunes site - not sure about other areas http://oniayhun.com/OAR001.html).
They are quite weird but wonderful minimal techno and well worth the asking price.
The new album Shaking the habitual is said to be a change in direction, and the advance track Full of fire combines the minimal madness of Oni with some full beats, more distorted edgy vocals and amusing changes that keep you onboard for the 10 minutes. I have preordered the album.
Which arrived today - comments will follow
Well - it probably fits in with comments across here about the length possible in downloads - it is a massive 96 minutes long (over the double album length). Except for a couple of short pieces 4:30 is the shortest and 8/13 clock in at over 6 and there is a 19 minute instrumental which could be Oni Ayhun. Could it have been editied down, probably - but there is something rather quixotic about the whole thing - you can hear the various strands of their careers coming together, with less focus on the melodic and more on the jarring and confronting - but with sweet spots. It is an album which will take time to absorb and may never like - rather like recent Scott Walker albums.
OK, I said that discussions with Dave Stafford got me going again. I found him through Eno's/Childer's iPad music creator Scape - an amazing app which dave as a musician is playing/working/publishing with. He wrote some fabulous pages describing his early experience with the instrument, and sort of reflected in this one
http://pureambient.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/generative-music-applications-mixtikl-and-scape/
It is a good read, but search for the earlier ones too.
Anyway, I find Scape fun and a way to create Enoesque transitory new works: unlike dave I see mine as ephemeral explorations.
I have also tried Mixtikl which he mentions (a spawn of the people behind Koan - who of you remembers that) and it is more complex but also interesting.
There are many others, a few of which I have toyed with & sometimes make myself some noise with, but these are the stayers for the amateur music maker
A top 10: not the best by these artists (necessarily) nor my favourite (ditto) but albums that led me elsewhere. In no order other than the first.
Bowie: Low
This is the ultimate album for me. It exploded my appreciation of Bowie into another level, introduced me to Eno (properly - I had No Pussyfooting but didn't understand it) and effectively reinvigorated my interest in Fripp (really via Heroes, but also through his solos on Eno albums). Bowie thus cemented his place as one of my musical triumvirate, who I see as the key to my musical life.
- (Interesting addendum: I remembered John Schaefer of WNYC soundcheck doing a program on Music that changed My Life, & Low was the one identified in his blog - I emailed him about the similarity of our response: found it again
http://soundcheck.wnyc.org/blogs/soundcheck-blog/2009/feb/05/the-album-that-changed-my-life-and-eventually-led-me-here/
King Crimson: Larks Tongues in Aspic
The complexity and excitement of this album grabbed me, and this era Crimson is my favourite, though it took me back to earlier albums (I had a lacunae between this and In The Court...). Delivered an ongoing love of Fripp's work tht continues to now with the soundscapes available through DGM live.
Brian Eno: Another Green World
Opened my eyes to ambience and to all things Eno. Following his work has been a musical revelation and he will pop up a couple more times. Plus the album has a cover by Tom Phillips who became my favourite visual artist through various gateways, including Starless and Bible Black (King Crimson)
Other Eno doors
- Discreet music: I would like to include all 10 Obscure albums, but this isn't about labels. Long form ambience on this album, but all the 'modern' classical available on the label (see also Irma)
- Thursday Afternoon: my first cd purchase, before I had a player.
Easy Rider Soundtrack
The first album I bought with the first paycheck from my first job. The start of the addiction
Steve Roden:splint (the soul of wood)
That music can come from obscure sources, that ambience can be minimal and engrossing, that one person can encompass music, painting, installations and sculpture. My regret is that I haven't seen the real thing yet. An entree to his music and the 'lowercase' world
Alan Lamb: Primal Image
I want to mention Darrin Verhagen and Dorobo anyway - he introduced me to so much great music - a true pusher! But this album opened the world of found soundsources, field recording, label aesthetics and more. An effective route to people like Aube.
Phillip Glass: Einstein on the Beach
I bought and played this album and discovered the wonders of minimalism and its divisiveness - described by one listener as the most boring thing they had heard. A PG concert was the most exciting one I have been to, I think
Miles Davis: Jack Johnson sessions
While finding mispriced items in the early days of downloads (for example, for a day the John Lennon box set was $15) I found the Miles sets. When they first came out I saw them and loved the packaging but wondered why people would pay so much for them. When the sets popped up for the price of a single album, I thought why not. And could see the attraction (sort of): they contain tons of interesting music. I wouldn't pay big bucks, but I have enjoyed them all and allowed me to explore and delve further into the amazing world of probably the cross over artist.
Muslimgauze: not sure which one
Can't remember which it was, but have so many now. Something of a deadend really, a highway to nowhere else - but through Terry Bennet and the Muslimgauze site I have found some other musc. But Muslimgauze is so big, a drug of its own.
John Kannenberg: Stasisfield
OK, it's a label. But it was probably the first web label I came across at &etc; John sent me a cd of their first year. The label showed me many people and also led me to a (troubling - I overdid it a bit at work) almost infinite world of freely available music on the web.
eM (Michael bentley) and Larry Kucharz
More of another thank you - they were people who gave me support when I went solo reviewing
Hi
Yes - I'm here again.
why?
Well, my emails to my sister get really long when I talk about music, & reading dave Stafford's blog has stimulated me to comment on his and email him, & I realised that I like writing about music.
I have often contemplated a series about things in my room & so there will be a regular blog called TIMR: which may even have a picture which talks about music related important to me things in my room.
And I also had the idea for the first post - again stimulated by my email to Dave, so that will be up next.
Daves blog is at http://pureambient.wordpress.com/ and I'll make a few references that way soon
