Fonoteca del INAH

The Mexican Smithsonian Folkways who put out some great records back in the day. I never hear field recording heads talk about INAH, but now you all know and can spread the word.

Red Sky In The Morning Mix

New mix, completed last weekend...


DJ FABERGE EGG - RED SKY IN THE MORNING

---pt. i---
david crosby – i’d swear there was somebody here
yello – blue green
vangelis – himalaya
blackbelt andersen – lordag
herb alpert – rotation
andreas vollenweider – belladonna (tangoterje edit)
ashra – midnight on mars

---pt. ii---
jah wobble, the edge + holger czukay – it was a camel
d. lissvik – trk 5
tulio de piscopo – 'e fatto 'e sorde! 'e? (max essa edit)
loud e – don’t wanna go
brennan green – escape from chinatown
tensnake – congolal
new order – your silent face
jean michel jarre - equinoxe 1

This one is a little less funky, a little more desultory and tropical. It makes for good home-listening atmosphere, I'd hope, even though there are more of my trademark jerky djing transitions and some unfortunately scratched-up vinyl. In any case, I hope you all enjoy...

The Orgone Box

What makes novelty novel? If we want the answer to this question we cannot value the novel against what it is not or what has not come before, rather we need to trace what the novel already is. For novelty is not the creation of a new whole, but a transformation, a rematerialization, another layer within a genealogy of something that came before. It is not enough to say that novelty is never new, because it is, but any novelty, and I would argue the more significant novelties gain their strength not in their newness, but through their history. What makes novelty novel is its ability to act as a catalyst for a phase change of thought, a paradigm shift, the opening up of a new plane of possibilities, problems, and characters.

Wilhelm Reich, a psychoanalyst and promoter of the largely disputed theory of orgone energy: a bioenergic force and the cause of all observable phenomena, will serve as the initial coordinates for a process of novelty that we feel today, but began a good while ago. Reich’s ideas and inventions, whether intentional or not, valid or invalid, launched a trajectory of ideas, non-linear, and incohesive, yet all the more meaningful, that have materialized in many forms, through the course of a few decades. Two of these forms present themselves here, one a post humus collection of obscure recordings across two decades released this past year, and the second, a cassette recording from a prolific sound artist and performer. While the thread that connects these is thin, it is just as long, and makes for durability in both of these works that transcends their initial temporal novelty.
So here’s what I’m talking about, or rather listening what I’m listening to, and recommending you to listen to: Ursula Bogner Recordings 1969-1988 (Faitiche LP) and Mudboy Mudboy Beats v. III: Metal USA (Breaking World Records Cassette). While these were recorded in very different times, very different places, and in very different manners they are both part of an aesthetic lineage that begins not with sound but in the silence of Reich’s Orgone Box. One of his most well known inventions, the Orgone Box was a composite of wood, aluminum, and steel that one sat into to absorb accumulations of Orgone energy. This energy, thought to be in atmosphere, was the equivalent of nascent sexual energy, the matter that resides in the id and the driving force of all of passions and energies, which we must reconcile in some way or another. Ursula Bogner, mother, pharmacist, and amateur musician owned and often used one of these boxes, which she housed in her garage. Thought to therapeutic, stress relieving, and an aphrodisiac, the Orgone Box erases the dialectic between material and thought by creating a continuous interface between atmosphere and mood.

Mood is what stands out the most in Bogner’s recordings. The record begins by putting us in space, above the atmosphere, with a sparse composition of tuba like bass and a repetitive modulated high frequency riff; it almost has a pop sensibility. In fact, most of the songs in their simply elegant repetition share this characteristic, my personal favorite being the fourth track Metazoon. As we descend back to earth through the warm atmosphere created by some awesome analog home recording equipment, the environment becomes more pronounced, but the melodies that add to the extra charm of this album are never fully absorbed. Two tracks near the end Pulsation and Testlauf, are equally moody as the first, but the added atmosphere of the equipment’s leftovers produces a sensation that we rarely experience from the mass of more contemporary home noise makers.

Mudboy, from Providence Rhode Island, being one of those “noise makers” stands out as an exception. As prolific as he is diverse in his release of material, Metal USA is the third installment of an ongoing series of Mudboy Beats. Where Bogner’s Recordings emphasized mood over atmosphere, Metal USA is atmosphere, but thick with mood. The beats are what stand out, and at points on both sides of the cassette definable melodies appear, but all of this is at once washed away and held in place by an ever-present mutating haze of detritus. What is really interesting about this recording is that the ambient qualities of the piece seem to have a direct connection to the form and timbre of the beats being produced. In this way the atmosphere morphs with the pace of the rhythm, at times being a slow and deep drone, while at others a franticly precise chatter.

On the inside sleeve of the cassette, under the name “Mudboy” an alternate title appears: “Doctor of Experimental Orgonomics.” Whether or not Mudboy, like Bogner, has sat inside an Orgone Box doesn’t really matter, nor does it matter whether or not Orgone as a bioenergic force really exists. Whether it does or not, our perception and our aesthetics are permanently altered. The effects of an Orgone culture, though obscure in its specificity, is wide spread in its generality. The fact that both these records were released in a year and both of their connections to Reich’s Orgonomics cannot be a coincidence. A novelty in the 50s, the obscure Orgone Box has until recently remained hidden, but thankfully not forgotten. The techniques of atmosphere and the effects of mood the original Orgone Box sought to create through electromagnetism, being rematerialized into media capable of producing an immersive, performative, or collective experience of sensation, achieves a durability its first incarnation as a bizarre psychoanalysis offshoot could not possibly sustain. Though scientific in nature, the Orgone Boxes weird science undermines beauty in harmony, just as much as Metal USA and Recordings produce sensation by way of dissonance.

Ursula Bogner Recordings: 1969-1988

Mudboy Beats III: Metal USA

MAMBO CHE CHAY

I've been on a crazy downloading bender this last week or two, so I thought I'd share some of my favorites from the latest (soulseek-enabled) batch. It's been nice going back to the more folky/organic side of freaky music, and I've found a few amazing records that bridge the gap nicely between spacey new-age-style synth mastery and loose, cult-leader-style outsider folk. These are some well-rounded, fine, immersive albums here, just the right amount of pop songcraft and grooves (to my liking) sprinkled in with a heavy base of blissed out cosmic beach hippie vibes...


Bobby Brown - The Enlightening Beam of Axonda (1972)

You may be familiar with more than a few of these, so forgive me if I'm telling you things you already know. The first album here is from Bobby Brown, not to be confused with the dude from New Edition that married Whitney Houston, etc. THIS is the OG Bobby Brown, who made his name performing at acid-drenched beach parties in the late '60s/'70s/'80s with his racks and racks of homemade musical equipment in tow (you can see some of these contraptions on the album cover). The album has sitars, it has faux-African conga jams, it has a lot of trippy noodling about, and it's even loosely based on a story highly informed by Brown's own awesome cosmic religious views! In summary- the perfect outsider album. (more info on the album here)


Vangelis - Earth

I'd be willing to bet most of you are familiar with Vangelis, but this album is different than the earth-shakingly powerful synthwork that became his claim to fame. Of course that stuff is awesome (if you don't agree please dl 'Heaven and Hell'), but he had more talent than even those albums and soundtracks let on. Much of his early work is amazing, but in particular his first official solo album- 'Earth'- is much rootsier and more psychedelic than I had any idea the man was capable of getting. This folky funkiness is nicely balanced with a couple yacht-rock level dance JAMS (see "He-O" and "Let it Happen") and some Ashra/Popol Vuh-esque expermentation ties it together nicely throughout. If you dig this, check out the less-groovy yet equally amazing 'The Dragon' for more of Mr. Papathanassiou's folky/experimental side.


Michael Shrieve with Kevin Shrieve and Klaus Schulze - Transfer Station Blue

Ok, actually this album is nothing new to me, but it definitely fits in with the overall vibe here. Some very dubbed-out synth compositions here that would nicely compliment the last couple of albums but still manage to ignore anything remotely 'folk'. Klaus Schulze IS involved, so you know we're in for at least a touch of analog komische wonderfulness right off the bat. And Michael Shrieve is best known for his drumming in Santana, so you also know that (even if you loathe Santana) this is going to be a pretty interesting collaboration. Yet the music is something altogether different and wonderful; if the other albums were beach music, then this is that rhythm fully submerged in the ocean. Or in space... one of the two.


DJ Harvey - Sarcastic Disco Vol. 1 (unmixed)

So this is a little weird, as this album contains tracks from a mix but is not really mixed, per se. It's just a collection of tracks used in one of Harvey's previous mixes that hold up really well on their own, especially on a sunny drive down Highway 1 (as experienced recently thx to zipcar!). So I guess that makes this more of a compilation than anything, but it works very well on those terms. It includes one track from the album just posted, a Holger Csukay tune, some rare funk, some synth wave- in general it manages to set a unique tone with a very disparate set of ingredients. Each track included is funky, stoney gold; less suitable for the disco and more for just steady GROOVIN. Again, being on a beach and/or in space does wonders for this album's listening potential.

ENJOY