Monday 27 July 2015

GENE ESTRIBOU & JEAN-PAUL PICKENS - INTENSIFICATIONS























MEA 1965

Side 1: Gene Estribou

01. You know, the One You Played Saturday Night
02. Amalgam
03. Metathanks
04. Eeeee Minor

Side 2: Jean-Paul Pickens

01. Coo Coo Bird
02. Shady Grows
03. G.R.


Well, I have been wanting to post this since the inception of this blog, never got round to it until now.

This split L.P. from '65 has two lesser known 'American Primitive' artists nicely complementing each other with six steel string guitar on the A side and banjo on the B.

Gene Estribou has a nice Fahey/Perry Leopold feel. A little Eastern, a little bluesy.

Jean-Paul Pickens, from San Franciso's Serpent Power, delivers three tracks of wonderful droning Americana.

Dead Good.

WE ARE THE WOODEN HOUSES - KONTAKTE




WE ARE THE WOODEN HOUSES - KONTAKTE






















TOR49. Released June 2015.


Side A:

1. Skeleton Lake
2. The Stain
3. The Ghost of the Wooden Moon
4. Oberon

Side B:
1. Three Card Spread
2, Cottonskin
3. Empty World
4. Sitar Skull Support
5. The Shadow Over Santa Susana


The latest Wooden Houses went from conception to completion very quickly. A vague concept crossed paths with a revision of recently recorded material (and later, a look through the archives).

I wished to make another cassette, and unsure of what I wanted to be on the tape, I recorded two improvised long wave radio compositions. Making each 15 minutes in length, having a c30 in mind.

I gave these recordings to Al, and we discussed the potential of building music into the radio.

'Skeleton Lake' had been recorded a month earlier and was based around a single vocal sample.

'The Stain' and 'Oberon' are the oldest tracks here. Already old tracks in 2011 when excluded from a proposed two disc Stone Tape Theory release that ultimately became "Fussy Pussy", they have been remixed and had samples renewed.

'The Ghost of the Wooden Moon' was a 15 minute improvised raga, then edited and overdubbed for this release.

'Three Card Spread' was another improvisation revisited with editing and further overdubs.


'Cottonskin' and 'Empty World' come from the same improvised session. Al and I recorded hours of material; drones, electronics, effects. As well as the two tracks, parts of the improvisations can be heard throughout the cassette.


'Sitar Skull Support' began when I required something to support a skull from a light fixture for a photograph. As I had recently broken a string on my sitar, I grabbed some pliers in order to remove it and use it as the skull suspension.


The noise as I tried to cut through the string was terrible, so I immediately recorded it. I sent the recording to Al, who replied with a basic track within an hour.


Al also performed a radio improvisation towards the end of the sessions, it provides the introduction to the cassette, as well as being scattered throughout.

The title of 'The Shadow Over Santa Susana' comes from a book concerning the Manson family. The track itself is made from parts of the 'Cottonskin'/'Empty World' improvisation, but ends with the two original radio recordings playing simultaneously.

During the recordings, I remembered some book artwork I liked that may suit the recordings.


Kontakte 1, was a combined television and radio course for beginners in German. It was a BBC production, and this is the cover of the accompanying book. I like the way the art suggested information, but what if the cassette it applied to had music instead of instruction?


The radio suggests a form of contact, or communication, but from where and what may be lost in translation (or noise)? Al reworked the cover art in this style as we edited our tape to two 30 minute sides of improvised and experimental noise.


A free download, and the extremely limited cassette are both avaiable from Bandcamp.

ATTILIO MINEO - MAN IN SPACE WITH SOUND






















World's Fair Records 1962

01. Welcome To Tomorrow
02. Gateway To Heaven
03. Soaring Science
04. Mile-A-Minute Monorail
05. Around The World
06. Century 21
07. Man In Art
08. The Queen City
09. Man Sees The Future
10. Boeing Spacearium
11. Science Of Tomorrow
12. Space Age World's Fair

The 1962 Seattle World's Fair commissioned obscure composer Attilio Mineo to score their vision of the future. The extremely limited L.P. was available as a souvenir from the fair.

From the notes:

"The Bubbleator was Washington State's official exhibit in the Coliseum, which housed a 'World of Tomorrow' exhibit. A 150-passenger spherical clear plastic elevator, the Bubbleator moved 2.5 million people through displays promising an easier life ahead. The operator wore a silver shiny space suit right out of a Buck Rogers comic strip and the music of Man in Space with Sounds was being played through the sound system."

Early space age electronica, it's far out.