Twittering Machines

Hobo Sonn
The Thundering Nature Of Reality

Bring on the noise. I don’t know anything about Ian Murphy/Hobo Sonn besides the fact that this record reminds me of some of my favorite noise merchants. So I’ll defer to a more enlightened source:

“Highly recommended slab of bedroom concrete, electronic blurb and lo-fi tape mangle”  Chocolate Monk – D. Nyoukis

One thing I can say is there’s noise and there’s noise. I’ve bought a bunch of records that could all be described as bedroom concrete, electronic blurb and lo-fi tape mangle but none of them hit me quite like The Thundering Nature Of Reality. Figures. Sparse, empty, voidishness of mechanical modern sounds bumping together in the cold, dark internal night with just a hint of warm humanness. I guess you could call it…spooky.

As with any proper noise LP, this one comes funkily packaged in a limited (sold out at the source) edition. Oversized jacket with peek-a-boo opening to screened cardboard insert and loose menu-style liner notes.

Sam Lowry: I only know you got the wrong man.

Jack Lint: Information Transit got the wrong man. I got the *right* man. The wrong one was delivered to me as the right man, I accepted him on good faith as the right man. Was I wrong?

There’s nothing like a semi-stupor-ed visit to Tropicalia in Furs especially when fuelled by very fond and newly minted memories of Lula and Zé dancing in my head to the tune of hand-drawn Otter Creek Imperial IPA. I walked in on a cloud and walked out with an arm-full of Tropicalia (not to mention a lighter load in my wallet). A wonderful night with fond musical memories stored on vinyl for easy retrieval.

Details (clockwise from top left):

Djalma Correa, Baiafro (MPBC) - Philips 1978
Os Mutantes, Algo Mais – Philips 1986
Gal Costa, Gal - Philips 1969 (mono)
Antonio Carlos E Jocafi, Mudei De Ideia - RCA 1971
Zé Ramalho, S/T - CBS 1978
Caetano Veloso, Araçá Azul – PolyGram 1973

So far the Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso LPs are the monster stand-outs but all of this music is wonderful. Drop the needle for trippy travel to the deep hippie tropics.

Sonny Sharrock
Guitar

Just Sonny, just guitar. Holy fuck.

Lula Cortes and Ze Ramalho
Paebiru

Did you ever get a record, listen and feel – ahhh that’s what I was looking for.  That’s what I need. I did and this record is it.

Originally released in 1974 and as the story goes most copies destroyed in a flood or fire (I’ve read both versions and it’s worth noting the four sides of this double are named after earth, air, fire and water),  this is simply one beautiful slice of Brazilian world-infused hippie mystical psychedelia. Beautifully recorded double LP that puts Devendra and a bunch of others in the – it’s nice but it’s no Paebiru – category. Vocals, chants, acoustic and fuzz-faced guitar, ukulele, tricordio, zither, flutes, bird calls, viola, sax, organ, farfisa, piano and percussion. A gentle perfect for summer stunner.

Cecil Barfield
South Georgia Blues

George Mitchell went down to Georgia in 1976 and recorded Cecil Barfield, aka William Robertson. Cecil didn’t want his real name attached to that record for fear he would stop getting his disability checks. Cecil is another singular voice in blues and it’s his singing that stands him out. Cecil sounds like he’s swallowed, digested and is exorcising these songs from his body. At times it’s like the tune takes over making him mumble nearly incoherently one minute, grunting out a line the next and then it’s off on some wicked falsetto run. Listen to his version of “Baby, Please Don’t Go” for a taste of magic.

From the liner notes: “The reason Robertson’s photograph is not on the cover of the album is that he fears anyone could turn a photo of him face down and kill him.”

Released on Mississippi Records in collaboration with Big Legal Mess/Fat Possum.

Arthur Doyle Plus 4
Alabama Feeling

Recorded and originally released in 1978 in a limited edition on AK-BA records, Alabama Feeling is a beautiful, mad, free jazz soul monster. We can thank Rank-Records for this surprisingly good sounding limited edition re-release which was mastered from an original vinyl copy since the tapes are long lost…

Doyle’s life story which is included in the liner notes (from an article that originally appeared in The Wire) is fascinating and filled with nervous breakdowns, CIA conspiracy theories, US government plots against free jazz and some jail time in France on trumped up rape charges that were eventually dropped. Doyle learned to play free jazz by playing with Milford Graves (available together on the Babi LP) and he went on to play with Sun Ra (was invited into the Arkestra but said no), Noah Howard on the amazing Black Ark, Alan Silva, Sam Rivers, Bill Dixon, Keiji Haino, etc etc…He also counts Thurston Moore as a fan and supporter and Thurston released Doyle’s single-sided LP Arthur Doyle Plays More Alabama Feeling on his own Ecstatic Peace label.

Can you believe that after all that! he was found playing in the subways in Paris in 2000? Amazing stuff and this is one amazing record raging against everything but filled with moments of clarity and beauty.

“Hey JD, I think you’ll really like that Andrea Parker Kiss My Arp record.”

 ”Yea, I do. That’s why I blogged about it last year.”

I suppose it was inevitable (at least I’d like to think so). Kiss My Arp, worth a double dip.

Andrea Parker
Kiss My Arp

Electro-techno double LP from 1999 by classically trained cellist, record label owner and DJ Andrea Parker. Mixed into the mix are wavy vocals, found sounds, live strings, vintage synthesizers and enough bass, beat and edge to make you quake, rattle & roll. Things get a bit Dead Can Dance-ish on the vocal tracks but it’s all OK by me as the music moves and grooves through mysterious places with touches of warmth amidst the cold ‘n lonely electronic drive-by. Super cool packaging in this limited edition version (printed on vellum) and the song titles are equally cooliscious; “Breaking the Code”, “Elements of Style” and “Melodious Thunk”. Classic.

Lest we forget

even Elvis did it