It’s become commonplace in music journalism to refer to albums as “soundtracks for imaginary films”—music so cinematic it feels like it’s made to accompany a sweeping storyline. No Light and No LandAnywhere is an inversion of that idea: an actual soundtrack that works just as well on its own.
Jeffrey Brodsky’s No Light and No Land Anywhere is a score of a film by the same name, a moody portrait of a young woman lost in Los Angeles by director Amber Sealey (and executive producer Miranda July). The trailer is a tone poem focused on a British expat, after the death of her mother, in search of herself via sometimes seedy means. The music tells a separate story using subtlety and force.
Opening track “Mustard, Mayonnaise, Chicken, No Lettuce” lays out its primary musical elements as a short spell of piercing, poignant electronic tones, arranged together in mesmerizing form. “Hi It’s Lexi” continues with a mix of presence and restraint, moving in ambient fashion through melancholy synth washes and occasional, distant pulses. “Lexi’s Theme” introduces a doleful piano, with a few scattered bright notes to suggest a sense of hope that’s not altogether vanished.
The pieces are all short and composed for specific settings and scenes. But ambient music can sometimes be served well by a sense of purpose, even if that purpose isn’t wholly known. There are no longueurs here, no tracks that keep going past the moment when their point was made. The levels of intensity ebb and swell, with upper registers reached in tracks like “The Distant Concussion of a Gun” and “I’m a Brain Surgeon.” But even at his most seething, Brodsky—as a composer—seems secure in the knowledge that silence can be just as powerful as a strong blast of noise.
Hemlock Smith and Les Poissons Autistes discovered each other on the
Web-Sampler « Bon pour les Oreilles Vol. 2 » that the swiss magazine «
L’Hebdo » compiled in 2007. Normally, those two projects should never
have met; the gentle Pop of the former and the noisy landscapes of the
latter seem way too far apart, but a mutual attraction developed
nevertheless, almost at once. Maybe it’s the haunting melancholy that is
present on both shores… The desire to collaborate came to life and,
after a few interesting demos, Hemlock Smith and Les Poissons Autistes
are now proud to present the result of their teamwork, aptly titled “Three
Times Dead”. Hemlock Smith is the project of singer/songwriter Michael
Frei, active in Lausanne, Switzerland. His music, anchored somewhere
between Pop, Rock, Folk and Jazz, tells darkly ironic stories, sung with
a gentle voice. “A Secret Life” (2002) and “Umbrella, Fitz &
Gerald” (2006), his two albums so far, managed to create a discreetly
captivating universe. A third album is currently due for release in
early 2009.
This is a famous album isn't it? Anyway a really good listen and bonus beats cheap as well. Thanks Confused (don't think you are really... ;-)
Well, it's now famous for me. I gave it 5*s. The first track I heard of his was off the Fluxus Anthology 30th Anniversary 1962 - 1992 from the UbuWeb last Sept.(also 5*) Catch Wave had been in the SFL since 2013 thanks probably to someone here.
Well, continuing on I see what an interesting bunch of music everyone's been listening to. @Germanprof, I've really enjoyed what I've heard so far, but I do like the stuff that's a little more out there. I really enjoyed the guitar tribute album to Ornette Coleman the most, made me think of us kids watching my Pop play guitar for us.
Kerosene Halo - House on Fire. Kind of an Americana/rock sound. Loved their first album and did the kickstarter for this one. This is a side project for Michael Roe of The 77s and Derri Daugherty of The Choir, both were in Lost Dogs so this album has the same feel.
RA's top web mix of 2015 ( https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/2574 ); available on soundcloud or other places with some googling; I can't really find a good link right now, but this is really nice.
Well, Jasmine Guffond's Yellow Bell reminded me it was time to go through my SFL and try to whittle it down some. I had 1028 albums, including 2 blank pages, saved. The trouble is that I keep finding newer releases from some of the artists that I had saved and as I clear off one another is added. Oh well, remembering the past keeps me looking forward to the future. Takehisa Kosugi - Catch Wave (1975)
This is a famous album isn't it? Anyway a really good listen and bonus beats cheap as well. Thanks Confused (don't think you are really... ;-)
This is really great ! . . . Thanks
Group Ongaku
co-founder/Fluxus composer Takehisa Kosugi was one of the first
Cage-schooled artists to translate his avant garde tastes for Japanese
audiences. Catch-Wave is widely considered his definitive solo
record, two side-long improv tracks that explore deeply felt violin
drones (“Mano-Dharma ’74”) and queasy echo chamber expressions of the
human voice (“Wave Code #E-1”).
In 1969 Kosugi with several others formed the group Taj Mahal Travellers, [music videos]
another multi-media project that used both Eastern and Western
instruments, electronics and vocal chanting, and a heavy amount of
processing to add a psychedelic element to the improvisational sound. In
1971 and 1972 this group toured Europe and the near East in a
Volkswagen minibus and even performed at the Taj Mahal in India. The
group also released some recordings, starting with the album July 15,
1972 on the Sony label in 1972, a side on the double LP compilation Live
at Oz from the Oz label, and the double album August 1974, released in
1975 by Sony.
In 1975 Taj Mahal Travellers broke up and Kosugi worked
on his solo career, coming out that year with a couple of fascinating
albums, Improvisation performed with Toshi Ichiyanagi and Michael Ranta, and Catch Wave,
a completely solo effort with Kosugi on violin, vocals, radio and
oscillators on once side and on vocals with electronic treatment on the
other. He helped start the East Bionic Symphonia, a Taj Mahal Travellers-like group made up of Kosugi’s students.
In 1969 Kosugi with several others formed the group Taj Mahal Travellers, [music videos]
another multi-media project that used both Eastern and Western
instruments, electronics and vocal chanting, and a heavy amount of
processing to add a psychedelic element to the improvisational sound. In
1971 and 1972 this group toured Europe and the near East in a
Volkswagen minibus and even performed at the Taj Mahal in India. The
group also released some recordings, starting with the album July 15,
1972 on the Sony label in 1972, a side on the double LP compilation Live
at Oz from the Oz label, and the double album August 1974, released in
1975 by Sony.
In 1975 Taj Mahal Travellers broke up and Kosugi worked
on his solo career, coming out that year with a couple of fascinating
albums, Improvisation performed with Toshi Ichiyanagi and Michael Ranta, and Catch Wave,
a completely solo effort with Kosugi on violin, vocals, radio and
oscillators on once side and on vocals with electronic treatment on the
other. He helped start the East Bionic Symphonia, a Taj Mahal Travellers-like group made up of Kosugi’s students.
And now I feel even sillier. Boy but my memory is bad. Been grooving to these guys since at least when Cope's Japrocksampler came out; so about 9 years now. Still thanks for the reminder.
Kosugi is quite a wonderful and creative guy. You would think that I'd think differently because back in the late 70's, I applied for a job opening that he ended up getting. It turns out that he actually was already "hired" for the position, but to fulfill "green card" rules, there needed to be an advert showing need for the position to be filled. Mild, mannered performer who's very unassuming in performance practice - working with sound in an almost surgical and intense manner.
Comments
It’s become commonplace in music journalism to refer to albums as “soundtracks for imaginary films”—music so cinematic it feels like it’s made to accompany a sweeping storyline. No Light and No Land Anywhere is an inversion of that idea: an actual soundtrack that works just as well on its own.
Jeffrey Brodsky’s No Light and No Land Anywhere is a score of a film by the same name, a moody portrait of a young woman lost in Los Angeles by director Amber Sealey (and executive producer Miranda July). The trailer is a tone poem focused on a British expat, after the death of her mother,
in search of herself via sometimes seedy means.
The music tells a separate story using subtlety and force.
Opening track “Mustard, Mayonnaise, Chicken, No Lettuce” lays out its primary musical elements as a short spell of piercing, poignant electronic tones, arranged together in mesmerizing form. “Hi It’s Lexi” continues with a mix of presence and restraint, moving in ambient fashion through melancholy synth washes and occasional, distant pulses. “Lexi’s Theme” introduces a doleful piano, with a few scattered bright notes to suggest a sense of hope that’s not altogether vanished.
The pieces are all short and composed for specific settings and scenes. But ambient music can sometimes be served well by a sense of purpose, even if that purpose isn’t wholly known. There are no longueurs here, no tracks that keep going past the moment when their point was made. The levels of intensity ebb and swell, with upper registers reached in tracks like “The Distant Concussion of a Gun” and “I’m a Brain Surgeon.” But even at his most seething, Brodsky—as a composer—seems secure in the knowledge that silence can be just as powerful as a strong blast of noise.
—Andy Battaglia
Hemlock Smith and Les Poissons Autistes discovered each other on the Web-Sampler « Bon pour les Oreilles Vol. 2 » that the swiss magazine « L’Hebdo » compiled in 2007. Normally, those two projects should never have met; the gentle Pop of the former and the noisy landscapes of the latter seem way too far apart, but a mutual attraction developed nevertheless, almost at once. Maybe it’s the haunting melancholy that is present on both shores… The desire to collaborate came to life and, after a few interesting demos,
Hemlock Smith and Les Poissons Autistes are now proud to present the result of their teamwork, aptly titled “Three Times Dead”. Hemlock Smith is the project of singer/songwriter Michael Frei, active in Lausanne, Switzerland. His music, anchored somewhere between Pop, Rock, Folk and Jazz, tells darkly ironic stories, sung with a gentle voice. “A Secret Life” (2002) and “Umbrella, Fitz & Gerald” (2006), his two albums so far, managed to create a discreetly captivating universe. A third album is currently due for release in early 2009.
The first release from the excellent Deathbomb Arc. Nyop: https://deathbombarc.bandcamp.com/album/thanks-karen
The Smiths - Meat is Murder
From the SFL page 8.
A follow-up to Dauw
Brian McBribe - The Effective Disconnect
Still lots of activity from the bees living under the garage
Credits
Notes
Recorded at home in Echo Park, CA.
ps- Thanks, perfect morning music for the garden.
Ps- Another really interesting listen. Thanks.
http://cjsw.com/program/katharsis/episode/20160626/
https://soundcloud.com/shastacults
Davachi at Emusers
And:
Dang Olsen Dreamtape - Zonk
"The performance is so astoundingly good and played with such amazing energy, that one is simply swept along.
You fulfilled my dream"
- Steve Reich.
RADIANCE II: MUSIC FOR THE ANSWER
by France Jobin and Stephan MathieuKerosene Halo - House on Fire. Kind of an Americana/rock sound. Loved their first album and did the kickstarter for this one. This is a side project for Michael Roe of The 77s and Derri Daugherty of The Choir, both were in Lost Dogs so this album has the same feel.
RA's top web mix of 2015 ( https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/2574 ); available on soundcloud or other places with some googling; I can't really find a good link right now, but this is really nice.
eta, posted by Blue Note after Byrd's death: Donald Byrd, Live at Montreux from July 5, 1973
- Self Titled
In 1969 Kosugi with several others formed the group Taj Mahal Travellers, [music videos] another multi-media project that used both Eastern and Western instruments, electronics and vocal chanting, and a heavy amount of processing to add a psychedelic element to the improvisational sound. In 1971 and 1972 this group toured Europe and the near East in a Volkswagen minibus and even performed at the Taj Mahal in India. The group also released some recordings, starting with the album July 15, 1972 on the Sony label in 1972, a side on the double LP compilation Live at Oz from the Oz label, and the double album August 1974, released in 1975 by Sony.
In 1975 Taj Mahal Travellers broke up and Kosugi worked on his solo career, coming out that year with a couple of fascinating albums, Improvisation performed with Toshi Ichiyanagi and Michael Ranta, and Catch Wave, a completely solo effort with Kosugi on violin, vocals, radio and oscillators on once side and on vocals with electronic treatment on the other. He helped start the East Bionic Symphonia, a Taj Mahal Travellers-like group made up of Kosugi’s students.
https://www.mixcloud.com/andrewowenliles/50-minutes-of-tomorrow-never-knows-by-the-beatles-for-50-years/
AP + her dad.