Both Kinds Of Music

The second stop on our Christmas-inspired journey around the world is Germany, home to such great artists as Leni Riefenstahl, Peter Thomas, Joseph Beuys, Klaus Kinski, and Nina Hagen.

Beginning around 1980, a new musical phenomenon exploded in Germany, aptly called Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave). Bands started to experiment with cheap synths, taking cues from New Wave and Punk, and creating something unmistakably German and 80s out of it. Everybody and their dog started their own record label and band, and even major labels signed unknown German bands like never before. The craze lasted until about 1984, when blatant commercialism, lack of new ideas, and inane lyrics spelled the well-deserved demise of Neue Deutsche Welle. Still, some of the early pioneers and more experimental musicians on the fringe of the movement continued to make interesting music, like Einstürzende Neubauten and Die Tödliche Doris. The latter used to have all their recordings as free mp3 downloads on the website, but they had to take it down because the German musical rights organization GEMA increased their fees. Why they would have to pay fees for distributing their own music is beyond me. Traditionally, GEMA is the mafia organization of big German music business, and has been known to engage in antisocial behavior, like sending undercover agents to high school band concerts, trying to collect royalties for cover versions. Fuck them.

OK, enough of the background blurb, let’s get to the Christmas offerings. Read the rest of this entry »

This is the first post in a series exploring the wonders of Christmas, as seen through the eyes of various cultures. We will start our journey in Japan, where the traditional spirit of the holy days is still held in high regard. This becomes especially clear in Christmas-themed anime, of which two examples decorate this article.

Much lesser known but equally reverent and awe-inspiring are Japanese Christmas carols. We would like to present the finest of them all: White Christmas White Sperm by the Gerogerigegege. The Gerogerigegege are Juntaro Yamanouchi, who does the music, and Gero 30 aka Gero 56 aka Tetsuya Endoh, who masturbates to it. They met 1985 in a gay SM club in Tokyo, did some SM performances together and started the band.

The track featured here elevates the Irving Berlin classic “White Christmas” to a whole new level. In the tradition of Kubrick’s treatment of “Singing In The Rain” in “Clockwork Orange”, the Gerogerigegege recontextualize the song in order to capture the original spirit of Christmas.

The CD from which this is taken is Singles 1985-1993, an excellent starting point for exploring the wonders of the Gerogerigegege. In order to dispel the impression that the Gerogerigegege only plays soothing holiday music, here are four cover versions from their Ramones-inspired album Tokyo Anal Dynamite, proving that they can totally rock out: The Doors’ “Light My Fire” as Haato ni Hi otsukete, I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, Boys Don’t Cry, and finally a song by the Ramones themselves, Sheena Is A Punk Rocker.

Looking for your balls? The music is going to tell you where your balls are! Yes, I am not kidding. This evil woman hid your balls, but she is giving you clues with a piano.

Thanks for pointing out this audio track to me go out to Ed Special and Arwulf Arwulf, two good friends and severely twisted DJs at WCBN in Ann Arbor, Michigan. You can check out Arwulf’s parade of lesser-known National Anthems, called Face The Music, every Thursday 7-8pm EST on WCBN. And there are rumors that Ed Special is gearing up for a Christmas special. Expect updates and some Ed Special audio weirdness on this website soon.

I don’t have any info on the “Balls” track, and if you know anything at all about it, please leave a comment. It would fit well in the 365 Days Project, but I could not find it there. This should not keep you from checking out all 365 mp3’s on that site, your life will be better for it.

This compilation Turkish Delights, 26 Ultrarities from Beyond the Sea of Marmara, Beat, Psych & Garage, released by the Dutch label Grey Past, delivers what its title promises. Recorded between 1965 and 1971, garage psych doesn’t get much better, and some of the tracks show a strong Turkish music influence to boot. Unfortunately, according to the folks at Aquarius Records both the CD and the LP are currently out of print. Read the rest of this entry »

I found this CD at Encore Recordings, the best destination for used CDs and vinyl in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had never heard of any of the bands at that time. I don’t even remember why I picked it up for listening, I guess it looked strange enough to give it a try. When I picked up the headphones, I was instantly hooked and did not have to think twice to buy it. The label that put out this CD is Nazna Oiran, and it was their first release. Unfortunately, the Nazna Oiran website has disappeared, but their ingenious promo text has survived. Here it is:

Oosaka brand new shit mat compilation cd!!!!!
fast! noisy breaks! wicked up! toxic junk! folk passion! cock out! so compile the music freaks they wood in osaka man!
compiled: tsutsumi katsuki, OVe-NaXx, XENAPHON, gulpass gulpass lululululu, BAIYON, OORUTAICHI, maruosa, ZUINOSIN, KA4U, RUN-DOM.sea, EXEDEXEX

This sums up the music on this compilation much better than I ever could. If it does not appeal to you, don’t read any further, sanity will not be restored. Read the rest of this entry »

In 1968 or so, Key Records released this very valuable LP by W. Cleon Skousen. The Key label was apparently run by the John Birch Society, one of the organizations which heroically tried to stop the evil communist plot of fluoridating the American drinking water. Skousen was an ex-FBI agent who wrote the landmark books “The Naked Communist” (Ensign Publishing, 1958) and “The Naked Capitalist” (self-published?, 1970), in which he lays out the Great Conspiracies ruling the world today. But we should not be surprised:

Anyone familiar with the writing of John’s Apocalypse might have suspected that modern history would eventually contain the account of a gigantic complex of political and economic power which would cover the whole earth. (The Naked Capitalist, p. 6)

With such biblical inspiration, it should come as no surprise that Skousen is also an expert on the Instant Insanity Drug LSD, and the dangers of brown suitcases. Read the rest of this entry »

This will soon be a blog about music with emphasis on avantgarde, outsider, forgotten, extremely good or extremely bad music. Right now I am still fiddling with the website setup, but it should be usable in a short time. While you are waiting, you can learn some useful Spanish phrases.