Laser Pace - Granfalloon (Takoma - 1974) Wow!

Describe please!

What he said!

punk prog noise. intense space mellotron stuff. electronic fx all over the place. tons of synth/electronics in general. but also awesome guitar action. the only guitar listed is maureen's and if she played all this stuff then she should be on some list of gods. she sings a little like Anisette from the Savage Rose. But her vocals are also heavily processed for maximum whatthefuckness. some of the electroprog moments remind me of Ubu in a big way. this was recorded in 1973. D.Distorto on bass. The drummer used to be in the garage band The Opus 1. he mentions the record in an interview on-line:

"Doug Decker has had a very successful career doing recording engineering working with Johnny Cash, the Beach Boys, Band of Gypsies, Roger Miller, and John Fahey among many, many others. Today he is doing sound for the "Win Ben Stein's Money" TV show. Doug and I have worked together on and off for the last 30 years. We did an album with his wife Maureen O'Connor in the early seventies for Takoma Records called "Granfalloon." The group was called Laser Pace -- very experimental, lots of electronics."

the bass playing is so Ubu too. There is an awesome instrumental on here called "Scatter" that sounds like King Crimson + Can + PIL. Until it turns into freeform jazz piano/sleighbell/electronic nod-out acid jam. then it becomes something else entirely.

my fave lyrics:

"Cherish and hold the time
scrape off the cream
it'll be so clean
as you glide into a void so strong
vessels bursting from the shit
you brought along."

man, i don't know what her voice sounds like. it's crazy. anisette is just the closest i could come as far as a comparison goes.

actually david thomas is a pretty good comparison! i wonder if those guys were fans. sure sounds like it.

scott, if u could leonardo this and set the music free many hippies and bloggers would hug u.

Wot Gott said.

i need 2 hear this i think

Sounds amazing!

did i mention that the cover is an illustration of people running from and being destroyed by a cosmic laser beam?

http://www.wirz.de/music/takoma/grafik/laser4.jpg

:-D

I just emailed Keith of Anthology Recordings about this (Anthology's re-reissue of C.A. Quintet's Trip Through Hell is verra niiice, and new to me; ditto Shoes' Black Vinyl Shoes, and they've also picked up fabulous Satwa, but a fair amount of their stuff is as obscure as Laser Pace--so maybe...?!)

they've also picked up fabulous Satwa

You mean the album on Time-Lag, or something else?

anthology would have to get in touch with these people:

http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/labels/

Yeah, it's the same as on Time-Lag, and they do seem to work out things with (artists whose rarities have previously been reissued by)other labels, so maybe they could do that with (Laser Pace and)Takoma, who mainly keep Fahey & friends in print nowadays (wonder how that Robbie Basho is; I like Peter Lang)

basho >>>>> lang!

i am very excited to hear this laser pace LP. looks killer.

side 1

closet casualty (maureen o'connor)

avatar (maureen o'connor)

(whoever)you are(you) (maureen o'connor)

sky fell (w.g. christensen, d.distorto)

http://wvvy.org/listen/content/laser-pace-side-1.mp3

side 2

endless (maureen o'connor)

oh yeah? (w.g. christensen)

redemption (maureen o'connor)

scatter (d.distorto)

http://wvvy.org/listen/content/laser-pace-side-2.mp3

:-D

Vonnegutty

thank you sir.

side one is like 3.7 megs, side two 19.5? just checkin'.

oh and THANKS in 72 pt impact font.

Both are labelled side one. The first file is 4:01; the second, 21:17. But um...what did John Fahey think of this?

Maureen O'Connor sings like A LOT David Thomas! Check out the 4:01 track.

Thanx!!

yeah, I think I didn't change the details on the mp3 ID3 save thingy on the second one, so they both show as side 1.

Maureen O'Connor's vocals remind me of my long-lost friend John LaCroix who people in Boston kept trying to get to attend the opera program at Berklee. He had a band called the Cauldron. I miss him.

A cool story. :-)

But Maria, is there any reason side 1 is only 3, 4 minutes long?

man. this stuff is strange. i'm always waiting for that cheesy moment, that explosion into gucky supermelodic pop or something but it always heads in another direction. also, it sounds sort of like something a cult would pay to record and release. i like it.

oops, looks like side one is just the first song! sorry. i didn't check it before posting it. you can all just blame maria. i'll post the whole side today. what do you want for nothin'?

We ain't complainin', just curious. :-)

all day i tried to import the audacity file into an mp3 and every time i tried my computer crashed. so sad. i figured i could at least send it in an e-mail to someone.
my computer is a year old and it apparently can't handle audio/video anymore. so aggravating. it's not like i do a ton of stuff on my computer. why would a computer crash playing a measly cd?

man. this stuff is strange.

If YOU think that, I gotta hear this. thanks Scott!

maria bought me a cd player at radio shack today. god bless her. i've got doom metal to write about! i can't be anxious about CDs. satan didn't put me on this earth to worry about digital audio.

i gotta tell you, it's a cheap teac cd player and it sounds great. way better than my computer's player. mark hollis is now 5 star audio instead of just 4 and a half star audio.

if no one's up to the challenge, i'm down to separate the mp3s into separate tracks and reupload tagged and everything.

that is if we can get the full first side :D

i'll try again.

xpost I heard back from Keith of Anthology Recordings about this: he's def interested in hearing it, and who knows, maybe it will indeed end up on Anthology (although now that Concord Music Group's near the end oftheir glorious 50th Anniversary of Stax[through calendar-wise at least], maybe they'll start excavating Takoma treasures themselves)

Oh and speaking of Teac (and yeah, CD players usually sound better than computers to me, esp bass), the aforementioned Anthology reissue of Shoes' Black Vinyl Shoes was recorded on a Teac 4-track in their living room, and sounds amazing--come to think of it, Becker & Fagen said they recorded a lot of Steely Dan demos on one of those--

jaxon, you around? i think i actually managed to make an MP3 of the first side. I can try and e-mail it to someone. anyone around? Just e-mail me. I don't know how you can share with the class though. Although I guess I can just e-mail it to anyone who wants it. But I'm also kind of afraid that just trying to e-mail the file might crash my computer. we shall see!

e-mail it to me, scott
i'll be home in an hour or so

scott, if you can upload either the mp3 or the audacity file to megaupload.com and email me the link it spits out (jason @ art-ificial.com - minus the spaces) unless maria takes care of it.

I've got 7/8 of the tracks as separate mp3s (the one I'm missing is "Scatter"). I'll upload them in a minute.

ah there ya go!

i gave up. i need to take an audacity course. i thought i was turning the first side into an mp3 and it turns out i was making the whole album a big mp3. i couldn't e-mail it. too big for me.

so colin has the rest. and scatter is on that side two up there.

First seven songs here

scott and colin, i declare you co-mayors of ILM for november.

^^^
this

Yeah, extra-special thanks to Colin, Scott and Maria!

Everything about this reminds me of Annette Peacock. The slow, bluesy funk rock. The moog - especially on Sky Fell, that tone. And while her voice doesn't exactly sound like peacock's, her singing through effects does.

Howdy! This is John "Chris" Christensen from Laser Pace. I've really enjoyed watching (and listening to) your dialogue about our album Granfalloon. If you have any questions about the group or our music, I can be contacted at: www.myspace.com/johnchrischristensen

Thanks for keeping the music alive!

JC

Whoa, hey there! Glad you could find us.

Yeah! (having those Laser Pace tracks posted makes me paranoid about downloading, though--visions of black vinyl helicopters landing on my bank statements--visually hep, otherwise not so much)

Great stuff, John! You rock!

they had to go to new york and took a trip to massachusetts partly to see me! do some sightseeing. i would have loved to hang out with them more, they are staying nearby, but i am going up north tomorrow morning to hang with my parents. we had a wonderful visit though. we chatted and listened to records for a couple of hours. it was great. they inspire me. and they brought me copies of the AMAZING 1980 single they put out under the name New Math. punk funk! its soooooo good. maria played it on her umass radio show tonight.

i wish i knew someone a la numero group with money who would put out a reissue that is worthy of their stuff. they have live tapes, unreleased album, that cool single, the takoma album. wish i was rich.

we talked about joe byrd. doug worked with him and he was a big fan of laser pace. i put on a silver apples record and they dug that. they'd never heard them. i even played maureen some cocteau twins. john fahey really dug the band apparently. and he loved maureen's voice and playing. i gave them a harmonic choir album to take home.

An unreleased Laser Pace album!!!! Someone really needs to do these guys justice and reissue a box set. The market is out there!!

The first time I played Laser Pace for Tera was while driving around rural Pennsylvania, looking for records. It was a damp fogging day and the places we stopped were almost scary, people having thrift stores out of their basements and homes. Laser Pace was perfect was the day.

yeah, lots of intriguing backstory re Fahey etc. when John Christopherson was answering our questions on this thread. If you get a chance, Scott, I'd suggest that you suggest they check with Mumero (the Asterik series might be a good fit; don't know how electronic Numero wants to get, but they def like female voices). Also maybe Light In The Attic? Some of the labels distributed by Forced Exposure? Anyway, since they dig Joe Byrd, might also suggest they might like Broadcast, sometimes compared to the United States of America.

Would love to hear any unreleased stuff - surely we can mobilise the ilx army to get some interest?

Hmm...hold all these thoughts, let me check around here.

Original LP mix is streaming on YouTube--John C. asks if it's the mono version---so they're aware of this, apparently don't mind (it's been up since April). Prob like the attention, as indicated re uploads linked from this thread.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LogZn8sQGUY

Speaking of attention, they may not have continued past the remaster cos figured wasn't so much of a potential audience--and without an expert indie publicity campaign, they may well be right, depending on expectations, required financial return, etc. Maybe Kickstarter, if Granfalloon gets more publicity? But seems like a series, rather than a box set, might work better at this point--does anybody still buy boxes, other than diehard fans of Registered Cult Figures--?

According to this article lots of people buy box sets.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-03/numero-group-soul-revivers?chan=lifestyle+small_business+channel_etc

weird, spin just did a big feature on those numero guys. impression i got was most sell 1000 & break even due to label fanbase, the big successes are once in a while.

We all had a great time last night at get bent's birthday get-together with Maureen and Doug! Much chat had about all sorts of things. We also all agreed that Scott is the coolest.

i don't think i ever saw ned's post. very cool.

i put up the 1980 New Math single. Maureen & Doug and their faithful Buchla doing up post-punk Los Angeles in fine style. i love it.

"Whiplash"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w-IfQ8T7VA

"Hometown Meltdown"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCR-2NhYdBc

Now that is weird, I was just thinking about this album today

I'm planning on interviewing Maureen and Doug soon, and have ideas about where to place the results...

i'm glad you're finally doing it. took you long enough! :))))))))))))

rest in peace, maureen. so glad to have known you. you were truly special and an inspiration.

Absolutely.

I was listening to Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies today, and searching provided this thread, which I had never seen. What a great series of conversations and events! And I'm listening to Laser Pace now, and it is blowing my mind.

this is finally happening. very happy. only took 10 years. nice to talk to doug today. did i mention that there is an unreleased second album? but first things first. i wish you guys could have met maureen. she was so awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYLzbR-EEiY

She was indeed.

it's coming! a mere ten years after this thread started. it pays to be patient. get yours on Record Store Day!

https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/29496038_10156743727132137_4901683891786941658_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeHXq7P-v6Ndmsbn_HUjOtG2y-YDzrcy8cRiHbfxBmG_PduXcsm_3N7veDDzKYI629N76JjZVl0nHBCfJOS4pw-1rgMYFJ95VtcM1QUVcWFliQ&oh=330ef54ce29fe04e5e25b13f3930d1f4&oe=5B48A93F

https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/29468339_10156743730907137_6350818970591875468_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeEypmhChZribfbxU0ErxJZ4GFcJLGOuzhVnwxBYmEY5baoIkZlx43CmJq-iQIxcPU8cnBGXel5AznUEeOsillOuaGWc0-oduKggU89Ptf3izA&oh=3907c61bcb78c6190e509b337b8898bb&oe=5B2F549B

awesome

i am a proud owner of the CD reissue thanks to you

wow!! awesome skot

i swear off RSD every year and then there's always one thing that gets me out....

you should be able to get it from Feeding Tube direct after RSD if you don't see it in a store. or Forced Exposure. pressing of 500.

Amazing work indeed. :-)

WOW!
great work

!

you the man, scott

liner notes by me and doug decker and also chris who posted on this thread so many years ago! his piece on the band is amazing and hilarious.

just really happy to have it happen for real. and really happy that more people will be able to hear it. listening now and it sounds great.

Picked up a copy at Cheapo today
What an amazing, demented record

Good job on the liner notes skot

thanks!

oh shit i gotta pick one of these up just for scott's notes

i mean also for the record itself

i was chatting a little with byron coley at his feeding tube table at wfmu. he said the reissue did really well -- he sold them all out. so grab one from a record store if you see it.

One unending tautology that kicked around the early pirate community was whether or not something was worth pirating automatically gave it cred. So with that in mind, I noticed that a lossless copy of the 2008 remaster was made available on D3m0n01d. (and no it's not me)

I don't listen to extreme music as a matter of practice, but sometimes things come up on shuffle that provokes reactions in surprising ways. For example, side one of the first Flying Saucer Attack album: I've often noticed that when people don't know that it's playing, some will go to the window looking for a car accident. Spacemen 3's Dreamweapon unyielding frequencies will sometimes crush anothers and they just have to get out.

And then there's Granfalloon. No other album clears a room full of humans faster than this. Even the most experienced Diamanda and Jandek listeners accelerate from "what...is...this?" to "what the FUCK is THIS?" zero to one hundred instantly. Awhile back, I was in a line of cars all charging and within seconds of a Granfalloon coming on, the cars on either side of me rolled their windows up.

I think the last time I listened to the album start to finish was when I bought the reissue. Ever since then - it's just there on my phone and whenever one of these tracks come on it's always "oh shit, hold on!!" like some big psychic rollercoaster. Ride it if you dare; I'm glad it exists. Well done everyone!

Still hoping for release of thee follow-up!

yeah I picked up the feeding tube reissue mostly because of the John Fahey connection, there really truly is nothing like this record

Amazon has Feeding Tube vinyl (currently 1 copy) and digital:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/611uEjTBZjL.jpg

Editorial Reviews
Special Thanks to all who helped with this recording and release. ************************************** from the WOW! Blog: Fantastic stuff! i haven't even listened to the second side yet and i'm already in love. Just amazing. Why isn't this album world-famous? did maureen o'connor ever do anything else? i can't find much info. 'avatar' is the jam! Even the lyrics rule. More later. ............ Describe please! ........... punk prog noise. Intense space mellotron stuff. Electronic fx all over the place. Tons of synth/electronics in general. But also awesome guitar action. The only guitar listed is maureen's and if she played all this stuff then she should be on some list of gods. She sings a little like Anisette from the Savage Rose. But her vocals are also heavily processed for maximum whatthefuckness. Some of the electroprog moments remind me of Ubu in a big way. This was recorded in 1973. D.Distorto on bass. The drummer used to be in the garage band The Opus 1. he mentions the record in an interview on-line: ................... The bass playing is so Ubu too. There is an awesome instrumental on here called 'Scatter' that sounds like King Crimson + Can + PIL. Until it turns into freeform jazz piano/sleighbell/electronic nod-out acid jam. Then it becomes something else entirely. My fave lyrics: 'Cherish and hold the time scrape off the cream it'll be so clean as you glide into a void so strong vessels bursting from the shit you brought along.' .......... man, i don't know what her voice sounds like. It's crazy. Anisette is just the closest i could come as far as a comparison goes. .......... actually david thomas is a pretty good comparison! i wonder if those guys were fans. Sure sounds like it.

the feeding tube reissue common as pyrite out here. i had one for a real long time because when i play downtempo records i generally also end up playing drifty krauty prog along the lines of sensations fix, maybe the more ambient gong or soft machine type records. i was always in a panic though because it was imperative to get out of the mix before the vocals started, every time i forgot about the singing it was like in a movie when someone interrupts an opera and the band stops and it's dead silent except for the twang of a breaking harp string as everyone turns to look ....

there's been a glut of 70s uhhh free folk type private press from educational programs. like a community college in imperial valley decides to put out a record as a semester capstone for the music majors with ppl taking electives doing session work for course credit. or high school jazz bands doing covers of heavy 70s rock. i really want to thank granfalloon for teaching me not to look twice at those records

sorry laser pace*

http://www.elkbugles.com/2018/12/the-unexamined-life-is-not-worth-living.html

https://www.discogs.com/release/4956461-Mohs-The-Unexamined-Life-Is-Not-Worth-Living

^^ i've seen people trying to hock this for $500 (or $1000, but they're drop shipping) which makes sense if it includes the amazing hand typed liner notes you can check out at discogs

parts sound like stone harbour other parts sound not good

Found a Takoma copy of Granfalloon yesterday in the wild for $15. Pretty stoked about it, even if I’m fairly sure I’ll play it once and hate it.

Turn It UP!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qVjQ993nOk

woah! look at this from the comments on that youtube upload:

@jason698
8 months ago
Sounds like they were listening to a lot of Zappa when they made this.

Reply

The Gladiator Of Rock
·

2 replies
@thegladiatorofrock1572
@thegladiatorofrock1572
8 months ago
F. Zappa was already a legend "Laser Pace" They arrived later, but very good. I greet you✌

Reply

@jchris3227
@jchris3227
8 months ago
Nope - although we were very aware of Frank, our influences were extremely diverse. I can’t really point to one point of reference….it was all over the place. Our ears were open, and we cut a few more commercial songs and then dumped them. Avatar was originally a straight ahead rocker and was morphed and warped at our final recording session which also included Scatter, which was a concept by D. Distorto — it was then it improvised in three connected sections and some overdubs added for flavor. All the other pieces were practiced, rehearsed and arranged by Distorto, Maureen, and myself over a period of months; tweaking and tweaking until we could play them effortlessly in the studio and embellish as we wished so they’d still be fresh. By the way my credit was W.G. Christensen, not VW. I was avoiding Union conflicts. John “Chris” Christensen

Reply

Didn't see that last, thanks! John "Chris" Christenen also joined us way upthread, setting off first attempt at reissue (I told the Anthology Recordings dude about Granfalloon and he got excited but yadda yadda anyway LP eventually got it remastered and reissued on FT), and was informative as always---queried about his previous combo Opus 1 he also provides a chronicle of all or many other bands he's been in on this page (which incl link to interview all about Opus 1)
https://garagehangover.com/opus1/
--ending with this comment:

t seems that something I’ve done in every decade since the sixties has seen renewed interest this past year. Domenic Priore’s book has a couple of paragraphs about Opus 1. SJ McParland has interviwed me extensively for his book on Mustang Records/Bob Keane/Bobby Fuller; it’s due out in ‘08. 1974 band Laser Pace’s album Granfalloon will most likely be reissued through Anthology Records in ‘08 due to an recent internet feeding frenzy.
My ‘94 CD “Songs from The Xenozoic Age” by Christensen/Schultz is finally seeing wider release, and I am putting out a complete unreleased album by Hot Food To Go, recorded in ‘84; it’s called “Adrenaline Drum.”John “Chris” Christensen

And indeed, both of those albums are on YouTubeMusic, Apple, and others.

Granfalloon is still available as download on Amazon, which currently also has a few copies of the LP.