Awesome, thanks for sharing these stirmonster, will also check these out!
― Federico Boswarlos, Friday, 28 July 2017 14:23 (six years ago) link
Hooray!
― brimstead, Friday, 28 July 2017 15:04 (six years ago) link
So there is a copy that just came up for $100 on Amazon's marketplace which, despite my better judgment, I am so tempted to buy....
― Federico Boswarlos, Wednesday, 6 September 2017 18:55 (six years ago) link
Going to try and revive this one - anyone actually want to try out the listening club idea? Or even just individually post interesting otherwise unknown discoveries from it? Could start with ones featured in the discogs list upthread. Even if it's the few of us, it would be a good excuse - for me at least - to finally try and seek some of these albums out and get around to listening to them!
― Federico Boswarlos, Thursday, 2 November 2017 15:49 (six years ago) link
i totally forgot about this. i'll post some records from it. will try and make some of them ones i don't know so it motivates me to check them out too.
― stirmonster, Thursday, 2 November 2017 17:27 (six years ago) link
I frame stepped through part of the Vimeo of the dude flipping through it... was able to grab some titles that wayYes I am pathetic
― brimstead, Thursday, 2 November 2017 18:56 (six years ago) link
Thanks stirmonster
Yeah, thanks Stirmonster. Let's get this show on the road.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 2 November 2017 23:31 (six years ago) link
Here's 5 from the "Floating" chapter (picked at random). If the whole album isn't on Youtube you'll find some tracks on the Discogs links. I'll also give the number the record has in the book and the genre Chee assigned to it.
1) Harmonia - Deluxe (Germany, 1975) 441 Rock
I'm guessing there is no need to link this one.
2) D-Day - Grape Iris (Japan, 1986) 449 New Wave
https://www.discogs.com/D-Day-Grape-Iris/release/1457004
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CrD82-8GVQ
I have this one. Comes as a picture disc inside a normal album sleeve. It's an album of two halves so worth listening right through as it is quite a schizophrenic album and the first few tracks in particular are radically different from my personal favourites on the album - "Sweet Sultan", "Dust", "Ki-Ra-I" and "Float A Bort" which could all have made up an imaginary legendary EP on mid 80s 4AD.
3) Hiroshi Yoshimura - Surround (Japan, 1986) 459 Ambient
https://www.discogs.com/Hiroshi-Yoshimura-Soundscape-1-Surround/release/3447244
A holy grail record for me; been after this forever and hoping it will eventually see a reissue. Probably the most "floating" of these. Ecstatic ambient.
4) Litto Nebbia – Canciones Para Cada Uno Vol.1 (Argentina, 1978) 464 Rock
https://www.discogs.com/Litto-Nebbia-Canciones-Para-Cada-Uno-Vol1/release/3621235
I know nothing about this one. Haven't heard it yet.
5) Roberto Musci / Giovanni Venosta – Water Messages On Desert Sand (UK, 1985) 475 Experimental
https://www.discogs.com/Roberto-Musci--Giovanni-Venosta-Water-Messages-On-Desert-Sand/release/755801
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MojW0fVaaFE
Released on Recommended Records. I haven't heard this one. Only thing I know by him is "Tower Of Silence' which Music From Memory put out last year. I'm pretty sure Music From Memory have taken inspiration from this book.
― stirmonster, Friday, 3 November 2017 01:25 (six years ago) link
Oops. Hiroshi Yoshimura Youtube link in wrong place but i'm sure you can navigate your way through anyway.
― stirmonster, Friday, 3 November 2017 01:27 (six years ago) link
I love the Musci/Venosta records, they were on Mutantsounds for a while
http://post-ambient.blogspot.com/2013/03/664-roberto-musci-giovanni-venosta.html
― sleeve, Friday, 3 November 2017 01:31 (six years ago) link
this is terrific, thank you stirmonster!
― plp will eat itself (NickB), Friday, 3 November 2017 07:03 (six years ago) link
I'm mostly going to be away the next few weeks so here's another 5 to keep you going.
From the "Spiritual" chapter.
Amaia Zubiria, Pascal Gaigne - Egun Argi Hartan (Spain, 1985) 183 World
https://www.discogs.com/Amaia-Zubiria-Pascal-Gaigne-Egun-Argi-Hartan/release/3350574
Codona (Colin Walcot, Don Cherry, Naná Vasconcelos) - Codona 3 (Germany, 1987) 187 Jazz
https://www.discogs.com/Codona-Codona-3/release/1904147
Eitetsu Hayashi - Kaze No Shisha (Japan, 1983) 190 Contemporary
https://www.discogs.com/林英哲-風の使者/release/3232319
This is the only one of these I have. I adore this record which is in a similar vein to some Yas-Kaz or Geinoh Yamashirogumi. I can't find any Youtube videos for this but one of the tracks can be heard at 45 mins here - https://soundcloud.com/twitch/optimo-espacio-nts-17012017
Ivory Playground - Scattered Clouds (Germany, 1986) 200 Contemporary
https://www.discogs.com/Ivory-Playground-Scattered-Clouds/release/2249855
Naná Vasconcelos – Zumbi (Brazil, 1983) 210 World
https://www.discogs.com/Naná-Vasconcelos-Zumbi/release/1853826
― stirmonster, Friday, 3 November 2017 13:21 (six years ago) link
not sure why a couple of those links don't work. you'll have to cut and paste and actually, the Eitetsu Hayashi track starts at 40 minutes on that mix.
― stirmonster, Friday, 3 November 2017 13:25 (six years ago) link
Have spent the morning listening to the Yoshimura. Halfway through the weather shifted and a breeze must have picked up because all the old leaves on the big sycamore outside my window started floating down to the ground
Just saw that the first Yoshimura is being reissued next month btw:https://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=39755
― plp will eat itself (NickB), Friday, 3 November 2017 13:26 (six years ago) link
The label says more Yoshimura reissues are on the way.
― plp will eat itself (NickB), Friday, 3 November 2017 13:28 (six years ago) link
Hooray, thanks again stirmonster! I'm going to start with the Yoshimura as well. Yes, perfect music for the Fall weather.
Also thanks for reposting about the reissues NickB, it didn't even come across my radar at the time. Going to seek them out!
― Federico Boswarlos, Friday, 3 November 2017 13:42 (six years ago) link
yes, and Yoshimura's "Pier & Loft" recently got a vinyl issue for the first time.
― stirmonster, Friday, 3 November 2017 13:46 (six years ago) link
oh man, there's one song on that Naná Vasconcelos that I love, it's basically just vocals and drums.
― brimstead, Friday, 3 November 2017 14:25 (six years ago) link
Yes, saw that - from Mr. Shimizu himself, it seems! I pre-ordered the Music for Nine Postcards and am excited about what else of his they may be putting out.
Onto D-Day and am feeling those 4AD vibes. This is great stuff, thanks for posting it.
― Federico Boswarlos, Friday, 3 November 2017 18:38 (six years ago) link
https://www.discogs.com/Pepe-Maina-Il-Canto-DellArpa-E-Del-Flauto/master/349962
Pepe Maina – Il Canto Dell'Arpa E Del Flauto
this is by far the best record i've gleaned from the book so far... eclectic rhythmic ambient instrumental space folk.. an absolute joy
― brimstead, Saturday, 4 November 2017 00:21 (six years ago) link
how are y'all listening to these - Spotify, downloads, hard copies?
― sleeve, Saturday, 4 November 2017 00:36 (six years ago) link
strictly internettin
― brimstead, Saturday, 4 November 2017 01:39 (six years ago) link
at some point i can YSI (RIP. Now called Hightail) a big folder of the ones I have, if that isn't going to get me banned. ;-)
― stirmonster, Saturday, 4 November 2017 05:49 (six years ago) link
thanks for all the links Stir, sitting working my way through these at the moment, some wonderful music.
― electrobiscuit, Saturday, 4 November 2017 11:37 (six years ago) link
Nice, that would be amazing. I've been listening via Youtube/Spotify as well.
― Federico Boswarlos, Monday, 6 November 2017 17:39 (six years ago) link
This is exactly why I prefer digital downloads to streaming. Should also mention the FondSound and Listen To This! blogs for their own efforts in this area.
― doug watson, Monday, 6 November 2017 18:30 (six years ago) link
I've been considering starting a Listen To This! thread but I wouldn't have much to say except Read This! so it would be a bit pointless.
― boxedjoy, Saturday, 11 November 2017 19:02 (six years ago) link
return to forever is a great weekend morning listen, ftr
― brimstead, Saturday, 11 November 2017 20:25 (six years ago) link
thanks for flagging this one up brims, i loved it
― plp will eat itself (NickB), Saturday, 11 November 2017 20:31 (six years ago) link
Yes, the tracks I've listened to from it are hitting the spot. Added bonus, looking it up online (it was recently reissued, btw) it pointed me to the prog band Jade Warrior, who I hadn't been aware of and which he identifies as "a strong influence". I randomly came across an album of theirs at a record store the other day which I grabbed and is quite nice (the second half of the album, esp) in a noodly early-mid 70s Eno way.
https://www.discogs.com/Jade-Warrior-Floating-World/release/9826609
http://www.soundohm.com/product/il-canto-dell-arpa-e-del-flauto/pid/17067/
― Federico Boswarlos, Monday, 13 November 2017 14:51 (six years ago) link
Yeah, this Pepe Maina album is beautiful. Reminds me a bit of Michel Moulinié's Chrysalide. It's refreshing to rediscover these "ambient prog" albums that I too harshly judged when I was younger (see also Budi Siebert's Hmmm, which I once bought and resold too hastily.) Guess I should have another listen to Jade Warrior.
― doug watson, Tuesday, 14 November 2017 15:22 (six years ago) link
While looking up info on other music guides, I recently came across A Crack in the Cosmic Egg, a krautrock/German experimental rock guide. Not sure if anyone else is familiar with it - I believe it may have been mentioned in a krautrock thread or two - but figured it would also be welcome here.
A list on discogs of the authors' top 100 - see link below - seems to check out. It's at my library, so I'm planning on taking it out and giving it a closer look.
https://www.amazon.ca/Crack-Cosmic-Egg-Encyclopedia-Experimental/dp/095295060X https://www.discogs.com/lists/The-Krautrock-Top-100/795
― Federico Boswarlos, Tuesday, 14 November 2017 20:05 (six years ago) link
i am enjoying this song from Pedro Aznar's Contemplacion album. The rest of the disc doesn't do much for me but this song is a nice kind of 80s progressive latin jazz pop thing with great vocals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4SVmFhg8YM
― brimstead, Saturday, 25 November 2017 18:56 (six years ago) link
I went back to see if the price went down for the book on Amazon and it's now $400+ :(
I'm listening to Schatseite by Adelhard Roidinger after seeing a reference to it elsewhere and recognizing it from the book. Early 80s, released on ECM. Only a bit of the way through, but enjoying so far and thought I'd share.
https://www.discogs.com/Adelhard-Roidinger-Schattseite/release/1048269
http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1555&v=F9wPmpLNIy4
― Federico Boswarlos, Thursday, 4 January 2018 20:01 (six years ago) link
holy shit, deliverance at last - this discogs user has uploaded all the chapters as individual lists:
https://www.discogs.com/user/low-bay/lists?header=1
― faust apes (NickB), Thursday, 4 January 2018 22:53 (six years ago) link
not uploaded of course but you know what i mean
― faust apes (NickB), Thursday, 4 January 2018 22:56 (six years ago) link
Excellent.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 5 January 2018 00:44 (six years ago) link
ahhhhhhhhh
― brimstead, Friday, 5 January 2018 01:02 (six years ago) link
Thanks again NickB, this is good news for me/bad news for the wallet...
― Federico Boswarlos, Friday, 5 January 2018 02:39 (six years ago) link
ha yes, i know that feeling :)
quite a few records on the list that pop up fairly regularly if i let youtube or spotify play me ramdon things. don't think that's a coincidence?
this is one of those random things:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQZESJ2Pga8
― faust apes (NickB), Friday, 5 January 2018 10:03 (six years ago) link
also, nearly half a million views?
― faust apes (NickB), Friday, 5 January 2018 10:04 (six years ago) link
i guess someone needs to put that song out as a single
― faust apes (NickB), Friday, 5 January 2018 10:07 (six years ago) link
oh wait i read a p good and v thread-relevant article about that phenomenon:
https://thevinylfactory.com/features/youtube-algorithm-vinyl-reissues/
― faust apes (NickB), Friday, 5 January 2018 10:12 (six years ago) link
that rare silk track is spectacular
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 5 January 2018 11:42 (six years ago) link
it definitely has a very strange atmosphere to it
― faust apes (NickB), Friday, 5 January 2018 11:44 (six years ago) link
this thread is making my morning much, much better than it would otherwise have been
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 5 January 2018 13:59 (six years ago) link
I've been listening to this stuff but my YouTube recommendations are still shit. This music seems completely different to anything popular on youtube or are there any other interesting trends?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 5 January 2018 22:38 (six years ago) link
The book appears to be available used for about $70 (not including s&h, which for all I know could be about as much) at kupiku.com, a site I've read good things about which apparently specializes in making Japanese stuff available overseas.
― anatol_merklich, Saturday, 6 January 2018 16:09 (six years ago) link
mostly the youtube phenomenon tells me how common, and totally random, it is to manipulate play counts. i don't feel the phenomenon is a million miles removed from the phenomenon observed a couple months ago of massive quantities of children's fetish porn youtube videos.
i'm not sure how well that rare silk song would sell if it were released as a single, in other words. there are all sorts of marginal cults but only on youtube does it get amplified to half a million page views, mainly through algorithmic chicanery. if the right algorithm felt like it the lewis sisters could have half a million pageviews (and i'd like if they would, if only because their "voices, strings, and percussion" record of tchaikovsky adaptations looks super interesting and should have a reish).
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Saturday, 6 January 2018 19:13 (six years ago) link
I still dig the Glen Velez and Per Tjernberg records I discovered through that Spotify playlist
the mixtape is up on Discogs now, but with no tracklist - get to work, trainspotters!
https://www.discogs.com/Chee-Shimizu-Obscure-Sound-Revised-Edition/release/14978065
― sleeve, Saturday, 11 April 2020 16:04 (four years ago) link
I'd love to hear the morgan fisher record if you ever get around to ripping it. Water music is nice.
― Deflatormouse, Sunday, 12 April 2020 20:42 (four years ago) link
Hey Deflatormouse (and anyone interested), I've made a vinyl rip of the Morgan Fisher record. Not sure the best way to share?
― cooldix, Saturday, 18 April 2020 11:51 (four years ago) link
Some five months later but it arrived today and I love it! Seriously impressed with all obscure Dutch releases I've never even heard of.
Google translate lens app actually works, though it's tiresome to read the whole book in one go like that. The blurbs have a nice bitsize though. Looking forward to starting with the ambient section first. Will have to make sure slsk has enough feul in the tank to help me track some of this stuff down!
― Scampidocio (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 24 July 2020 16:34 (three years ago) link
this Priscilla Ermel retrospective is really hitting the "obscure sound" sweet spot for me atm
https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/album/origens-da-luz
― sleeve, Tuesday, 1 September 2020 18:26 (three years ago) link
i finally got round to listening to Chee's tape that comes with the book.
!@%$?
i got about two thirds through side 1. he's trolling with this, isn't he?
― stirmonster, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:10 (three years ago) link
how so?? The tape is on my Discogs wantlist but of course it never turns up
― Paul Ponzi, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:38 (three years ago) link
lotta smooth acoustic guitars? that’s the impression I got surfing through the albums in the book
― brimstead, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:39 (three years ago) link
xp that was a legit q, haven’t heard it myself
― brimstead, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:40 (three years ago) link
it is the opposite of smooth acoustic guitars. more musique concrete head frying collage with the odd lapse into pleasant percussion before some more ganrly spoken word bit kicks in again. It slightly reminded me of early Current 93 type sound collages which I like just fine but wasn't really expecting here.
― stirmonster, Monday, 12 October 2020 18:17 (three years ago) link
gnarly!
as I noted on the Discogs page, I would love to see even a partial tracklist of this cuz I have no fuckin clue
― sleeve, Monday, 12 October 2020 18:48 (three years ago) link
Side 2 is something else entirely. I would also love a tracklist of this side.
― stirmonster, Saturday, 17 October 2020 17:45 (three years ago) link
Not sure what thread to put this in tbh, but lost yasuaki shimizu album from 1984 being released on palto flats next year, sleevenotes by yer man chee shimizu:
https://ra.co/news/76561
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 16 December 2021 18:28 (two years ago) link
there's a preview clip at the end of that story and lemme tell you, it sounds great
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 16 December 2021 18:31 (two years ago) link
That clip sounds completely amazing! Thanks
― Maresn3st, Thursday, 16 December 2021 18:56 (two years ago) link
Not sure what thread to put this in tbh, but lost yasuaki shimizu album from 1984 being released on palto flats next year, sleevenotes by yer man chee shimizu:https://ra.co/news/76561🕸
― willem, Tuesday, 1 March 2022 22:51 (two years ago) link
this is absolutely incredible
― nxd, Wednesday, 2 March 2022 17:46 (two years ago) link
do believe the hype.
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 2 March 2022 18:35 (two years ago) link
Yep
― J. Sam, Wednesday, 2 March 2022 19:24 (two years ago) link
cosign
― bad milk blood robot (sleeve), Wednesday, 2 March 2022 19:32 (two years ago) link