RE-UP: HLFP 02 "EMBRYO THOUGHTS"

RE-UP by request of the 2nd HLFP-Sampler,"EMBRYO THOUGHTS - A mind blowing collection of inner and outer space snapshots of different kinds".

Read more about this fabulous Sampler here (original post).

New links here or here or here! (Now with slightly improved artwork. Or get it here! - if you prefer the old artwork.)

Karen Cooper Complex - Shinjuku Birdwalk (USA 1981)

KAREN COOPER COMPLEX... Wooow!

When I heard the first few seconds of You Can't Have It... I was already blown away by this amazing band. What was that? Sounded like a mixture of CAN early/mid-70s pre-punk-krautrock and YOKO ONO, but with a more Wave/Post Punk approach. Anyway: What makes this band so fascinating is that you think of a hundred different bands when you listen to them, but at the same time KAREN COOPER COMPLEX sound like noone else. They are loose and than all at once sound heavily structured... And quite far out anytime!

We refer to it as "Analog Music from a Lost World" — previously unreleased post-punk experimental rock from 1981, unlike anything else recorded before or after. (Bill Altice)

Great band!

"The Karen Cooper Complex line goes all the way back to Big Naptar, a six-piece band featuring two sax players, formed in 1970 here in Richmond, that Frank Daniel, Steve Bernard and I all played in. In those days, we were attempting to force a marriage between elemental rock and free jazz. At the same time, Wm. Burke (aka Key Ring Torch) and Bo Jacob (aka Bo Janne Valvoline) were playing with local oddball legends, the Titfield Thunderbolt. Jacob eventually left to go on the road as a sound man for Parliament/Funkadelic and Burke later went solo, calling his act, Wm. Burke's Hideous Truth.

In the late 70's Steve Bernard and a rotating cast of musicians and non-musicians who called themselves I Saw a Bulldozer, recorded a series of private party tapes, organized around three or four female vocalists who wrote Surrealist-style "Exquisite Corpse" lyrics and chanted them in unison in front of a band, coming across something like a female, beatnik version of the Last Poets, who were more interested in art than politics.

Frank Daniel then plucked Karen Cooper out of the Bulldozer lineup and made her an integral, impulsive instrument in a band that played loosely structured, improvisational rock that was more "Bitches Brew" than Grateful Dead, if that makes sense. From my perspective, all these years later, Karen sounds like an unbridled outsider artist who's simultaneously sending and receiving while the band churns around her. This isn't jazz, and it wasn't intended to be, but we were obviously listening, responding and playing off of each other in the same way more technically proficient improvisers do.

Four of us were also DJs on a local independent radio station and when I listen to this music now, it sounds to me like we'd clearly digested enough influences that I won't try to list any of them in particular — at the risk of omitting as much as I could include.

After the first sessions, Burt Blackburn stepped in for Steve Bernard, who was already living 200 miles away in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, and Bo Jacob, who'd gone back out with Randy Newman, was replaced by the first drum machine in town.

Just as things really began to gel, Karen, who was married to Les Smith, informed us that she was expecting — and the band never played live — in fact, from that point, it never played again at all.

Frank Daniel died of complications of Type I diabetes in 2004 and I've collected and digitized this volume as a salute to his memory and in hopes that someone out there will listen to this music and say 'Good work, Frank. Thanks.' "

(- Bill Altice, Feb 2010 – quoted from: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Karen_Cooper_Complex/ )

Favourite tracks: You Can't Have It/Shinjuku Birdwalk; Heads (In the Other Room); Beeswax; but that whole thing is truly amazing

http://www.myspace.com/karencoopercomplex

KAREN COOPER COMPLEX: Shinjuku Birdwalk

(USA 1981)

(mp3-zip, 10 tracks, 48 min, 108,4 MB, fr. cover artwork incl.)

Get it here or here or here!

Whimper Warrior (now: Coma Nova) - EP (USA 2009)

"The group I play with, Whimper Warrior, is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and has been called 'droning psych-metal with transient male/female vocals.' (...) our self-titled EP (although it clocks in at about 30 minutes) (...) has five tracks, all written by us. (...). The album itself was self-recorded during two weeks of late-night sessions at the recording studio we have residency at. We're working on a full-length right now, but will be doing this on an old 7" 8-track reel machine in our house."

(Info by Eli via email)

WHIMPER WARRIOR are/were:

Eli Kroes-Guitar & vocals / Elaine Martin-Vocals / Matt Motzell-Drums / Jake Marcus-Bass

The band changed its name from WHIMPER WARRIOR to gREY NOISE to COMA NOVA (latest incarnation). The EP on offer here was recorded under the first name and is recommended listening. Indeed rather 'droning' and also rather lo-fi, but if you're into hard-riffing, guitar driven tunes not too far away from bands like DINOSAUR JR. or even BLACK SABBATH ("Bludgeon") this might be the right stuff for you.

Enjoy!

http://www.myspace.com/whimperwarrior

Favourite track: "Whistle Dick"

WHIMPER WARRIOR: EP

(mp3-zip, 5 tracks, 26 min, 48 mb, fr. artwork incl.)

Get it here or here or here!

RE-UP: HLFP 02 "EMBRYO THOUGHTS"

Welcome back everybody!

RE-UP by request of the 2nd HLFP-Sampler, "EMBRYO THOUGHTS - A mind blowing collection of inner and outer space snapshots of different kinds". Get it here! - (with the old artwork.)

The next HLFP-Sampler (# 4) will be posted soon (hopefully)!

Askeemal (aka: Asesquimal) - The Yellow Idiot (USA 2008)

ASKEEMAL (aka: ASESQUIMAL) is a moniker used by JARED FAIRFIELD (see posts below).

"The Yellow Idiot" is a (short) triple album, recorded mid to late 2008.

"I have recorded under several monikers, the most other notable being "Askeemal", weirdo post-punk falsetto goodies. (...) 'The Yellow Idiot' -- Probably the best and most original of all these (albums). Originally done under the moniker of Askeemal, this is a triple album release that, very simply explained, is very eccentric rock with girl like falsetto." (J. F.)

This is quite a trip! Something very special indeed. And good fun to listen.

I hardly understand a word, and I'm not even sure if the language used is English at all (sounds to me more like a drugged out Italian freak most of the time), but that really doesn't matter. This is great experimental rock music and though some parts remind me of different bands/musicians (CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND HIS MAGIC BAND, PERE UBU, BRIAN ENO, GUIDED BY VOICES...) I have never heard something like this before. Especially irritating at first listen are the girl like falsetto vocals on some tracks, that really have to be heard!

Eccentric and great! Recommended!

http://www.myspace.com/orangedoorwest

Askeemal (aka: Asesquimal = Jared Fairfield)

- The Yellow Idiot

(USA 2008)

(mp3-zip, 25 tracks, 35 min, 66,7 MB, art included)

Part 1 - Work Your Way to the Forest

Part 2 - Shim Hom Phorsch

Part 3 - Academic Palsy

Get it here or here or here!

HLFP 02 - EMBRYO THOUGHTS

It's been a long time coming... And here it is:

The next HOMEMADE LOFI PSYCH PRESENTS SAMPLER!

HLFP 02 "EMBRYO THOUGHTS"

– A mind blowing collection of inner and outer space snapshots of different kinds –

Get it here

or here!

(mp3 zip of 2 CDs; 20 tracks, 175,9 MB, 123 min, art + info incl.)!

CD 1

01. ANCIENTS - Son Of Albion (3.50)

02. STOLLE & MEMBER - Wellen (mixed & edited) (9.55)

03. LEONEL GARCIA - Neurogenesis (First Thoughts) (4.20)

04. T.H.U.M.B. - Jorgen's Shit Song (3.48)

05. SZBUTÄ SORÖH - Womb Of My Mind (6.23)

06. DANNY SPACECAT - The Probe (3.26)

07. GLAZE OF CATHEXIS - Drifting Concepts (5.08)

08. ATLANTIC DRONE - Muddy 'ol Sea (6.40)

09. WE'RE LATE FOR CLASS - Pregnant Tight Rope Walker in Santa Ana (4.10)

10. ANYONE'S DREAMCOLOUR - Embryo Thoughts (3.59)

11. THIS LOVE IS DEADLY - My New Favourite Need (4.52)

CD 2

01. JAY MATTHEWS - Dreams (2.19)

02. EPHEMEROL - embryO dreamS oF (10.00)

03. MAURICE RICKARD - Macbeth 1 (6.17)

04. TRUE COLOUR OF BLOOD - In My Next Life I'm Coming Back As A Field Of Poppies (7.23)

05. THE WIG MUSEUM - Future Daze (2.55)

06. TORSTN KAUKE - Not Like Always (pt. 1-4) (8.26)

07. DREAMCOLOUR - Dreamshow (edit) (9.58)

08. CATASTO ELETTRICO - Beta Centauri (9.14)

09. RADAGAST PROJECT - Re:birth (edit) (10.00)

Quite a collection! I think there are some absolutely outstanding tracks on HLFP 02! What a variety of sounds, but "EMBRYO THOUGHTS" is nevertheless good for a suprisingly fluent, coherent listening experience.

I gotta say, I'm quite happy with the great resonance. There is an internationality of musicianship to be found here, that really makes me proud (we have artists from Germany, USA, the United Kingdom, Italy, Brazil...), though I really would have liked to hear something from JAPAN, KOREA and... But maybe next time. LOFI PSYCH HEADS UNITE!

THANKS to everyone involved in assembling HLFP 02!

THIS IS YOUR SAMPLER!

And a special THANK YOU to torstn kauke for inspiring this special collection of psych/experimental songs!

"EMBRYO THOUGHTS" IS DEDICATED TO MY YET UNBORN CHILD AND ITS FANTASTIC MOTHER!

BLOGGERS: Feel free to repost this sampler, but please tell me about it, and please use the original links as long as possible!

More info is to be found in the comments!

So READERS: 20 bands created a song and did their best to reach you, and to comfort you. They are giving their songs to you freely! So now it's your turn to leave a comment and give them the applause they deserve... Thanks!

The Janitors Of Lunacy - 1984-'87 (GER)

This is the third part of my series called "A VISIT TO THE DARK SIDE".

The band THE JANITORS OF LUNACY was founded in 1983 in Worms, Germany, as a dark experimental industrial band and soon moved to Berlin. Most of their songs have a real sinister atmosphere full of angst and depression and despair.

In the beginning the JANITORS were heavily influenced by THROBBING GRISTLE, but soon moved on to a greater variety of sounds. Of course there is a strong NICO and VELVET UNDERGROUND influence (the band is named after a NICO song), but one can also hear traces of SUICIDE or BAUHAUS. "We All Want To Be Loved" could easily be an early EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN track, and "L'etranger" sounds like a JOY DIVISION instrumental outtake. 
The singer sometimes resembles a sedated late JIM MORRISON (e.g. on "Back to the 50ies"), while the girl singer most of the time sounds EXACTLY like NICO. Really amazing!

 
My personal favourite tracks are "Stanley Kubrick's Diaries" and "The Sweat of Fear in Lying Beds".

 
In late '87 the band simply vanished from the German Underground scene, and guitarist Maxim Engl later went on to ORANGE and EPHEMEROL in the Frankfurt/Rhein-Main area.

The Janitors of Lunacy - 1984-'87

(mp3 zip, 14 songs,100,4 MB, 73 min)

01. L'etranger - 4.01

02. Twenty Three - 2.39

03. Today (version 1) - 3.04

04. We All Want to be Loved - 6.30

05. The Long Tomorrow - 8.34

06. Back To The 50ies - 4.37

07. Stanley Kubrick's Diaries - 7.11

08. Catholic Girl - 3.10

09. Today (version 2) - 2.26

10. The Sweat Of Fear in Lying Beds - 11.16

11. Stormy Weather - 7.50

12. Won't You Try - 3.23

13. When A White Swan Meets A Black - 4.42

14. Alia - 3.20

Get it here!

Amber Light / Dirty Projectors

• Some days ago I had the pleasure to see a promising german band, called AMBER LIGHT, in a small, but legendary club in the town I live. Surely not a psychedelic band – though they started playing some kind of prog rock in the style of  1970s Pink Floyd or even Marillion – they can grab you and shake you, and have some great melodies (more in the style now of The Cure or The Smith or some of the newer guitar bands) that stick in mind. My personal favourites are "Still Going Nowhere" and "Softly There, Everywhere". Check 'em out at their site and at Myspace.
  
• Unti now the band recorded 2 EPs and 1 CD called "Goodbye to Dusk, Farewell to Dawn" (2004). A new CD will be released soon.
• 
  
• That reminds me of the best concert I saw late last year, which was by a New York band called DIRTY PROJECTORS. That band centered around little genius David Longstreth simply blew me away. I first came to know them through an art exhibition, where the "psychedelic"movie "The Getty Address" (based on an idea from Don Henley (yes, THAT Don Henley!)) was shown – a true masterpiece full of colours and surprises AND great music; yet to be released offically on DVD. The band's latest release is "Rise Above" (2007), lyrically Black Flag inspired/reimagined, which takes some time to get into, but is quite good. But the DIRTY PROJECTORS are best as a live band. You should check 'em out doing some Daytrotter Session, where you can download some tracks free. Their first Daytrotter session is even better. My personal favourite is: "Fucked for Life". It's brilliant, like some wild mixture of late Robert Fripp guitar (e.g. on "Discipline"), some Yes Prog riffs and backing vocals and Prince lead vocals. And then there is some Indie and Post Punk influences too... So what would you call that music!?? Anyway, it's great and very original.