29 March 2022: Eyes of Blue; Sonologyst: McDonald & Giles

 

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UK psychedelia moved into prog rock with spices of hard rock in the late sixties, some even coined a new label to describe the strong textures resulting of the mixture of rockier blues sounds, jazz, revolutionized freakbeat and the hardest side of popsike - ‘heavy psych’. Amongst the best works of the era were the two splendid LPs recorded by Welsh band Eyes Of Blue. The Eyes Of Blue where formed in 1966 and soon won the Melody Maker Beat Contest, a fact that secured them a recording deal with Deram records. The label issued their first 45s, they were good but -due to company pressure- more Blue Eyed Soul or even bubblegum oriented. By the time they released their first LP, on Mercury, their real sound had surfaced, showing influences by some of the coolest bands from the US West Coast like The Doors or Love, and also counted on the help of Graham Bond. Originally released in 1969, In Fields Of Ardath was the follow up to their superb debut LP, expanding the path of heavy Hammond based psychedelic progressive rock at its best with their aim of experimentation. This album contains also material they recorded for the movie Toy Grabbers in collaboration with Quincy Jones. Members of Eyes Of Blue would later join Man, Pete Brown & Piblokto! and Gentle Giant. 
 

 Our thanks to Sonologyst for providing us with a promotional copy of this release.
 
The new Sonologyst album, "Interdimensional", explores the paraphysical dimension of cosmic music. It completes the dilation process of his sound, which began with the albums "Silencers" and "Ancient Death Cults And Beliefs", which now form an ideal trilogy inspired by what is beyond the boundaries of science.

"Interdimensional" is inspired by the scientist Michio Kaku who theorized what could be the remote future of the human species; beyond matter, the stars, and known dimensions. A future that could lead us to the victory over the end of everything, beyond the foreseen and inevitable death of the universe known to us.

Also a cosmic record in terms of sound, "Interdimensional" is pervaded by a sense of stasis reminiscent of Thomas Köner's isolationist electronics, but still characterised by the use of electrified instruments, analogue synthesizers and recordings of resonant metal objects. Unlike the previous albums, however, the typical dark experimental / post industrial sound of Sonologyst is filtered through hazy warping reverberations and infinite delays, which musically depict the intergalactic journey of a civilization in search of a possible future beyond death.

Music ad astra.

credits

releases April 8, 2022

Sonologyst: Analogue synthesizers, electronics, dronin.

Mastered by Sonologyst
Graphic Design by Abby Helasdottir

Released by Cold Spring Records

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experimental avant-garde drone musique concrete sound art Italy

 

Last week the meeting ran over so we weren't able to play McDonald & Giles; we'll play some tracks from their 1969 release if we have time this evening.  See last week's blog post for information about this album. 

 

22 March 2022: McDonald and Giles; Beggars Opera

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McDonald and Giles is an album released by British musicians Ian McDonald and Michael Giles in 1970. The album was first issued on Island Records (ILPS 9126) in the UK and Cotillion Records (SD 9042), a division of Atlantic Records, in the US. (The album was released on Atlantic itself in several countries.) The album was recorded at Island Studios between May and July 1970. Although McDonald and Giles remains popular among King Crimson fans,[2] its commercial success was limited. The duo did not record a second album. 

Ian McDonald and Michael Giles were members of the original King Crimson line-up, and were featured performers on the band's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King (1969). Both left the group at the end of its first United States tour in 1969, although Giles appeared on the second King Crimson album, In the Wake of Poseidon (1970), as a session musician. Two other King Crimson members also worked on McDonald and Giles: Peter Giles and Peter Sinfield.

The music on McDonald and Giles contains many of the pastoral and musically complex elements of King Crimson, while generally avoiding that band's darker tendencies. The song "Flight of the Ibis" has a melody and rhythm similar to King Crimson's "Cadence and Cascade," with different lyrics. The album contains a guest appearance by Steve Winwood, playing organ and piano on "Turnham Green". Winwood's group Traffic were working on John Barleycorn Must Die at Island Studios at the same time.

Michael Giles' drum solo in "Tomorrow's People – The Children of Today" has been sampled by a number of rap and hip-hop artists, most notably the Beastie Boys, on the track "Body Movin'" from the album Hello Nasty

 


 Beggars Opera was a Scottish progressive rock band from Glasgow, Scotland, formed in 1969 by guitarist Ricky Gardiner, vocalist Martin Griffiths, and bassist Marshall Erskine. The line-up consisted of Ricky Gardiner (guitar/vocals) (born 31 August 1948, Edinburgh, Scotland), Alan Park (keyboards) (born 10 May 1951, Glasgow, Scotland), Martin Griffiths (vocals) (born 8 October 1949, Newcastle upon Tyne) Marshall Erskine (bass/flute) and Raymond Wilson (drums). After working together building parts of the M40 Motorway near Beaconsfield, the lads moved back to Glasgow to look for an organist and drummer and found Alan Park and Ray Wilson. After an intensive time in rehearsal they took up residency at Burns Howff club/pub in West Regent Street in the center of Glasgow. Tours of Europe followed and the band found success in Germany, appearing on German TV's legendary Beat-Club, then at the First British Rock Meeting in Speyer in September 1971.

 From ALLMUSIC:

Act One Review

by Dave Thompson

Defiantly cast in the shadow of the then-recently defunct Nice, but brimming with their own ideas and imagination, Beggars Opera emerged in 1970 with a debut album that still stands as one of the crown jewels of prog. Five tracks long in its original (Vertigo label) form, but bolstered with both sides of their debut single for the Repertoire CD, Act One is an audacious blending of hard riffs, Heep-esque vocals, and crazed organ and Mellotron, and it's those latter elements that most distinctly flavor the album. The opening "Poet and Peasant," based on Franz Von Suppe's overture of the same name, sets the scene with its multiple shifts in tone and tempo; the same composer's "Light Cavalry" then closes the disc in similarly dramatic style. "Raymond's Road" is the climax, however. An 11-minute orgy of sound that rides a "Rondo" rhythm, then sets a slew of classical snatches dancing above it. It's a breathtaking effort, a cross between a mad medley and a free festival freakout that so firmly establishes Beggars Opera's credentials that it seems impossible to believe that things never got any better for them.

 


 

15 March 2022: Tone Science Module No.6 Protons and Neutrons (DiN:TS06) The Body Of Horror - Music Inspired By The Cinema Of David Cronenberg

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The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites (links below).    We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio.

Our thanks to Ian Boddy and DiN for providing a promotional copy of this release.

Tone Science sub-label, from DiN records, continues to explore the world of modular synth music with Tone Science Module No.6 Protons and Neutrons (DiN:TS06)

Following the success and critical acclaim of the first five Tone Science compilation albums, DiN label boss Ian Boddy has collated another nine tracks from musicians of varying backgrounds working in the realms of modular synthesis.

One of the things that is so delightful about artists working with modular synthesisers is the sheer variety of styles on show. These instruments more than any other can be personalised for each musician who can then express themselves within their own sonic world.

When compiling these volumes it’s always interesting how certain tracks sonically migrate to each other to form a cohesive section and this is certainly the case with the trio of pieces that open this album. “Prisms” by James Bernard, “Vänta” by Elin Piel and “Eddy Currents” by Field Lines Cartographer all have a beautiful organic warmth with beguiling simple sequencer lines that weave in and out.

These three tracks show one approach to working with modular synthesis whereas “Contradictory Forecasts” by Sarah Belle Reid changes the mood completely with an adventurous gestural performance on her Buchla system. Things are brought down to a calm, more introspective mid- point on the album by “Waving in Harmony” by Adrian Beasley, who is a member of the Berlin School inspired synth trio Air Sculpture.

Mirroring the opening trio of tracks the next three pieces again show a certain uniformity of purpose albeit with a more uptempo feel with the sequencers featuring more to the foreground. “Upward” by Elinch slowly builds to quite a crescendo whereas the intricate patching on “Random Possibilities” by ambient pioneer Steve Roach indeed shows how randomness can instil a forever changing vibe to a track. Finally in this section “In The Shadow Of Giants” by Ombient is a full on Berlin School sequencer work out including radio voices from some distant galaxy.

The album draws to a close with “The Mutation Trio” from Doug Lynner which literally pauses for breath. Quoting “sound for sounds sake” in his liner notes the track certainly explores the totally abstract possibilities of his Mystery Serge system.

“Tone Science Module No.6 Protons and Neutrons” continues the journey down the rabbit hole of possibilities and sound worlds inhabited by artists and musicians working in this ever fascinating and varied musical field.
 

credits

releases March 18, 2022

1. James Bernard - Prisms - 8:11
Warm and comforting trio of synth voices, structured around a simple melodic motif with varying shifts in tonality and rhythmic patterns. Live performance recorded in one take using a small Eurorack modular system.
linktr.ee/jamesbernard

2. Elin Piel - Vänta - 6:59
Vänta is recorded live with Lyra 8, a small Eurorack system and Analog Heat. It's based around four different sequences evolving around each other coming in and out of focus.
elinpiel.bandcamp.com

3. Field Lines Cartographer - Eddy Currents - 8:54
Tiny loops of electrical current, ever changing, ebbing & flowing under the influence of a magnetic field. Realised on ARP 2600 & Eurorack modular synths.
fieldlinescartographer.bandcamp.com

4. Sarah Belle Reid - Contradictory Forecasts - 8:23
A driving pulse, a teetering moment, a fragile heartbeat, a blinding light, a frenetic foxtrot, a mischievous gremlin, a wailing whisper.
sarahbellereid.com

5. Adrian Beasley - Waving In Harmony - 7:15
A Eurorack of wavetables wash against a duophonic lead. Ebbing and flowing, the pair of lead notes reveal their harmonic relations.
adrianbeasley.bandcamp.com

6. Elinch - Upward - 7:28
If you dream you can ascend and fly amongst the tree tops. A live composition with a small modular system (Strega, TTMC, Disting Ex for Loops) and Buchla Easel Command.
youtube.com/c/Elinch

7. Steve Roach - Random Possibilities - 6:29
Performed and recorded in real time on Large Format Analog and Eurorack Modulars.
Created live in the studio after a strong cup of morning coffee. The machines were calling out for a spontaneous workout in random mode.
steveroach.bandcamp.com

8. Ombient - In The Shadow Of Giants - 6:32
Lattices of evolving sound and rhythm, recorded at the Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project (emeapp.org) with a large Synthesizers.com Modular and an EMS Synthi AKS.
Ombient.com

9. Doug Lynner - The Mutation Trio - 9:01
Inspired by my earliest interactions with classic electronic music, this piece follows three sound blocks through a series of mutations, or developments, affirming the notion of sound for sound’s sake.
neatnetnoise.com

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Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst) and Eighth Tower Records for providing a promotional copy of this release.

Eighth Tower Records is proud to release a compilation of music inspired to the cinema of the Canadian legendary director David Cronenberg.
More than a cult filmmaker, a true legend of the contemporary cinema, Cronenberg inspired an unimaginable number of artists all over the world and in every field of the artistic expressions. Cronenberg’s signature is a mix of graphic sex and violence broadly known as “body horror.” His early works exploited special effects to provoke audiences with bugs and parasites invading the body, exploding heads and images of genitalia intersecting violently with technology. His later films became more introspective and existential, often drawing upon Freudian theory and literary sources to consider the relationship between body, mind and technology. His work explores human fears and desires not commonly expressed in cinema, such as disease, aging, mental illness, and sexual fetishism. Cronenberg approaches the human condition through the unconscious and physical processes of the thinking animal, with an extreme existentialism that celebrates the body (in all its disgusting glory) while admitting the horror of the individual consciousness trapped within ever decaying flesh. These themes are present in Cronenberg’s early genre work, and he continues to explore them through the adaptation of postmodern literature.
“I'm just observing the world. I was born into it, like you were, and then I found out there were some really disturbing aspects to being alive, like the fact that you weren't going to be alive forever - that bothered me.”
“Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab. We're all trying to experiment to find a way to live, to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos.”
David Cronenberg

Previously unreleased music by:
Sigillum S (Italy), Desiderii Marginis (Sweden), Sonologyst (Italy), Mario Lino Stancati, Schloss Tegal (US), dodenskald (Iran), UNCODIFIED (Italy), Jarl (Sweden), Mortar Devotions (Italy /Finland), Kloob (Spain). To all of them our deep thanks for joining the project.
 

credits

released March 4, 2022

REVIEWS

Bonewitchpunk
bonewitchpunk.com?fbclid=IwAR25BkAImHo7M1ds3itBnlzzMdJ-EmimV_ABUd-4AxkI1QeKkQCdRS89nZI


Edited by Eighth Tower Records
Mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst)
Artwork by John Chadwick
jdchadwickdesign@gmail.com
eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com
© 2022. All rights reserved

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