• Ron Geesin – Atmospheres / Smudge the Snail

Library LP, KPM, 1977

One of the UK’s most notable musical eccentrics, Ron Geesin has spent a life very much in the shadows of the British music scene, with the exception of his odd electronic album with Roger Waters, Music from the Body. Much of his work has only been released on very rare library records and the occasional educational disc. There was a recent vinyl reissue of his other KPM album, Electrosound (1972), but we don’t think this one has yet been revived (it’s not even listed on Discogs yet).

1. Contentment
2. Jolly Pranks
3. Holiday Fizz
4. Pleasure Guide
5. Morning Sundew
6. Gentle Awakening
7. Floating Down
8. Water Flight
9. Ambling Antics
10. Convivial
11. Timeless
12. Solar Flares
13. Colossus
14. Liquid Heat
15. Evil Passage
16. Waltz in a Forest
17. Remorseless Climb
18. Demimation Process
19. Cancer
20. Cavern
21. History of Invention

Link | Ron’s website

7″ in 12″ gatefold sleeve, Good Reading, 1974

… And this next one, well, even Ron hasn’t got it listed on his site. Admittedly, it’s a very minor work, but if you want something truly rare and exotic to flaunt at your snooty library record-collecting buddies… This is an audio story of a nice little snail, intended for schools it seems, issued on 7″ with music and effects by our man Ron. There are four variations, from full story with everything to just the music, and if you delve into the luscious gatefold 12″ sleeve you’ll also find a boardgame with press-out pieces. Damn, we bet those schooldays just flew by back in the mid-1970s.

Link | Discogs

• Hans-Joachim Roedelius – Lustwandel

LP, Sky, 1981

Not much of the bite of early Cluster’s short, sharp but ultimately sugary confections slips into Roedelius’ solo work, which sometimes sounds far too traditionally romantic, even florid at its worst. But this fairly early set is a worthy companion to the likes of Sowiesoso. It’s a small shame that the very best tracks are the shorter sketches, the strangely textured little miniatures like “Ansinnen”. It’s produced, BTW, by Peter Baumann, ex of Tangerine Dream, who also worked on H-JR’s Jardin au Fou and the splendid Grosses Wasser by Cluster.

1. Lustwandel (3:49)
2. Legende (2:10)
3. Ansinnen (1:04)
4. Betrachtung (2:12)
5. Draussen Vorbei (4:16)
6. Harlekin (1:05)
7. Von Ferne Her (3:28)
8. Vom Fliegen (3:24)
9. Willkommen (1:56)
10. Pirouette (1:33)
11. Dein Antlitz (4:07)
12. Langer Atem (7:15)
13. Die Andere Blume (1:13)

Link | Discogs | Roedelius.com

• Various – Scenes From Ringing Isle

2CD, (various labels), 1998

Yup, various labels: in full, this double set of noisy explorations was released by… deep breath… Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers, Ecstatic Peace!, Freedom From, Giardia, (K-raa-k)3, Polyamory, Rural Electrification Program, and Swill Radio. If you were really lucky, yours was one the 75 copies from (K-raa-k)3, with no cover save a crappy taped-on label and with its jewelcase glued shut. Ah, those wacky alternative types, getting out the glue and glitter and sticky tape. How very bohemian.

By the time you get into the disc, it’s gratifying that this is all high class racket-making, including some of your favourite noisemakers hiding behind pseudonyms or surnames – Richard Youngs, couple of Vibracathedral guys, Matt Bower of course, others. As the man says, turn it uppppp.

DISC ONE
1. Flies Inside the Sun – Spiders Egg (20:13)
2. Ashtray Navigations – The David Lochary Story (26:01)
3. Sunroof! – Valley (17:47)
4. Surface of the Earth – Americans2 (6:51)

DISC TWO
1. Matthew Bower / R!!!S!!! – Entry/Addendum (16:43)
2. Surface of the Earth – Corridor (4:52)
3. Bradley/Campbell – Untitled (9:07)
4. John Godbert – Guitar Peace (5:18)
5. Dr. Gretchen’s Musical Weightlifting Program – Untitled (8:06)
6. K. Salvatore – Untitled (29:09)

Link | Discogs

• Various – Movement, Mime & Music

LP, BBC Records, 1969

Music and Sounds for music and movement from the BBC Movement, Mime and Music Series for Schools.

More Radiophonic goodness – and more – from the BBC’s fabulous world of music and movement, all produced once more by Vera Gray. In truth, with a fair amount of diligence, you could assemble most of the tracks on side two yourself, picking from the various current BBC Radiophonic Workshop, John Baker and Delia Derbyshire reissues. So why rip this for you? Simply, so you get the pleasure of trying this for yourself. Go on, clear a space in your yard or den, kick off your boots and let the music create sound pictures in your head. Rediscover, or find for the first time, the sheer visceral thrill of pretending to be a tree in a tornado, a little fish in a stream, a seed eaten and then crapped out by a common garden bird… oh sorry, that was what got us excluded back in our schooldays…

Also check that cover design (by Roy Curtis-Bramwell) – rather surprised Stereolab haven’t nicked it for an album yet.

SIDE ONE
All composed by Alan Paul.
Band 1: Trombone & piano (3 parts)
Band 2: Flute & piano (4 parts)
Band 3: Violin & piano (4 parts)
Band 4: Xylophone & piano / Violin, woodblock & piano (2 parts)
Band 5: The jig, played by separate instruments and then all together (6 parts)
Band 6: Duo for piccolo & oboe
Band 7: The two clowns – flute & bassoon
Band 8: Clarinet
Band 9: Fugue for five woodwind instruments

SIDE TWO
Bands 1-4—Useful Sound Effects to add colour
1. Fire engine, siren & flames / Jet aeroplane / Diesel train
2. Ship’s forghorn at sea / Strong wind / Thunderstorm with rain
3. Fireworks, with rockets / Machinery / Chiming bells
4. Jungle sounds / Fairground music / Dawn chorus

Bands 5-14—Radiophonic Music – useful for movement
5. David Cain – Radio Nottingham
6. Delia Derbyshire – Mattachin
7. John Baker – The Missing Jewel
8. John Baker – Fresh Start
9. John Baker – Milky Way
10. John Baker – Structures
11. John Baker – New World
12. John Baker – Festival Time
13. John Baker – The Chase
14. Delia Derbyshire – Towards Tomorrow

Link | Discogs | Book your own Music and Movement session

• Ray Cathode – Time Beat/Waltz in Orbit

7″, Parlophone, 1962

Must confess we’ve seen this on a few blogs over the years, but there’s no harm in ripping this one more time to tie-in with all the BBC Radiophonic Workshop posts hereabouts and elsewhere. And if you’ve helped yourself to 21 you’ll be familiar with where this came from, since it’s an expansion of one of Maddalena Fagandini’s lovingly mathematical little clicking and snapping constructions, orchestrated with the help of George Martin and marketed as space-age pop. The b-side, “Waltz in Orbit” is even better.

While we’re on the whole subject of radiophonics, the lovely Simon Reynolds just penned a handy piece for Brit newspaper The Guardian all about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and its distinguised alumni.

Link | Discogs

• Various – Pioneers of the Hypnotic Groove

CD, Warp, 1991

A thought: since the whole early 80s angular new wave schtick is way past verrry tired, and since some of the new acts making records now weren’t even born when this came out, perhaps its time for a whole new Sheffield bleep revival. Beats all that piss-poor allegedly “electro” dribble for sure. Take the demolition subbass of dubstep, wallop some caustic bleeps and clonks on it – that’s clonks, not donks (bloody chavs) – and why, we’ll be all the rage in no time. Top of the hit parade, swinging but really turned on, could work…

1. Forgemasters – Track With No Name (5:09)
2. Sweet Exorcist – Testfour (5:49)
3. DJ Mink – Hey Hey Can U Relate! (5:27)
4. LFO – LFO (5:20)
5. Tricky Disco – Tricky Disco (7:03)
6. Nightmares on Wax – Aftermath (5:58)
7. Tuff Little Unit – Join the Future (4:44)
8. The Step – Yeah You (5:59)
9. Tomas – Mindsong (6:15)

Link | Discogs

• Robin Guthrie/Various – Drifting A.F.U.

CD, Blast First, 1999

In August of 1999, those fine people from Labradford curated the Second Festival of Drifting at venues in London, Scotland and Paris. To celebrate, a limited-run mix CD by the Cocteaus’ Robin Guthrie was given to attendees. It’s a lovely, sleepy headed little thing, the aural equivalent of a codeine cocktail when you’re full of cold and flu. Among RG’s own echoing fogbanks, you’ll find snippets of Silo, Labradford, Charlemagne Palestine, Tony Conrad, Caspar Brotzmann, Sonic Youth, Chris & Cosey, Pan American and Rothko – the included front cover shot has timings and more details.

1. Drifting A.F.U. (48.26)

Link | Discogs

• This Heat – Live at the LSE, June 30th, 1978

Tape, live at the London School of Economics June 30th, 1978

Quite a lot has been said and written of This Heat in the last few years, and they have joined that long list of cool names to drop. The Cold Storage box set really helped sum up their short but powerful career, and the Live 80/81 disc of tracks taped on their European jaunts added some much needed examples of how they sounded live. But us collector scum want more, want it all. Beyond the official releases there are a couple of full shows from 1982 knocking around, and a very poorly recorded set from the Scala in late 1979, but we’ve not come across this much earlier set anywhere else. (We also have three more previously unheard live sets from This Heat to come, btw, if you lot lap this one up.)

Ripped as one track, sorry. And do listen out for the take on Fall and Rainforest, where they appear to have arranged the conclusion of the debut album in reverse – clicking outro now an intro, killer death guitar solo, then the vocals, then the opening ritual percussion, then the rainfall. Disconcerting!

1. Twilight Furniture
2. Diet of Worms
3. Not Waving
4. Untitled
5. The Fall of Saigon
6. Rainforest
7. Music Like Escaping Gas

Link | YouTube footage | MySpace page

• Mirza – Iron Compass Flux

CD, Darla, 1998

Glenn Donaldson and Steven R Smith are more famous — OK, an ill-advised use of that word — for the roots, leaves and sea-shells soundscapes of the fabulously organic Thuja, but we also rate this shortlived quartet, Mirza (with Brian Lucas & Mark Williams). Listen to it, see what you think. If you like it, go buy some of their stuff.

1. The Path is White Clouds (11:31)
2. Ember Lights (9:10)
3. The White is Past-Clouds (4:43)
4. Iron Compass Flux (14:39)
5. Sousa (9:32)
6. Feeding the Serpent from a Cup (8:03)

Link | Discogs

• Ebi [Susumu Yokota] – Zen

CD, Space Teddy, 1994

Prolific yet always serene Yokota-san has walked several paths on his long meander through modern dance and ambient music. This is from phase one, the hard trance years. His handful of releases on the always lovely Space Teddy label were less sharp and sparkly than the stuff he debuted with on Harthouse, a little easier on the ear and showing some small measure of the ambient jewels he would later craft. Second ST disc Ten is almost as sweet.

1. Zen (8:44)
2. Fu (5:27)
3. Yoku (6:23)
4. Sei (3:42)
5. Hai (4:56)
6. Chuu (8:53)
7. Kai (6:02)
8. Sou (6:21)
9. Hi (7:37)
10. Kai (8:59)
11. San (7:59)

Link | Discogs