STONED MOON (pscikadilik musick)

MOOLAH
WOE YEH DEMONS POSSESSED (Annuit Cœptis)

Original Issue: 1974 Druidstone (No Number)

Reissue: 2005 EM (EM1051CD)


Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

Dear MoonMusick friends...DO NOT MISS THIS ONE.
A REAL CULT RECORD!
ONE OF THE MOST OBSCURE (AND BEAUTIFUL) ALBUMS EVER RECORDED BY A HUMAN (?) BEING!!!

1 Crystal waters (5:30)
2 Terror is real (4:10)
3 Courage (8:20)
4 The hatd hit (6:55)
5 Mirror's (7:00)
6 Redemption (6:44)

From Head Heritage

Straight from the sub-subterranean collective basement patronized by all of the world’s greatest psychotic (ehh-hm visionary) artists comes another ultra obscure gem going by the name of Woe Ye Demon Possessed by the group(?)/or maybe it’s just a regular old dude with a rack of wacky effects, Moolah.

Think about that name. Moolah. What comes to mind, friends? I personally conjure images of bone in the nose voodoo mamas twirling in some swamp drug ecstasy. Maybe that comes from my association of the word Moolah with that famous female wrestler The Fabulous Moolah; not that that matters. I’m just typing to type at this point. You know, taking up space to make this look more profound than it really is.

Alright, back to the topic at hand. Moolah – Woe Ye Demon Possessed. I know nothing about this LP. I don’t know its history, who made it, what city it was made in (it is from the good ole’ Stars and Stripes, but one could very easily assume Deutschland). This makes for some very compelling mystery. I do know that there is a great buzz among collectors of rare psych records. So, naturally, being the conformist that I am, I too decided to hop on that kaleidoscopic, day glo bandwagon with the rest of the damned. This was a good decision on my part because Woe Ye Demon Possessed is pretty frakin’ awesome and in dire need of a cd reissue.

Seeing as how there’s no prominent data on the recording (even on the almighty internet), I gathered as much as I could from the cover; it’s that famous evil eye over the American dollar with the Latin phrase. I don’t even know how to order a beer in classical Latin. So I’m not about to feign a bullshit translation. One might assume that this somehow relates to wacky conspiracy theories about the Freemasons/ Bilderberg Group ad barfum. I don’t subscribe to that. I would guess it’s an ode of sorts of to the race of aliens who helped guide the Egyptians in their constructive efforts, the eye symbolic of their observations and inevitable return to Mother Gaia. There’s also that superb title Woe Ye Demon Possessed: the man enlightened with the knowledge of his extra terrestrial guardians is the one who’s possessed. (Perhaps not alien beings, but the one who’s possessed with the omniscient powers of the psychotrope is possessed, etc.)

On to the music! The only proper appellative I could grant would be – “a lost field recording made by an ‘animistic’ alien enlightened tribal people who somehow had the ability to bend time.”

That’s an incredibly pretentious way of putting it. In non wacko terms I can hear a strong Faust 1, Guru Guru and Ash Ra Tempel influence. Just add a twist of ultra lo fi and a sprinkle of Texas garage psych and you have something similar to the finished product. I’ve often suffered with many sleepless nights where I asked myself, “Damnit! When am I going to hear an American record with a distinct kosmische influence? When? Why God? Why?” Well, I think the Lord above answered my prayers and blessed with me this LP.

It starts off with a profound, deity invoking bang with “Crystal Waters”, a ritualistic piece that sounds as though it should be played on a ziggurat prior to a human sacrifice. If The Tempel was playing garages in the late 60’s, this would have been the product: Schulze synths on speed, heart beat drums, ancient keys. Great stuff. Follow that with a schizophrenic outburst/psycho-delic exorcism, “Terror Is Real”, and then a buried on the ocean floor fuzz hum bar room piano, “Courage”. You have one kick ass album side.

Side two is also profoundly sublime. Both “The Hard Hit” and “Mirror’s” follow the same unsettling bleeping buzz synth, chanting voices from another dimension pattern. It all builds up into crazy tension. I feel as though I’m at a séance of sorts. Plus, “The Hard Hit” features some weird kinda’ sorta’ motornik drums before they go off into the great beyond with those creepy voices. The last track “Redemption” brings back the piano and anachronistic radio fuzz. It calms everything down, leaves you staring off into space waiting for the redeemers themselves to finally land.

All in all, I found this to be a fabulous recording, a great shining diamond in the rough. Krautfreaks will agree too. I predict that this will eventually be reissued. Good things come to those who wait. Cult labels won’t be sleeping on this for much longer. Happy hunting. It’s well worth the chase, friends.

Giallo

RED MOON (musick & other arts)

PALESTINE CHARLEMAGNE
STRUMMING MUSIC

Original Issue: 1974 Shandar (SR 83517)

Reissue: 1995 New Tone ( NT 6742 2) Buy it here!


Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

1 Strumming Music

I think I have no words to really express the beauty of this work!
5 moons are not enough for this MINIMALISM MONSTER; angelic, visceral, intense, visionary, otherworldly, alien!
This is one of the most important records of all times...no doubts!

Twenty-minutes in, and you'll be floating in space, harmonic overtones all around you, aural mirages like the mermaid chant.

Charlemagne is a true magician and, with his musick and approach to the musick, really influenced me during the years.

Charlemagne; thank you for exist!
Margot

From Amazon

This disc contains one of the more remarkable examples of New York minimalism. Strumming Music was a solo piano recording by the performance artist and composer Charlemagne Palestine, originally released in 1974. It has long been a cult recording amongst lovers of early minimalism and drone music, but has also made some surprising friends in its time.

Strumming Music takes its title from the playing technique involved--alternating left and right hands in a regular rhythm over a duration of nearly an hour. After a brief introduction, the pianist plays single notes in the two hands (at the interval of a fifth, one which plays a significant role in the harmony of the work), but gradually the notes are increasingly supplanted by chords, sometimes quite dense ones.

During the performance, the sustaining pedal of the Bösendorfer piano is held down, allowing a shimmering harmonic haze to develop from the resonating piano strings, as the repetitive rhythms combine with the changing harmonies and uneven articulation to create a host of fascinating aural illusions. The overall effect is (at least to me) joyously extrovert, with the rhythms and sub-rhythms, the bright diatonic harmonies and the gradual acceleration of the music all melding together very effectively.

This is certainly old-school minimalism, with its concentration on simple processes and its complete disinterest in being commercial (Palestine has been characteristically dismissive of the tendency of composers such as Glass, Reich and Adams to move towards the mainstream). Nonetheless, in its swagger and its sheer energy, it reminds this listener of how much energy mainstream minimalism has lost since its mid-60s origins. This is essential listening for those who love early minimalism; other contemporary music lovers should approach with a little more caution.

Edward Wright

from All Music Guide

One readily pictures Charlemagne Palestine sitting at the Boesendorfer piano bestrewn with teddy bears, glass of cognac at hand, depressing (permanently) the sustain pedal and beginning to caress the keys. Softly at first, in calm rhythmic rows, as though coaxing the sound out. A steady, velvet hammering emerges, gradually gaining force and eventually assuming true physicality as the instrument undergoes a relentless, mounting assault.

No indication of recording date is given, though Joan LaBarbara's review of a 1975 concert is included in the booklet and one assumes this performance is from around that time. To that extent, it fits in with the minimalist ethos that was then prevalent; if anything, "Strumming Music" is slightly reminiscent of Steve Reich's work from the early 70's both in the rhythms employed and in the obsessiveness of concept.

But Palestine occupies a unique place among the minimalists, perhaps bridging the gap between composers like Reich and La Monte Young. By keeping the piano strings undampened and by the considerable physical force he used while playing, he allows clouds of overtones to manifest in ways that suggest the sort of justly intonated tunings that Young employed although, in fact, none are used.

Technical concerns aside, Palestine appears to have been aiming for an ecstatic kind of experience, one similar to that aspired to by Eastern singers like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or Pandit Pran Nath. It's an idea that perhaps doesn't bear repeating more than once, but that one time is pretty thrilling.

Strumming Music is a monumental work and belongs in the collection of any self-respecting fan of contemporary minimalism.

Brian Olewnick

YULE (21 December 2007)

The Musick dedicated to this Sabbat is:

P-ORRIDGE GENESIS & HAFLER TRIO (THE)
ALAURA/SLAVE PRIEST

Original Issue: 1990 Stampa Alternativa (CD.170)


Margot-meter: 4 moons / 5

01 - Alaura
02 - Slave Priest

3" CD accompanying Psychic TV/Genesis P-Orridge Lyrics Book