BELTANE (01 May 2011)

The musick dedicated to this Sabbat is:

AQUILAR ILDEFONSO

Erosión


Original Issue: 1985 Ja-Ja (Ja-Ja-6)

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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from Progarchives :

Not only an electronic artist, but a dedicated photographer and painter as well, ILDEFONSO AGUILAR seems to state a small late pioneering into Spanish electronic music by just an album, "Erosion" (released 1978, later rehashed into more complete music). After studying Beautiful and Applied Arts, he makes several audio-visual experimentations, plus, between 1978 -1980, he makes impressions and recordings out of journeys taken in different countries.

His devotion in this figment goes towards the soft electronic machinery, as well as guitar mastering. Dedicated, from 1986, only towards the artistic activity, his little reached record production becomes palliated, despite being a fan artist and being the collaborator with the most impelling work for the Visual Music festival, that is celebrated since 1989, and that takes place in natural scenes of his native island Lanzarote. (and that, although it is not a contest centered exclusively in electronic music, has welcomed in musicians of the stature of Constance Demby, Steve Roach, Robert Rich or Brian Eno). He also appeared, recently, on a Russell Mills wide collaboration-album, along royal (read: imposant) names.

Ildefonso Aguilar's studies interact with the natural compelling, covering the sound motemp or the analog synthetism. Whilst his photography has the landscaping, ortographic and consumating look appeal, so is the music sheet able to, in general, spire placid work, beauty and sensitivity, rescriben privacy, ebeautiful levation in impression. It's taken as an ancient and work of rarefact and isolationist ambient music. Also as a conceptual point of electronism in opposite of a real and truthful rock vein. Cosmic music reveales a loose symphonic synth solvent. Mystical, instrumental of a new compulsory attitude and ober-toned. Inside the logic, "Erosion" can be conceived as concept blatant affinity. The adventurous synth escapade of it recommends, somehow flawlessly, the hints of drone aftertaste, or the natural omuses like Edgar W. Froese's "Aqua".

Ildelfonso Aguilar seems both the complete artist and the personality with the heart of an artist. In the short term of music, his album is a concrete result of his studies, dedicated equivocally to landscaping, to finding the ambient inside the world, to measuring the scales of a music fade. His album is rare, consequently intentional.

FULL SNOW MOON (18 February 2011)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

EMMANUEL J.D.

WIZARDS


Original Issue: 1982 North Star Productions (NSP-2003) Buy it here!

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

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Do not forget to take a look at the comments section :-)

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from Boomkat:

Chances are you won't have heard of J D Emmanuel before.

This record in particular was a private pressing released back in 1982 and owned by a select few punters who quite clearly did their research. In recent years the record's reputation has spread, with rumours circulating that it was a transcendent blend of Terry Riley, The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Popul Vuh and early Kraftwerk - but finding it was about as easy as looking for a connection between Wolf Eyes and The Spice Girls.

Then, without fanfare, the album re-appeared as a limited edition on the Belgian 'Dreamtime Taped Sounds' and we knew as soon as we got our grubby mitts on a copy that this was something that simply had to be heard to be believed, that would stun just about everyone we know with its almost meditative electronic explorations.

I'm sure many of you remember Delia Derbyshire's amazing 'Electrosonic' LP (that lasted about two weeks...) and this album gives us the same kind of chills, it's just THAT sound, it's impossible to put your finger on but even more impossible to re-create. With the amount of retro-electronic music coming out at the moment you'd think someone would have nailed it, but no, it's still these records that emerged at the time, that came from people genuinely excited by the technology and the possibilities this technology could inform that really hit you where you need to be hit. Using three Sequential Circuit Pro-1 synthesizers, a Crumar Organ and some delays (recording direct to tape) Emmanuel manages to conjure up deep, distorted faraway lands, astral plains and shimmering multi-coloured skies - the soft synthesizer tones dictating the journey perfectly. Whether with bubbling, almost sequenced-sounding synth bass, or with organ-like improvised phrases, Emmanuel never takes a wrong turn and this is an album that will rarely leave your turntable (trust me, it's been welded to mine since I got it).

The sensitivity and simplicity of the music is almost impossible to convey, suffice to say we think it's one of the best (and most unexpected) things we've heard this year so far, and followers of early electronic music, Kraftwerk and the Radiophonic Workshop need to get a hold of one right away. Stunning stuff, and incredibly limited - we only have a few so be quick if you want to secure yourself a copy.

ESSENTIAL PURCHASE.

FULL PINK MOON (09 April 2009)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

TIME MACHINES

TIME MACHINES


Original Issue: 1998 Eskaton (ESKATON 010)

Reissue: 2001 Eskaton (ESKATON 028)

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

Psycho-active musick!!! Handle with care

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1 7-Methoxy-ß-Carboline: (Telepathine) (23:10)
2 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Ethyl-Amphetamine: (DOET/Hecate) (13:28)
3 5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyl: (5-MeO-DMT) (10:02)
4 4-Indolol,3-[2-(Dimethylamino)Ethyl],Phosphate Ester: (Psilocybin) (26:51)

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from Wikipedia:

Time Machines is Coil's landmark drone music album, released under the alias Time Machines. It consists of 4 tracks which are composed of a single tone, called a drone. Each tone represents a certain hallucinogenic chemical (see track titles).

It is similar to Brian Eno's early ambient albums, but more functional in that, instead of creating an atmosphere of calm, it facilitates time travel, according to band founder John Balance. Each tone was tested and retested in the studio for maximum narcotic potency. John Balance described the album as an attempt to "dissolve time".

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from Almost Cool Music Reviews:

Since I've never taken any sort of hallucinatory drugs, I'm probably the wrong person to be reviewing this album, but I'm going to take a stab at it anyway. This album is a concept album of sorts in that there are 4 tracks (varying in length from 10 to 27 minutes) of strictly tonal qualities that have been constructed to "facilitate travel through time." As if that weren't enough, instead of track titles, the four pieces are named as chemical structures of hallucinatory drugs (track 2 is "2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Ethyl-Amphetamine:(DOET/Hecate)").

If you're a fan of Coils previous work, this album may even take some work for you to get through. Quite simply, it is the most minimal piece of work that they have ever done. The tracks on this disc are droning and long and change only slightly throughout their duration. If you've ever listened to music of this sort (as I have quite a bit), you'll know that it's best to either leave it on in the foreground and let yourself completely be consumed by it (as in meditation), or put it on a little more quietly in the background and let it blend in with lots of other things that are going on around you. As it says in the cover, "Artifacts generated by your listening environment are an intrinsic part of the experience." Be it police sirens, the hum of your refridgerator, or the clink-clank of dishes as you wash them, almost every noise will seem to blend into the the background tone that is this recording.

As with other Coil releases, the packaging on the disc is very cool. The first 2,000 copies printed come with 6 brightly colored stickers that, when overlayed (which you really can't do without messing them up) create a new symbol. As explained above, the music is very trying, especially if you have a short attention span. It's very minimal and kind of creepy, but if you let it, it will suck you in. It's probably even better on hallucinatory drugs, but I'll stick to listening to it while I'm doing yoga.

PINK MOON (feminine musick)

WHITE RUTH

FLOWERS OF EVIL (An Electronic Setting Of The Poem Of Charles Baudelaire)


Original Issue: 1969 Limelight (LS-86066)

Reissue: 2006 Creel Pone (#47) Buy it here!!!

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

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1 The Clock (3:03)
2 Evening Harmony (4:05)
3 Lover's Wine (3:01)
4 Owls (2:48)
5 Mists And Rains (2:10)
6 The Irremediable (4:58)
7 The Cat (3:31)
8 Spleen (2:56)
9 The Litanies Of Satan (6:56)

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from Mimaroglu:

... back again after last week’s mishap (don’t ask) with an absolute corker of a creel pone - the setting of a set of poems by charles baudelaire to electronic instrumentation & vocal treatments, as realized by ms. ruth white in mid-1969.

a sampling of any of the text(s) below (baudelaire was heavy, man...) should tip you to just how creepy & dark the vibes emanating from within this record are exactly. ms. white’s posessed monotone-through-echoplex-through-vclfo-gate throughout is just bone-chilling, her howling synth & noise backdrops so perfectly capturing the “southern” essence of the text that it’s hard to believe that these poems weren’t conceived in the era they were realized here (the just pre-altamont “downer” hippie zenith), but in fact in the middle of the 19th century!

certainly a creel pone more on the psych-end of things, but nonetheless a bizarre and terrifying vision into futures past-future that should speak to the inner satanist. those who felt the “doomy” waves warping out of the warren jepson creel pone should follow suit herein...

FULL STURGEON MOON (16 August 2008)

The Musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

BATTIATO FRANCO

FETUS

POLLUTION

SULLE CORDE DI ARIES

CLIC

Original Issue: 1972/1973/1973/1974 Bla Bla (BBXL 10001/BBXL 10002/BBXL 10003/BBXL 10006)

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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Tracklistings

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from Gnosis2000:

Franco Battiato, as is well known, was an Italian pop singer who for a span in the 70s made a string of very experimental albums that fit very roughly in the vein of groups such as Opus Avantra or Pierrot Lunaire. Battiato on all of these titles (and beyond) set out to create completely new musical forms, and evolved from strange pop and rock realms to systemic and minimalist music before returning to pop music.

Fetus was his first and arguably not as impressive as his later titles. There are a lot of influences here, Italian popular music, folk, electronic experiments and tape collage all swirled into an unusual tapestry of music. I would say his folk/pop influences show through the strongest here, and with the albums short duration there's not a lot you can sink your teeth into.

Pollution, however, is a much more successful outing, with the disparate styles blending into a much more cohesive whole. Battiato's music can jump from neo classical to Italian progressive rock (somewhere between Sensations Fix and Le Orme) to space rock like Gong and on to bizarre tape collages with narration. It all adds up to a fascinating and innovative album with more humanity than you'd expect from this type of experimentation.

Sulle Corde Di Aries was Battiato's third release and showed his fascination for electronic, minimalist and systemic musics. As such, it is quite similar to "Pollution" except much more electronic based and with a more definitive style. There are also a lot of modern classical strains coming through here and a great spacey feel again reminding me of Sensations Fix or Gong at times. A simply fascinating album.

Clic is the Italian version and not the version that was on Island records. It too moves in a far more electronic direction, sounding like an avantgarde Klaus Schulze with lots of systemic patterns and neo classical vocals. This is often quoted as his best album, and certainly deserves a listen. The latter three titles, if not all four, all deserve the attention of those into experimental or avantgarde rock albums.

Mike McLatchey

FAREWELL MOON (epitaph musick)

This post is dedicated to Bebe Barron (16 June 1925 - 20 April 2008)

BARRON LOUIS & BARRON BEBE
FORBIDDEN PLANET (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Original Issue: 1956 (1956 Metro Goldwyn Mayer) & 1978 Small Planet (PR-001)

Reissue: 1989 Small Planet (PRD-001)

Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

1 Main Titles - Overture (2:21)

2 Deceleration (0:55)
3 Once Around Altair (1:10)
4 The Landing (0:50)
5 Flurry Of Dust - A Robot Approaches (1:10)
6 A Shangri-La In The Desert / Garden With Cuddly Tiger (1:33)
7 Graveyard-A Night With Two Moons (1:16)
8 "Robby, Make Me A Gown" (1:18)
9 An Invisible Monster Approaches (0:48)
10 Robby Arranges Flowers, Zaps Monkey (1:18)
11 Love At The Swimming Hole (3:12)
12 Morbius' Study (0:38)
13 Ancient Krell Music (1:48)
14 The Mind Booster - Creation Of Matter (0:58)
15 Krell Shuttle Ride And Power Station (2:34)
16 Giant Footprints In The Sand (0:45)
17 "Nothing Like This Claw Found In Nature!" (1:26)
18 Robby, The Cook, And 60 Gallons Of Booze (1:07)
19 Battle With Invisible Monster (2:55)
20 "Come Back To Earth With Me" (1:19)
21 The Monster Pursues - Morbius Is Overcome (5:49)
22 The Homecoming (1:59)
23 Overture - Reprise (2:15)

from Wikipedia:

The movie's innovative electronic music score (credited as "Electronic tonalities" partly to avoid having to pay movie industry music guild fees) was composed by Louis and Bebe Barron. Their score is widely credited with being the first completely electronic film score, and helped open the door for electronic music in film. The synthesized sounds of "bleeps, blurps, whirs, whines, throbs, hums and screeches" that make up the sound track contained carefully developed themes and motifs, while supporting the general atmosphere of the various scenes.

Using the equations presented in the 1948 book "Cybernetics: Or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine" by mathematician Norbert Wiener, Louis Barron constructed the electronic circuits which he used to generate sounds. Most of the tonalities were generated using a circuit called a ring modulator. After recording the base sounds, Louis and Bebe Barron further manipulated the material by adding effects, such as reverb and delay, and reversing or changing the speed of certain sounds.

The soundtrack for Forbidden Planet preceded the Moog synthesizer of 1964 by almost a decade.

As Louis and Bebe Barron did not belong to the Musicians' Union, their work was not considered for an Academy Award – either in the soundtrack category nor in the special effects category. Curiously, MGM avoided releasing a soundtrack album when the film was first released. However, film composer-conductor David Rose released a 45-rpm single of his original main title theme for Forbidden Planet, which he had recorded at MGM Studios in Culver City, California in March 1956. This theme was the unused discarded theme since David Rose had originally been contracted to compose the film’s music score in 1955, but was discharged from his assignment between Christmas 1955 and New Year’s by MGM producer Dore Schary, who discovered the Barrons quite by chance at a beatnik nightclub in Greenwich Village, New York while on a family Christmas visit to NYC. Schary hired Louis & Bebe Barron on the spot, and contracted with them to do the film music score, the first electronic music (excepting the theremin) ever heard on a theater screen.

FULL BEAVER MOON (24 November 2007)

The Musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

DE OLIVEIRA JOCY
ESTÓRIAS PARA VOZ INSTRUMENTOS ACÚSTICOS E ELECTRÔNICOS

Original Issue: 1981 Fermata (30.024)

Reissue: 2006 Creel Pone (creelpone32) Buy It


Margot-meter: 3.5 moons / 5

01 - Estória II para voz percussào e fita (1967)
02 - Wave Song para piano e fita (1977)
03 - Dimensòes para quatro teclados (1976)
04 - Estória IV para vozes violino electrônico baixo guitarra e percussào (1978)

My respects to Mr. Brad Rose of Foxy Digitalis for pointing me the way towards this buried masterpiece.

Extracts from liner notes:

Wave Song: the piece motivates a peaceful state of mind, a sort of attaining alpha. the piano part in this version is almost to be transmitted orally. it is not to be improvised but rather developed in the oriental sense as, for instance, in a raga. although the compositional material is planned, it should flow spontaneously. the pianist uses a mode based in the same harmonics heard in the tape. it is performed as softly as possible, light, very fast and superficially as if the fingers were butterflies. the piano is prepared with ping pong balls.

Estoria IV: the electronic violin is an instrument made by "vitar" with five strings. the performer uses the pitches from the raga "vibhasa" to develop his part. the violin and the bass guitar parts should blend completely. my concern for the bass guitar as well as for the percussion was to find new sonorities. this whole piece was played live without any prerecorded effect.

FULL STURGEON MOON (28 August 2007)

The Musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

ZWEISTEIN
TRIP FLIP OUT MEDITATION

Original Issue: 1970 Philips (6630 002)
Reissue: 2007 Captain Trip Records (CTCD-583-585) Buy It


Margot-meter: 3 moons / 5

Disc 1: Trip

01-In
a) beginning
b) analysis of tune
c) to hear inside
d) a very simple song

02-Out
a) misty tour
b) water sound
c) television
d) organ dreams (a very simple song)

Disc 2: Flip Out

01-Wrong
a) children's golden dream
b) to become a child
c) children's golden dream

02-Right
a) everything returns
b) indian child
c) the theory of relativity

Disc 3: Meditation

01-Point
a) atomical fantasy (electronic)
b) incarnation
c) childhood's church
d) life train
e) dream of love and death
f) atomical fantasy

02-Circle
a) verdi's soul born again
b) mind beat
c) himalaya's way
d) heaven bridge
e) out of time
f) atomical fade out

03-I'm A Melody Maker (Bonus Track)

04-A Very Simple Song (Bonus Track)

A Review:

This remarkable artefact from the underbelly of the Krautrock movement was released by the famous Philips label in 1970 as a triple album in an exotic metallic gold and silver sleeve with a small circular mirror mounted on the front cover.

The music contained on these records was a mad mix of primitive electronic experimentation, fractured folk song and playground chanson, all of which was meant to illustrate the Trip-Flip Out-Meditation theme of the album's title.

How Philips (who were also responsible for such ground breaking releases as the first two Kraftwerk albums and Cluster's important and influential debut) decided to front the considerable production costs such an extravagant release would demand is mysterious, but according to one source who was present at the time Zweistein were the product of a romantic obsession.

The resident producer at Philips was apparently infatuated with a young fraulein who had an uncontrollable urge to make a record and get it released. Under the cover of darkness when the studio was empty Zweistein were allowed to experiment using whatever equipment they could lay their hands on. Presumably as the project became more adventurous the tape recorders were left rolling, hence three records instead of one.

On top of this a single ('I'm a Melody Maker' b/w 'A Very Simple Song') that didn't make it on to the triple was issued in a picture sleeve, but this too failed to attract any attention despite its more Eurovision approach. The producer was fired shortly after Trip-Flip Out-Meditation blundered its way onto the record racks. In a matter of weeks Zweistein's epic was deleted and sent to the vinyl junkyard never to be heard or seen again. 'Not recommended!' warns Dag Erik Ashjornsen in his German progressive and electronic rock guide Cosmic Dreams at Play.

A warped masterpiece! Say I.
You choose who to believe.