all noises swell together in landscapes

aux 12/02 live at small music theatre (imvated cdr)

2012-01-12T22:13:00.001-08:00

i met leonidas panourgias back during mid / late 90s via mail. he had sent me a tape with shortwave sounds actually. we lost touch for a couple of years until we met again in early 00s at small music theatre. spending time talking about mutual sound interests and more we said why dont' we give it a try for a duet? the chance for it was given when anastasis (or was stylianos tziritas) started the 'attempts' series at small music theatre. every monday night there was a freak out thing happening.
so we did ours. still love it. w/ all the fun that was around in the air as we were playing for an audience for some 5 max 10 friends including of course marios the guy who that day helped as sound technician for the place, get a guy whose most extreme listen in music could be perhaps say 'faith no more' or 'red hot chilli peppers' and ask him to handle sound in a place for experimental musics, you get dozens of funny stories. like us seting up and having a guy asking us for soundcheck as he was listening a noise somewhere, a sound that ended being a shortwave frequency coming out of leonidas's radio / walkman tape but he spent nearly an hour to discover.
we started doing our tapes / live elecs / toys show of pure retarded and ridiculous foustanella noie and of course in the end of the thing anastasis grivas who run the place and stylianos tziritas wanted to make their 'a capella' tribute to aux... you get in the end as bonus what happens or what usually happened when friends we were playing with or for friends...

also still grateful to lieven martens of imvated (now dolphins into the future) who kindly offered to issue it.
front covers were made out of transparent xeroxes leonidas found accidentally thrown near a garbage can somewhere downtown all dealing w/ traditional greek dances, costumes, etc fiting to aux's 'foustanella noise' sound.

imvated cdr

2 dates

2011-12-30T09:50:00.001-08:00

v/a 'research center for the definition of happiness' cdr (2003)

2011-09-23T23:13:00.000-07:00

long since a new post... so here we are the 'research center for the definition of happiness' compilation. below's the press release / site text

v/a : research center for the definition of happiness

cdr, limited to 199
or how the series started. a documentation of a series of events that took part in 4 random days in 4 random places around the province of phokis. events out of which the idea around the research center was expanded and for which you can learn more here. including recordings of sons of god, cm von hausswolff, ilios, costis drygianakis, chondros/katsiani, rlw, nicolas malevitsis, illusionist.

track listing / event dates here

12/7/98(somewhere in an abandoned warehouse at the mount gion)

costis drygianakis 'the marriage'
nicolas malevitsis 'infinite static worlds (laughing at anaximandros)'
tiina aste / sons of god 'the cabinet song'

19/7/98

somewhere on a hill between the mounts gion & parnassos

....................

21/7/98 (somewhere between the villages of galaxidi and eratini)

chondros / katsiani : na!
ilios : afternoon at the lounge

30/7/98 (somewhere near the village of delphi)

illusionist : camberdean
cm von hausswolff : airport data log test
rlw : even weber knows when it's not schmidt

regarding further info on the 4 random days event no further info survived between various hard disc crashes, etc. so it's still a mystery if it ever happened, when happened, how happened, etc etc etc

initially for release in '98 shelved for a few years to be finally issued in 2003.

enjoy!

pascal battus alfredo costa monteiro 'ductile' organized music from thessaloniki #3 / a question of re_entry #8

2011-05-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

ok i know someone will say why not 'noise-below' well it was a matter of disguise for each of us (kostis & i) i'd say.

for long 've been fond of alfredo's sounds pascal's as well so when they proposed this one to kostis we got hooked w/ a 2 label split as well.
so was out to 160 copies on both organized music ... and a question of re_entry scratchy noisy soundscapes whatelse do you need?

the sound of love

flac version

jeff gburek 'virtuous circles' (a question of re_entry #7)

2011-05-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

this is sound that finds connections and establishes connections.

guess press release info says it all, a 'walk' in the kreuzberg district and the connections between various cultures, at least that's how the recording started and jeff mixed his own sounds too to the field recordings he did. a release of jeff's that i fancied a lot together with his cdr on triple bath (as both were issued around the same time) hope you'll do the same

enjoy

dimosio ipalliliko retire cd re-up

2011-02-17T09:05:00.001-08:00

hi just a line to say that re-uped the dim. retire 'ianos' cd.

new link here

negative entropy m.s. stubnitz - stockholm 9.7.1998 CD (absurd #46 / utan titel #3)

2011-01-16T09:15:00.000-08:00

negative entropy was a short lived project of the late, gert feytons (of noise-maker's fifes) & michael prime (of morphogenesis / mycophile records) whose debut cd 'city open to the nomad' came out on beta lactam ring records in early 00's. back then i had asked for a possible release on absurd and a couple of years ago having in mind their performance at m.s stubnitz back in 98 i was surprised to receive a cdr of the recording with the proposal to issue it.
without second thoughts i accepted the idea (of course) no matter the rather ambiguous feeling of the sound. however that ambiguity slowly with the passing of years has become a great love for this recording. listen and listen and listen again at infrequent times and let yourself flow with the sounds...

m.s stubnitz - stockholm 9.7.1998

matt weston 'for alexandros grigoropoulos' (a question of re_entry 10)

2011-01-15T12:29:00.000-08:00

matt weston got in touch a couple of years ago sending promos of his recordings to review in my infrequent 'multiple personality disorder' column. got nuts with his work as i still do love it A LOT! percussion improvisations in musique concrete / electroacoustic moods.
so sometime i think fall 08 or early 09 asked for a cdr release, got the master in mid 09 surprised from the title but sounded cool. and is totally stunning music too!

tasos stamou did the cover, including in the inner a photo of the brass band of the greek national bank's orphanage kids in the city of ioannina, photo is shot sometime in fall 19th century or early 20th not sure unfortunately notably from their 'notoriously infamous' supervisor / conductor mr. lalakos!

check more matt's releases here

more for december 08 & alexandros grigoropoulos here

pay your tribute to alexandros here

absurd #3/4

2011-01-02T04:10:00.000-08:00

issued some 3 1/2 years before #5 during a bizarre time. problems that today sound nothing back then sounded almost unsolved. anyway early / mid 20's back then and in total love for harsh noise / jap noise and lotsa other things. back then perverse series was happening or almost happening as it was bankrupt and absurd was just unleashing its very first releases.

it also has a supplement with reviews (as absurd #5 had a 2 page ad as supplement of the ant-zen toy bizarre cd and ant-zen in general) which can't track down in the archive but as soon as i do i'll upload.

enjoy

absurd #3/4

absurd #5 (an issue of absolute nothingness)

2011-01-02T04:05:00.000-08:00

happy new (y)ear! it's almost a decade since this baby was published. a product of a turbulent period of a few months time since a great depression and sadness between 96-00. still one of my favest absurds certainly compared to any other publication i've been involved the last 20 years this one's closest to perceive language as sound and vice versa. the first part of the 'zero 'trilogy that somehow was completed during the decade or almost completed you can say.

could be considered either as an mp3 release in a written form or a text that could turn to an audio format.

anyway... read aloud or listen loud and enjoy!!!

absurd#5

emil beaulieau / jason lescaleet (absurd 33) 7"

2010-11-20T23:40:00.001-08:00

one of my favest absurds & 2 of my all time faves!

initially due for release in 2004 to celebrate the 50 years of rock 'n' roll. hence the music is pure 'rock n roll' (or you can say so...) housed in artwork taken from 60's and early 1910's issues of the greek mag 'i diaplasi twn paidon' (the inlays are taken from early 1910's issues the front cover is taken from a late 60's one) being one of my earliest memories of my mother's mag / record collection (the other being a compilation LP including trax of black sabbath, demis roussos, aphrodite's child & also beatles, aphrodite's child 7"s) and the 7"s sleeve a replica of the rolling stones 'through the past darkly (big hits vol. 2)' octagonal cover LP being a record i bought while searching sometime when 13 or 14, record stores in (then my home town) the city of kallithea, athens and suddenly picked up this great rolling stones compilation housed in this 'mysterious'sleeve!!!

no matter that due various delays saw daylight in 2007 but it was worth the wait... and definitely one of maya lavda's best works for absurd (not that the rest are less important) needless to say about emil & jason for me are both sides as two of their outmost devastating moments as they were (& still are) like maniacs into it when i first dropped the idea sometime in 2003 or so...

emil beaulieau - rock 'n' roll (pts 1 & 2)

jason lescaleet - toys in the attic

rock 'n' roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

je t aime! (absurd #74) cdr

2010-11-20T23:28:00.001-08:00

happened as usual, while exchanging packs w/ michel he droped a cdr of the recording, suggested whether i was interested in it or not and of course i couldn't say no.

so here's some great 'rock n roll'!

junko : voice
mattin : guitar
michel henritzi : lapsteel, harmonica

as recorded live at the densites fest in october 2008

je t aime!

bye bye butterfly (slight reprise)

2010-11-17T11:50:00.001-08:00

here are the posters for the final absurd thing.

the dj set designed by thalia raftopoulou

& for the actual fest designed by mikes adamis (a.k.a. adam_is)

infos here

program here

sokrates martinis & ilektra papathanasopoulou (gr)

blood stereo (uk)

balinese beast (gr)
[ilan manouach : sax, electronics / george axiotis : electronics]

sudden infant (ch / berlin)

jerome noetinger (fr)

leif elggren (swe) & bill kouligas (gr / berlin)
[leif elggren as leif elggren & bill kouligas (electronics)]

(+ ends with 2 mystery guests on a farewell thing)

all the above @ spiti politismou – fex

&

an installation by
danai stefanou (gr) : prepared piano
&
dimitra lazaridou-chatzigoga (gr) : prepared zither

@ bar ‘alhimeion’

xanthi, greece

www.cityofxanthi.gr

4.12.2010 – 20.00 hr
admission 10 euros

aftershow

larry gus

performance at plateia antika (almost in front of the rock n rolla bar) not sure yet for the time be it 00.00 or later

dj set by

dj bwana

Staub und Kreide

starting @ 00.00 hr

al margolis & dan burke (absurd #76)

2010-11-11T20:19:00.001-08:00

is thanks to yiorgis sakellariou (aka mecha / orga) that this release materialized.
serving the same bill with al margolis & dan burke on april 5, 2008 at le bonheur @ brussels (belgium) besides the great time they had he brought me upon return the raw version of it.
it was like a dream of a lifetime getting materialized. for long i dreamed of an if,bwana / illusion of safety release since the early harsh dept dates but was always delaying the proposal or had the idea shelved for sometime later, etc but that was a great chance and i grabbed it.

so no need to say more

le bonheur

varathron 'genesis of apocryphal desire' (demo 1991)

2010-11-11T12:39:00.001-08:00

early 1991, varathron already have their first demo out since 89 but also have a different line up and fotis is to issue their debut 7" on his black vomit recs.

knowing already jim (aka mutilator ex bassist of rotting christ) & stephan (aka necroabyssious) as we were part of the local grind scene as at times we were playing together in offshoot bands but also having worked together for the 'genital necrosis' zine (genital grinder zine & rotting christ's meganecrosi zine collab) i asked them if i could issue the 2nd varathron demo they were to issue, also in a limited edition version on chrome tape. they didn't object however even this version didn't include the complete 'journey beyond' track which originally lasts for some 8 or 9 minutes. initially is a 'necrocannibalistic of necrocannibalismo' tapes release, supposed in 100 copies though less were spread.

you can get the demo here (sorry @192)

or check the later comp cd here

varathron info here
enjoy!

genital grinder #3 (early 1991 - fall 1992 the unpublished archives)

2010-11-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

the funny thing with this baby is that took 17 whole years till finally published or better say uploaded.

sometimes i wonder how things would have been if we were that blinded back then and issued a xeroxed version of it rather than scratching our heads if we'll do it offset, etc etc etc.... long story to cut it short here and influenced by the publishing hype of that time. the funny thing though is that with the passing of time we have handed here and there more than 100 xeroxes of it...

some useful info.. is the first post-grind (allow me call it so) era and we have took a looooooong descend into the world of obscure musics, lots of listening, writing, reading, searching, crashing at each other's home for hours & hours for the usual coffee / tea... then alcohol blah blah and in the meantime listen, listen, discuss, tape on tapes, listen, listen, etc we were influenced from various factors but the basic philosophy that till today is kept was the way of expanding like an octopus in various genres & fields we liked known or unknown and the perception of the zine as the beehive / beequeen out of which we'll keep on exploring things.. the zine as a living organism or an entity that is slowly built and all of a sudden is thrown into the wild, etc. certainly appeals to someone the absurd philosophy or the noise-below one as well.

and our activities so far have proved so. as out of genital grinder have seen daylight projects such as absurd, perverse series, harsh dept, a question of re_entry, the 'a strange attractor'record store, editions_zero, etc.

great influences were projects like V2 archief and nearly all the people invoived in it back then, daniel plunkett's legendary ND zine, club moral's devastating 'force mental' zine, francoise duvivier's 'metro riquet' zine to name some but of the most important.

to the 'zine, overall included articles / interviews on / with :

- skin chamber
- chainsaw cassettes
- headbutt
- chemical plant
- sin org
- psychic rally
- de fabriek
- schimpfluch
- irre tapes
- black tape for a blue girl
- solanaceae tau
- to ktinos!
- peter frohmader
- alex schiavi
- die toedliche doris
- mental destruction
- spiral dawn bed
- jani christou
- somewhere in europe
- kapotte muziek / korm plastics
- fudge tunnel
- candiru
- lucius
- bowel vomit
- insult authority
- audiostench
- exculceration
- no authority
- n.a.s.
- satanic death
- sexorcist
- scaffold

shoot gg3

infinity (6.11.2010 athens) & bye bye butterfly (4.12.2010 xanthi)

2010-09-20T10:13:00.001-07:00

here are the flyers for the final absurd events

infinity (saturday, november the 6th @ knot gallery, athens)

(a 'play' with the john (& alice) coltrane 'infinity' LP which you can find here)

&

absurd #84 'bye bye butterfly' (saturday december the 4th, xanthi)

(title taken from the s/t pauline oliveros piece which you can listen here or you can purchase it from ol' boy clive, here

hope to see you there

love & noise

nicolas

scb re-up

2010-09-20T10:02:00.001-07:00

just a line to say that i've re-upped the sonic catering band post. new links on sharebee. not sure why the mediafire ones didn't work out this time.

also in case you track down a problem with other posts / links as well pls let me know and i'll re-up

love & noise
nicolas

the ghost cdr (editions_zero #4)

2010-09-19T12:19:00.001-07:00

fall 90's or early 00's (guess the 2nd) and one day costis drygianakis calls to say that he has received a cdr from 2 guys in amphissa and a recording of the 'ghost' for his consideration for release on edo records.

slowly the story unfolds... the ghost is a custom that revived the last 11 years in the city of amphissa (continental greece, province of phokis) and takes place the last weekend of the carnival. goat (& not) dressed / shaped, wearing bells or clanging metal cans and brass ensembles and a huge march takes place in the lovely city.

however at one of the city's squares all the participants are gathered and there also music plays loud...

well at least that's a very amateur / brief description of the event(s). kostas tsiknis & dimitris andreou (the later also to be invovled in the 'at the toy room' cdr too and various other disguises solo or collaborative) created the music for the 1st event that took place in 99. this one is documented here and was a supplement to the fanzine 'all noises swell toghether in landscapes' issued in 2003 in some 200 xeroxed handed for free w/ articles, interviews with / on the new blockaders, anti-naturals, gustav metzger, a translation of aorta's joseph beuys 'coyote' issue, a title taken from a quote (as the blog's name actually) of walter benjamin's 'on hashish' book.

one of my lovliest ones on editions_zero as always recalls stunning memories of those early days.

the ghost

(artwork by kostas tsiknis)

kiwako kaneda 'cake of sea' CD (eclipsis #2 / absurd #60)

2010-09-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

it was my friend mihalis that as had happened with his daughter amaryllis same happened with little orion and his 1st birthday. he had kiwako kaneda's debut cd he liked it a lot burned it for me listened it and so we dropped her a line asking for this gorgeous piece of cake for the birthday. still i recall the first day we got pack w/ the master, me uploading master to download on the other side of greece and simultaneously listen in order to end to an agreement for it.
needles to say how much i love it!!! hope you'll share the enthusiasm!!!!

cake of sea

the sonic catering band 'live from the canteens of atlantis' 2CD (absurd # 30 2003)

2010-09-01T04:45:00.000-07:00

i learned about sonic catering band and their work from michael prime sometime in mid / late 90's more or less. not sure 100%. peter strickland one of the founding members is 1/2 greek 1/2 english so during a conversation michael told me about peter and his work w/ the scb. they were having or already had their special christmas pudding split 7" on rene heid's rund und dem watzmann label amd was a true killer! it was also this moterfuckin' scb 5x10" boxset too that was looking after so after a couple of emails found myself meeting and hanging out in athens w/ peter. long story to cut it short however been keen on a project that used to produce and mix its sound while cooking it was something unique and sort of new grounds to me. guess to many others too.

sometime in 2002 peter asked me whether i liked the idea of issuing their entire live set from the forde gallery in geneva. i hooked up the idea which slowly transformed to a double cd thing as i always loved to do a double LP or CD needless to say a real boxset. it actually started for a boxset thing but being unemployed back then and short of money but also the lack of finding the right metal box (yep pil's influence could be tracked on this idea) to do it we kept on the double foldout sleeve. to look like those old american LPs of the 50's/60's at first but then being tooo expensive to do such a thing in greece (almost the double money back then) so this one came up. not that i don't like it. on the contrary maya did her ultimate best on it. and that's how it came out. a documentation / compilation of some of their finest moments since the very first chop they did till the forde gallery live set w/ bits and pieces in the first cd from their memorable live set in moloko restaurant in geneva.

still love it, still dying for it! guess is also a host of experiences that lived w/ scb since then that's why but still is an extremely beloved absurd.

the sonic catering band

live from the canteens of atlantis

pt 1 - pt 2 - pt 3

rabbitspeech (cdr - absurd #19)

2010-08-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

if i was ever to describe april 02 then guess gx jupitter larsen's 'but unemployment is the answer' fits best. having quit my previous job 1 month earlier after some hard workin times was spending a period of creative enthusiasm. so when stylianos tziritas called and dropped the idea for a duo w/ thodoris zioutos and a possible trio w/ labros stemnis on live video mix all 3 we jumped maniacally on the idea.

both dates in small music theatre in late april 02 are still memorable to all of us. a haunting atmosphere which although i can't re-enact here at least you can get an idea of it listening to the document.

it was one of the first times also that labros stemnis surprised us using as source surveilance video tapes that were lifted from a friend of his back then. he would surprise us in the future with 2 other memorable videos. one where the performer of it begs naked on a pedestrian road asking the people to touch his cock, in the end shits and eats his own shit and one year later in the art athina during the 'pagan' theme where the same performer dimitris ... self whipped himself and in the end the audience was allowed to whip him if they wished too. he managed to crash for sometime in the news. but that's another story that happened later than those 2 early days.

rabbitspeech

larry gus 'iasmos' cdr (oko records #1)

2010-08-24T14:00:00.001-07:00

larry gus is another luminary of the greek electronica scene. by the time you think you know almost everything 'bout sound he surprises you playing in a completely different mood. but what i love the most besides his music is the enthusiasm we share for reading.
so much that to this day is the only guy from greece that has discovered out of which thomas pynchon book i picked up the 'noise a few decks below' quote to use as a name for absurd's site www.noise-below.org back in june 06 that it was launched.

but to 'iasmos'... it was orion's 2nd birthday that was coming for his 1st we had issued the kiwako kaneda 'cake of sea' cd and for the 2nd we wanted (as usual)a live set of someone who likes children and fancies playing music with them. having issued 'infant' a few months before it was arranged in december 07 for tasos stamou to perform in april in iasmos (the village were children parties are usually held). luckily stamou completely out of the blue pissed us off some 3 weeks before the party but lucky enough larry was doing his military service in the city of xanthi at the time so we picked him up for the party. the result of which is documented on this cdr a part of which uses the live extracts and another part is studio recordings that were added later. issued on a sleeve that is meant to be a train with larry gus being the conductor and us the humble 'musciians' following his instructions! should you wish a sleeve to make your own copy (as we still have plenty of them) just request yours here

join the musical express of iasmos!

tasos stamou 'infant' CD (editions_zero #15)

2010-08-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

i met tasos stamou for the first time sometime in november 06 in athens, it was a couple of weeks before that he participated in a gig organized by the early noise-below hybrid (hosted back then on www.void.gr server & being absurd's & related activities official site), in late october 06 with valerio tricoli that was held in zenit club in thessaloniki. till then i was unaware of his existence or his work and it was kostis kilimis (of organized music from thessaloniki / noise-below administrator) that introduced me to it. a mix of electronica, circuit bending, experimentation at least those words come now in mind to describe the feelings of the first listens i did to his work. it didn't take long to come up with a cd idea assembling various pieces he did and span a period of some 6 months between oct 06 to early /mid 07. so sometime in mid/late 07 the cd was out on editions_zero numbered as edition_zero #15 to play w/ absurd's sacred number and a booklet that was assembled of images like teddy bears, dragons, balloons images that deal with absurd's cosmology. a print run of 500 housed in a knitting image kit. actually some 420 or 430 were made as we didn't have enough knitting sets. (some 70 of the cds were recently recycled during a special destructive set too so let's say that 400 cds exist, mention so for the completists).
so here are sounds to make you feel like a child that discovers the universe.

infant

sudden infant / bill kouligas split cdr (absurd 64)

2010-08-24T13:20:00.001-07:00

can't recall how the idea was dropped guess must have been during a maelstrom of emails exchange with bill or something like that the thing is it happened, with artwork, package designed and done by bill being one of his first solo recordings (well the family battle snake saga was at its outbreak at the time) and was ready just at the time for 06's atp fest.

i know that today bill's side might not be as great as it first sounded as he has progressed a lot but still love it and gotta admit that am dying for the sudden infant side for me stands as one of joke's finest moments, download play loud and share the enthusiasm!

sibk

imca 'imca' CD (absurd #62)

2010-08-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

i love this record. i trully love this record. if i was ever to describe to someone my feelings about the (tape & not) network as i lived in my teens circa 89-approx 94 during a trully turbulent period then it would be this record nowadays of course some more but guess this one is of those that could be described as all in one. or something like that. it reminds me of my first steps in the world of obsucre musics, one of the first korm plastics catalogues i received back then and the flyer announcement for the imca lp limited to 77 copies that due to stupidity didn't buy then and luckily purchased a few years back from RRR via an ebay auction, etc..

guess also is freek kinkelaar's vital weekly review that fits best as well to the case so i paste the review / press info for it.

I have to admit that I have a love-hate relation with this album. I love the
way this album was made. It represents a somewhat bygone musical age, a time
with cassettes and without e-mail, when things worked perhaps slower, but
perhaps also more intensely. The full story of how the IMCA project
(International Musique Concrete Ensemble) came together is told in detail in
the CD booklet. In short, in 1990 Frans de Waard started a mail
collaboration with John Hudak and Jos Smolders for a cassette on Midas
Music, and later a second one with Guido Huebner (of Das Synthetisches
Mischgewebe), Ios Smolders and Isabelle Chemin, which was the LP released by
Korm Plastics. The basic soundmaterial (created by De Waard) was mailed to
the first recipient who would rework the material and mail it to the next
recipient etcetera. Thus a network chain was born. The results were released
on the original IMCA album, which came on glorious white vinyl and contained
an explanatory booklet. The vinyl edition consisted of 98 copies; 77 of
these were for the public, 21 for the makers, resulting in the fact that
many people knew about it, but only a few actually heard the music. I
remember I was supposed to help gluing the covers, but I can't remember if I
did in the end. I was given a free copy, so perhaps I did. I love the way
this re-release is presented; an old tattered cover of the LP was used for
this CD, which gives it a nice archival touch. The booklet is well-designed
(by Meeuw), contains some of the original notes and explains the recording
process in detail. But now to the music: IMCA is not easy listening, it is
in fact a very demanding, electro-acoustic record with extreme dynamics.
These dynamics were a bit lost on the original pressing on vinyl, but due to
Jos Smolder's remastering these are back in place, which means you'll get to
hear the IMCA ensemble as it was meant to be heard. The opening track of the
CD still gives me a headache: high pitched feedback shrieks close to the
level of irritation. It's hard to listen to this without turning the volume
down. Luckily the electro-acoustic/musique concret of IMCA becomes more
listenable after the challenging intro. The often dry sounds (dry as in
untreated") are combined with long silences, with, at times, sudden blasts
of concrete noise. Most of the used sounds seem to have their origin in
noise (musique concret) rather than a musical source. Despite the many hands
at the wheel of this album, the results are strangely coherent, which is a
complement to those involved. In total 10 tracks are indexed, even though
it's hard to tell where one ends and the other one begins. IMCA is probably
best enjoyed in one long listening session in the right frame of mind. The
final 2 tracks, which make up for the final 30 minutes of this CD, feature
side A and B from the Midas cassette version with contributions from John
Hudak. Here the sound is more traditional industrial if you like, with
rhythms and a bit of a Nurse With Wound touch. Not bad at all. This is an
important archive release of an album made by adventurous musicians who
actually live up to their name. Like back in 1991, I'm not sure if it's
musically a classic, but I am very happy to have this in my collection. (FK)

still have copies if anyone interested for a physical copy. trades are more than welcome as always just drop a line here

enjoy!

imca

leif elggren '45 minutes from underneath the beds'

2010-08-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

one of my absurd faves... better say the release that blasted the 'research center for the definition of happiness' series back in early 00's and the circular sleeves idea. perhaps that's the reason why i love it more than others as reminds a crazy period out of which was born this series.

the initial sleeve was grey w/ grey lettering influenced by kazimir malevich's works and was accidentally decided when back in 01 i was at maya lavda's office working on ideas for it and how to emerge the circular covers series, etc...

a couple of years later while sons of god were in greece to perform in small music theatre was dropped the idea of reissuing it in 2006 to celebrate absurd's 10th birthday and almost 3 years afterwards on 15th of august 2006 as sugar bar in stockholm was held the re-release party (& absurd's birthday party too). this time on the utan titel label w/ a new sleeve / artwork plus 6 new tracks for the cd reissue.

but guess i talked already too much... better let the sounds speak for themselves...

leif elggren

absurd #6 (research center for the definition of happiness samothrace branch)(2001, athens, greece)

utan titel #6 (2006, stockholm, sweden)

45 minutes from underneath the beds

earzumba 'vivo!' (hrysalida #1)

2010-08-08T01:41:00.001-07:00

that came accidentally almost a year after the release of 'real ruido pastizo' the actual plan was a secret gig and a secret dj set on the birthday of a friend in xanthi in early december 2008. dropped a line to christian if he liked the idea and he was for it. arranged everything, the dj set of our friend christos karras (former editor of the 'overdub' fanzine) arranged with the bar 'kokori' in xanthi however due to lack of space we couldn't work out the gig so we split this memorable event in 2 places. the earzumba live set and the city's folk museum and the dj set in the bar.

as a result is this cdr issued on hrysalida (the disguise under which events are held in the city of xanthi) including sets from 3 live sets and various dates at m.a.m.b.a. in buenos aires, argentina, fluc, wien, austria and folk museum, xanthi, greece.

enjoy the atmosphere!

vivo!

earzumba

earzbuma 'real ruido pastizo' (editions_zero #13 2007)

2010-08-08T01:33:00.000-07:00

it was a metamkine update that jerome was saying the best for the first 2 earzumba cds, purchased them freaked out and wrote to christian dergarabedian a.k.a. earzumba for more infos. turned to a cdr proposal and christian made a pure freaky soundtrack as if spewn from a 60's/70's spaggheti, crime, whatever film!

real ruido pastizo

for infos on earzumba check here

regarding track 7 here's more info on bernard hermann and silvestre revueltas

un caddie renverse dans l'herbe CD (lalia records)

2010-07-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

sometime ago i had uploaded the klimperei cd which was issued on the occasion of little maria-amaryllis's 1st birthday.
for the 2nd birthday we were scatching our heads / minds of what to do but one day while listening to the un caddie renverse dans l'herbe cd on dekorder did mihalis suggest to set up a live set of didac for the birthday and have the kids participate too.
it didn't take long to materialize it, an email to didac set up the thing, set up a couple of live sets as well in thessaloniki and xanthi too. a great chance then to meet up w/ friendly conceptualists too and keep on organising things. but back to the party which was our first encounter with such a thing, we were anxious of wether it'll work or not till the very last moment but was a hillarious atmosphere. or so it seemed to me and here's some part of it...

lalia

ilios 'symphony no.1 for oscillators and internal combustion engine vibrations' absurd #80

2010-07-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

as usually happens i missed that set last year. luckily dimitris knew i could kill at least for a recording of it in order to get an idea of what happened. but while listening to it poped up the idea of 'why not issuing a lathe cut as absurd #80?' so it happened. a 25 copies 1sided lathe cut 12" 33RPM with the documentation of that night.

you can check it out here www.siteilios.gr/downloads.html

or here http://sharebee.com/73c3e1dd

howlin' ghost proletarians : the singer (absurd #56 w/ phase records)

2010-07-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

it was sometime after the release of their debut cdr on absurd (soon to be uploaded) that while chating one day with fabrice eglin i asked him if he had peggy lee's 'johny guitar' on mp3 to email as it was a piece that was used in a track of their eponymous album.
fabrice promised not only to send but wanted to surprise with a nice cdr compilation including it. after a couple of weeks crashed a small pack in my pbx includding that compilation cdr (drinking firewater) with a little note from fabrice regarding the 2nd cdr that i found in it simply titled as howlin ghost proletarians 'the singer'

by the time i listened to it wanted to issue it immediately, accidentally panagiotis spoulos of phase! had gone nuts with their debut cdr and its bluesey sound so we found a good chance to collaborate and coproduced it. turned out to be one of our finest 'blues' records!

this one has johny cash on the cover and is somehow influenced too by cormac mccarthy's 'outer dark' novel.

go for it!!!

the singer pt1 - the singer pt2

dylan nyoukis & caren constance 'here comes the blood stereo' cdr (absurd #37)

2010-07-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

for long i was nuts with prick decay (& their later incarnation of decaer pinga) so under an enthusiasm for prick decay's 'guidelines for basement non fidel' LP the lo-fi masterpiece of the 90's on very good recs i dropped a line to dylan for decaer pinga recording but what finally turned out was the first blood stereo release / recording and here it is.. it was supposed to come out on absurd's 7th birthday but saw daylight sometime before the 8th...

enjoy

here comes the blood stereo

absurd #84 'bye bye butterfly'

2010-07-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

no matter this blog is dedicated to past releases and usually the sold out ones and not the current ones i upload the infos on the upcoming 'bye bye butterfly' (or also to be considered as absurd #84) that will take place in the city of xanthi on saturday the 4th of december so here we are...

'yep, title's taken from pauline oliveros's same titled track and couldn't find better for the final absurd release.

so below's some info on the upcoming final absurd thing full schedule / details are to follow later but announce the first details of the absurd #84 scrapbook in case anyone's interested in crashin' in xanthi on december the 4th.

the idea is as follows, a final release or at least an effort for a final release but as i've never had a straight online release (perhaps the thu 20 piece might be an exception or an 'odyssey' depending on the angle you see it) thought as a nice idea to set up a mini fest to say goodbye to fellow coneptualists and end absurd there and at the same time this mini fest to be an a release in process. that simple.

so as i don't wanna beat about the bush as mentioned earlier on saturday the 4th at the 'spiti politismou' of f.e.x. in xanthi this 'release' / adieau absurd mini fest will take place.
further schedule details are to follow as 90% a date in thessaloniki on friday the 3rd is also possible to take place if the pals up there find a place to set it up.

the line-up so far includes:

- leif elggren (as leif elggren) & bill kouligas (a.k.a. family battle snake) (live electronics)

- jerome noetinger

- blood stereo (including ellka reign nyoukis?)

- sudden infant

- adieAUX a special aux performance as a goodbye thing that during the process of absurd #84 we'll publish the final release absurd #85 but details on this performance will folow later)

- ilan manouach (sax & electronics) / george axiotis (live electronics) / chris carras (dj) no comments simply my heroes!

this is it so far.
further details to follow also details regarding how to reach xanthi from various places from greece or around the balkans.'

love & noise
nicolas

antoine chessex 'lost in destruction' (editions_zero #16)

2010-07-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

it was that stralau live back in 96 (w/ evil moisture, mattin, hotogisu too) that i was introduced to antoine's work. till that moment i hadn't known any of his work either solo or with monno. i had just came across his name a couple of times a month or two before that live. and it was a shock! a kinda borbetomagus noise blast.. trully 'pure fuckin' armaggedon' to quote mayhem's classic demo title!
luckily daniel (of raionbashi / tochnit alelph fame) was recording the whole night so i asked kindly for the recording, got me in touch with antoine and you know the end of the story. this lovely cdr came out almost half a year afterwards early 2007 or so. still see it as memorabilia of that berlin trip w/ photos on 'morgenrot' of kastanienalle and 'mobelolfe' near the kottubuster tor station on the insert's front and the infos on the pieces on the back w/ 2 photos of that stralau night. play loud this total earslaughter!

lost in destruction

sansomdavies live uncut vol.1 (#2)

2010-06-04T08:38:00.000-07:00

hi

just a line to mention that also matthew sansom has also uploaded it on his site.. you can check for 'live uncut vol. 1' and also various other news & releases of matthew's here

live uncut vol.1

merzbow 'magnesia nova' CD (1996 STCD108 / perverse series & akti/oxy plb no.2)

2010-05-30T03:03:00.000-07:00

subtitled as 'a study on the connections between the hellenic and japanese culturess' this is probably my most commercial release ever. 1000 copies, worldwide distributed by soleilmoon (usa) & staalplaat (europe). still reflects a turbulent period for my life, within less than a year that perverse series existed i managed to do the greatest mistakes of my life (that were almost to cost even an imprisonment back then), happens though when you are at your early 20's turned a useful experience for the first decade of the 00's.

there was an idea dropped then by nikos hatzopoulos of oxy pbl that we included a book too. masami needed sometime to work on it and then we had to translate it so the idea was shelved.

on the other hand still i recall the day i booked the release. masami had sent a master tape to listen. is almost 15.00 during a hot july day (around 40C especially that day) so i simply open wide the window or my room play the tape ultra loud in order to test... within 3 minutes i noticed that almost all of the winodws / doors, etc of the opposite block of flats were shut down and took less than 10' for my parents to realize that it was me listening to music as always and not our washing machine had gone mad! after than i simply sit in front of my typewriter wrote a letter to masami saying is a deal and i faxed it... the rest is history...

...back then during a huge merzbow overload i liked it but as i consumed so much of masami's works at that time hadn't paid attention to details that i track down upon listening now. a lovely one!

play fuckin' loud!!!

pt1 - pt2

ps: as actually is influenced by plato's 'timeus' here are useful links first an introductory to the book and the book itself for download. ancient greek / modern greek translation here (not sure which version it is maybe the vassilis kalfas translation of polis issued back in 1995 as he's mentioned in the introdution.)

p2 : the actual cover comes in blue carton but couldn't find the copy in the collection when i was uploading it so took a magenta one of the limited ones. 1000 were printed on blue carton and for the fun of it some 100 on magenta, orange, light green and can't recall if were other colours too...

axel doerner & mattin 'berlin' (absurd & 1000+1 tilt, 06/06) CD

2010-05-30T01:50:00.000-07:00

i totally love this cd. stands as one of my favest absurds no matter that has caused ambiguous feelings to various friends and absurd completists. arranged the idea during the electrograph of 2006 after spending a couple of crazy days with mattin in athens and during summertime together with jason of 1000+1 tilt we had it out to 500 copies. always loved the silkscreened cover and the lou reed 'berlin' image we used.

you can get the mp3 version at mattin's site or simply here

or a flac version here

pt1 - pt2 - pt3 - pt4

play loud!!!!!!

guerra / garcia / stern 'hey ya' (absurd #39)

2010-05-18T19:58:00.001-07:00

march '03 during a trip for a live set in thessaloniki w/ aux had on the discman listening for some 5th - 6th time the recording anthony had sent with joel and margarida. liked it a lot and wanted to issue it. out of the blue as we were wandering in the house of thanasis chondros & alexandra katsiani where their 'hyperdothe' monthly project was going on saw this little hut in the backyard... harry my aux partner said 'it would have been great if we had each of the players inside a separate room and the listener in a separate one receiving the sounds of the other 3 rooms and perhaps vice versa'...well although in reality never occured at least in our dillusioned minds sounded like that hence the sleeve. original artwork included the above pic as 18x15 (or was bigger may confuse the size) and the 3"cdr on a foam.

play loud (flac file)

pt1 - pt2

anthony milton 'boronia avenue' (absurd # round vinyl records and food)

2010-05-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

another release for a specific reason. birthday as usual. limited to 25 copies issued in march 2009. half covers have the blue flowers on the front and vice versa. photos taken from the anthivolos of spyros papaloukas's hagiographies of the metropolitan church of amphissa. inside photo taken from amphissa too.
tracks should read

side a

the wind dancing

surf bottle

side b

can't stand for the line

boronia avenue

at the toy room (editions_zero # avoros)

2010-05-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

one of my beloved lo-fi / bedroom fidelity recordings of my friends vasilis and dimitris. this time under the 'at the toy room' which can either be seen as group or title name. originally released a couple of years ago as a cdr on editions_zero. here it is in digital form. recommended for late night listening...

avoros

feline desmond 'seg fridge' 7" (rekem records 09/2009)

2009-10-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

a label that started out a joke thanks to my friends thalia & aggelos of 0600am and here's a fridge recording issued as a 7" in 100 copies a couple of months ago under the name of rekem records.

100 copies that were handed all for free.

enjoy!

http://sharebee.com/66f392af

absurd #28 cdr (tetuzi akiyama, clinton watkins, campbell kneale, richard francis, stefan neville)

2009-07-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

i know sounds like kinda 'all nz scene star' & akiyama. i went nuts when richard francis proposed this one 7 years ago and still go nuts each time i listen to it as totally love this conjuction - no matter in the beginning i was a bit sceptic about it, at least upon opening the pack and seeing the line up cos usually am allergic to 'big bands' but turned to be an exhilarating exception this one!!! -

enjoy!

ps: here's the press release too

when i first asked richard francis for a release i never expected to receive a cdr that will set absurd's central on fire! i wish i were present back in late july 02 at auckland (nz) to attend the performance of the quintet of tetuzi akiyama (the well known onkyo guitarist who plays here amplified acoustic guitar), campbell kneale (aka mr. birchville cat motel but also known for his releases on the ever amazing celebrate psi phenomenon playing here guitar sting & amplifier), clinton watkins (aka mr. doe/three playing here the electric guitar), stefan neville (aka pumice, occasionally member of various bizarre nz projects, but also known from his scatological comix series "city of tales" in conjuction w/ clayton noone aka mr. root don lonie for cash playing here intercoms, ukelele & turkish flute) & richard francis (aka mr. eso steel but also 20 city/cmr labels playin' here electronics & microphones), whose sound will blow people who (like me) are dying for the ever beloved nz drone rock scene or bizarre & hallucinating dronish improvisations. dronish background sounds, bizarre improvisations /experimentations, the almost "elementary" playing of akiyama create an atmosphere that will haunt you for the almost 50 minutes that this encounter (sadly) lasts. the more i listen to it the most obsessed i become with it!

ps2: my 2nd found artwork... at the time i was wondering bout it steve of harbinger sent me my distro copies of the small cruel party lp box, boxsets were packed in this piece of carton with this orange footstep which w/out 2nd thoughts 'lifted' as cover artwork. thanks steve!

www.mediafire.com/download.php?myzmx2zmzyy

sansomdavies : live uncut vol. 1 cdr

2009-07-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

another fave the sansomdavies 'live uncut vol.1' cdr (a question of re_entry #6). a stunning collaboration between matthew sansom & rhodri davies that you'll totally love.
silskreened cover w/ artwork done by tasos & marina of dynasty zine.

enjoy!

www.mediafire.com/download.php?2eyznyzbjnn

michael j. schumacher / stephen vitiello 'untitled / exchage' cdr

2009-07-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

hhhmmm can't recall how this one surfaced but i know i totally love it as i like the works of mj schumacher and stephen vitiello's. this one is no exception.
out on 'a question of re_entry' (a kinda more in the spirit of a tapelabel vehicle) came in a mini dvd case.

enjoy!!!

http://www.divshare.com/download/7916460-fea

looper : squarehorse CD (utan titel #1 / absurd # 45)

2009-07-05T11:27:00.001-07:00

another fave... i was fond of martin kuechen's work. wasn't familiar with ingar zach's work though but when veliotis handed the looper premaster i was astounded by its sound. must admit that thanks to nikos absurd has issued some of the finest projects he's been involved. actually was supposed to be an editions_zero release however it is as was out with it's 'scaninavian branch', 'utan titel'

download and enjoy delicate & lovely made sounds!!!!

http://www.divshare.com/download/7834970-ef9

P.D. 'INWEGLOS' (absurd #40)

2009-06-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

p.d., p.16.d4, & selektion have been some of my favest & influential projects ever! 'inweglos' had been the record i like a lot since early 90's that i first listened to it at a friend's place, as it combined it all... post punk / new wave (hhhmm you can call it also 'neue deutche welle' perhaps), experimentation, tape techniques, musique concrete elements, etc. that perhaps together with 'tionchor', 'nnnn', 'slp'& 1st sbothi belong to some of my favest recordings from the selektion crew.
under a lust for post punk / new wave stuff sometime in early 00's asked ralf wehowsky if he minds for a reissue or not. pretty funny but at that point he was looking also for someone who might be interested in doing 2 early w volumes (#4 & #5). fancied #4 a lot which actually saw daylight on editions_zero (sooner or later to be uploaded during the week) as i couldn't resist the temptation releasing it and meanwhile he was working on the restoration & transfer of the original tapes to cdr master... some extra tracks are featured too, sadly not the flexi that was coming with the LP.

enjoy some trully adventurous stuff!

http://www.divshare.com/download/7785809-c3e

nixilx.nijilx cdr (absurd #38 - 2004)

2009-06-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

can't recall how i chanced socrates martinis or actually he chanced upon me or something like that... however this was a brilliant recording that landed one day in absurd's hq out of the blue and liked it a lot. since then of course more memorable recordings of socrates's work have been out on drone, entracte and am sure much more is to come.
till then though enjoy this little diamond!!!!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?21mwzjkwf31

mbehrens 'selected minimalist concerns' (absurd cdr#17)

2009-06-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

i was and still am fond of marc's work. since the first time i chanced upon it. his first trente oiseaux cds and the design he used to do for the first cds of the label but also his unique soundscapes. if not all of his entire discography at least his first ones belong to some of the most formidable listenings i had. it won't be a lie to say that. being fond of his work as in some cases had broadened my horizons too, wanted to make a cdr. came up the 'selected minimalist concerns' a compilation of tracks spanning somehow a period of a decade's work. must admit that it was probably one of the few times that will never forget as long as marc not only did the artwork for the cdr but is probably the first time that an absurd artist checks the slightest details of the release regarding sleeve or cover artwork problems!

cdr came in those heavy japanese plastic cases provided by touch

cdr promos in the typical plastic sleeves that absurds come.

bilingual cover (enligsh / greek) too.

play ultra loud!!!

www.divshare.com/download/7672825-f23

sam dellaria/adam sonderberg : fold your arms and the world will stop (absurd #29)

2009-06-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

i was a lot into adam's work at that time (still am!) we had traded some cdrs/cds when he proposed this one and i fall in love with it upon listening it!
still hold the same feelings as the ones described in the press info which i paste below.

"fold your arms and the world will stop" sounds, as its title suggest, like a bizarre game scored by sam dellaria and adam sonderberg and is their third encounter (personally in consider it as their most intense) since their "signal hill" debut back in 1998 and 2000's "64 squares" (both were issued on sonderberg's longbox recordings - www.longboxrecordings.com). scored & assembled out of various recordings the duo extensively did within late 2002
the stunning result is giving you the feeling that slowly folding arms move like the soundscapes presented on this cdr, intense ambiances that slowly vary in mood & lower while listening in density & intensity to stop while arms have folded. a really phrenetic trip through dellaria's & sonderberg's visionary world.”

play loud!!!!!!!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nm23i0afmqt

fibo trespo (absurd cdr #16)

2009-05-10T03:28:00.000-07:00

a cdr am nuts with.. fibo trespo the brainchild of sindre bjerga & kjetil brandsdal still stands as one of my favest lo-fi groups. their eponymous cdr being my favest as is closer to the more improvised lo-fi sounds i love. of course nearly all of their releases are nuts, from lo-fi rock to more noisy and improv stuff including parodieds like the 'fibo trespo' (another self titled cdr) which was a parody of the 1st iron maiden lp including the same cover, track listing changing only the name 'iron maiden' with 'fibo trespo' and so on.. guess their smalltown supersound lp is probably their weakest moment at least in my humble opinion... but back to this one...
intially was out on gold soundz and was if am not mistaken one of the reasons i had written long ago to sindre to obtain it. got it listened it liked it and as as limited to 50 dropped a line and asked for a reissue... includes bonus the myke droner 7" too.

play loud!

http://www.divshare.com/download/7334669-dbb

matt davis mark wastell : derby / liverpool (absurd cdr #21)

2009-05-10T02:10:00.000-07:00

pretty funny but is exactly 7 years since the mini uk tour of 2002 and the release of this baby... matt & mark were (at least matt still is) for playing the trumpet & cello. however during the 'reductionism' heyday they searched other genres too. this is one of their first (if am not mistaken) live sets where the use of amplified textures was used.

enjoy

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tyzyttlgz2z

black to comm (eclipsis 4 / absurd # 68)

2009-05-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

another cdr to celebrate a child's birth... little nefeli's time now... like the machida cdr we talked with mihalis 'bout it... i was nuts with black to comm then (and still like this works) him too so we dropped a line to mark and asked for a recording which turned to be our favest black to comm!!!! no kiding because is an absurd... get it here, play loud & you'll see why...

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?g5attj1mtjo

plus here's some more extra info on the cdr

A sound collage of nine tracks mixed to one lovely dreamy song.

Limited to 70 handnumbered copies.

A5 size transparent colored plastic envelope with 2 pencils and 2 colored drawing paper.

Co-production with absurd (#68).

Artwork: Maria Amaryllis

Released: 24/07/2007

(ad)vance(d) cdr (absurd # red dot)

2009-05-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

vance orchestra have been one of my favest 'ambient' projects (together with maeror tri and a couple more). for long i wanted to make a cdr or cd release of their work and when finally i discussed it with mars the project has split. mars was workin under the (ad)vance(d) name in a style not so different the the actual vance orchestra stuff.

at the same time i was and still am fond of red dot comics and zenia's work. no matter that sadly i don't have (actually never had that much) time to focus also on comics from time to time i check whatever i can. absurd did 1 collaboration with red dot actually contributed a short story in an issue of the zine together with other people too and the idea was born for another collaborative issue. don't recall why was delayed, etc however absurd's contribution this time was to be a vance orchestra (that turned to (ad)vance(d) cdr. issue was delayed so the cdr came under red dot's credit in a separate edition.

enjoy then a lovely moment!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yn2yzhjg5yh

Yoshio Machida - Read A Book With Steel Pan CDR

2009-05-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

is almost a kind of 'tradition' that for almost every kid that is born regarding close pals, relatives to do a release to celebrate the event or almost something like that... don't wanna cut the long story short... however for the birth of little maximos, son of our friends yiannis & theodora the idea was droped by mihalis who suggested a release of yoshio machida whose work i hadn't listened earlier and this one was my first encounter.
limited to 70 copies housed (as the black to comm cdr too) in a transparent a4 envelope w/ a design of little amaryllis...

here's the cdr info

composed by Yoshio Machida
recorded at Aoyama Book Center, Roppongi in Tokyo in june 9, 2007
Yoshio Machida: Tenor Steel Pan

This is an improvisation for a book store. I sometimes play there. "Read A book With Steel Pan" is the event title. Like a piano performance at lounge in hotel, it's a live BGM. People sometimes stop in front of me, and pass away, choose a book, etc..., just share time and space together through the sound.

Limited to 70 handnumbered copies.
A5 size transparent colored plastic envelope with fairytale booklet inside.
Artwork: Maria Amaryllis
Released: 20/08/2007
Tracklisting:
1. Improvisation
total time: 31:28

and here's the joy!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kvjtyvy5mjy

nikos veliotis - costis drygianakis '28/04/01'

2009-04-28T19:57:00.001-07:00

was wondering yesterday how the hell passed those 8 years since that memorable night.. anyway... so 8 years ago nikos veliotis (cello) and costis drygianakis (tape recorders, tapes) set up a unique set at small music theatre. early days of the venue and enhtusiasm for nearly every event was in the air. even in cases that the result wasn't that good nobody was losing his lust for new things... not so sure how this one occured though back then nikos & costis were collaborating even for a radio show, etc... but that's not the point.. the thing is that here's the documentation of a stellar (in my opinion) set of improvised electroacoustics.. nikos started playing the cello and costis was recording... after a point and on costis started interfering in the set with the cello tapes he was recording adding the whole set / night a more electroacoustic atmosphere...

you can listen to this great encountere here!

http://www.divshare.com/download/7214194-3a6

fish eye view

2009-04-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

just a note to say that anyone interested just uploaded the 1st fish eye view 'embodiment' tape on excrete music

factor X 'directions' (harsh 005)

2009-04-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

here's 'directions' as 'animals' each time i listen to it throughout the years i love it more and more.
holds the same as 'animals' too. it might be a reissue as i recall ages ago in an old catalogue of 'artware' that i came across it but as a release of a uk tape label (can't recall now which damned!) but never cross checked infos.
that's not the point anyway... enjoy some great lo-fi weirdness over here!

side a

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?gmkzhol2tzj

side b

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kutojng44qk

tac / factor X 'the animals' (harsh 004)

2009-04-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

can't recall how those 2 tapes ('animals' & 'directions') were arranged for release, nor could i recall how i got in touch with shaun robert (aka factor X) back in early 90's. for sure he did some great soundscapes and was a great tape underground hero. i must admit that as time passes i fancy more and more those 2 tapes. i am not sure if 'animals' was the tape that was issued also on intransitive though it must be the same...

enjoy!

side a

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?f5iwmgeyyg2

side b

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jjym00v32ay

tac / factor x / e / runzelstirn & gurgelstock 'collaboration' (original mix - unplublished version)

2009-04-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

while diggin archive material unearthed this tape. is actually the original collaboration mix that was sent to me by rudolv in early 95. willing to decay in order to earn time / money for the production (still was doing my military service so no great chances to save any cash) suggested a more rough / as insane as possible mix. the final result was received a month or two afterwards and was issued later in 95 as the 'collaboration' cd on perverse series (the story and upload of which will take place in a future post).

in the meantime enjoy the unpublished one... lasts at least 20-25 min more than the perverse series cd.

http://www.divshare.com/download/7003611-5bd

xenis emputae travelling band / ashtray navigations cdr (absurd # sad anorak)

2009-03-28T01:40:00.000-07:00

on many occasions (birthday parties, birthdays,etc) releases have been issued. they are a never ending part of the ongoing audio diary therefore are a vital part of absurd's cosmology.

this very special one for the 28th march of 2007 is another lovely oddball.

a kind of split cdr (actually if i had money i would have made it as split lathe cut LP)

on a verbatim vinylreplica cdr with 2 different inner sleeves.

you can get full photos of the whole thing here

and here's the oddball!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dnhfm1tkkg2

tomas korber/erikm/dieb 13 - condenser (absurd #53 maxi cdr)

2009-03-28T01:33:00.000-07:00

another fine one. thanks to korber who suggested with another recording (which hopefully will be out as a cdr later this year on 'a question of re_entry). clockin' almost 18 minutes is a stellar set! play it loud!

cover idea came accidentally and materialized thanks to the help of panos of (former) 'solwnos & massalias' (now 'ypogeio' @ kaplanwn 11 st, athens) record store who sold some 100-150 7" at a ridiculous price. and was a great chance to play with one of absurd's greatest obssessions 'robots'!

here's the info too

dieb13: turntables
tomas korber: guitar, electronics
erikm: 3K-padƒsystem

live recording by dieb13 at moods, april 13, 2004
mixed, edited and mastered by tomas korber @ messfehler

cover photo shot @ ‘soda’, budapest 10/04

limited edition of 99 copies. each disc comes attached to a vinyl 7" of unknown content.

http://sharebee.com/ab2d9e43

giuseppe ielasi 'live @ vinyl microstore 02/03/2001

2009-03-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

the fist live set, absurd ever organized. actually was a set that took place on the 3rd of march 2001 at small music theatre. but as nektarios of vinyl microstore is always open for events in the record store (check out his annual yuria fest and many other activities) he was kind enough to allow and set up a memorable solo set a day earlier on friday the 2nd.

still love it! though was never issued (an idea was once for a 1sided but never occured) i used to go through it from time to time. i was nuts with giuseppe's works back then, solo, collaborative, fringes releases, oreledigneur (their debut LP is one of my all time faves, etc). though his musics are exploring new grounds nowadays looking back to older ones like this one you get the feeling that things are still fresh and vital as they were back then the day performed.

for giuseppe's current activities check here

share the enthusiasm (unedited in order to get the same ambience as the time created... 'with all its special effects')!!!!

http://sharebee.com/aba8e691

noise makers fifes 'raw' (nmt 10 / absurd #15)

2009-03-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

the mediaterra festival was an annual event organised by fournos (a legendary place in athens downtown that at least for a great part of the 90's various live sets - besides theatre / dance groups that used to use it for performances- were held there.
still memorable for me was ilios's 'agamemnon' project, of early 90's.. anyway... sometime in fall 90's they handled the mediaterra festival, can't recall how many events took place, i was always too sloppy to attend any (and regret 'bout that) but the 2001 event was held at the technological park of lavrio (a city around 55 km from athens's downtown). was a great chance not only to attend the event but also for a cool trip so with a couple of friends drove to attend mostly the nmf live set. which was a trully memorable one (still recall a couple of guys saying that 'they're neopagans' and a host of other crap during the set). the late geert feytons was the same enthusiast as i were to issue it. actually the cdr came out of a live recording they did from their camera. includes material also from another theatre work they were handling back at the time.
so here's the titles info

1. (0.00-1.50) inversage (final part)
2. (1.51 - end) glass vibes for faustus
3. (3/4) inversage (first part)

enjoy!

http://www.divshare.com/download/6883286-15c

gareth mitchell (aka philosopher's stone) 'august snow pieces' cdr (absurd #27)

2009-03-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

upon listening to 'sections' lp on ers i like gareth's work... it was also my friend spacefreak who told me that he was involved in amp too and also suggested as great listening the first 2 philosopher's stone cds on kranky which were great ambient stuff so without hesitation contacted gareth for a cdr and here's the result! varies in forms but is a nice one!!!
enjoy!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jby4gb1jytn

murmer 'definition' cdr (absurd #25)

2009-03-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

can't recall exactly how i came across patrick mcginley (aka murmer), i think he dropped a line including a cdr promo of the bake cdr or i got the cdr from bake, liked it and dropped a line... something like that... all i know is that in my pbx arrived sometime in 2002 2 lovely cdrs... 'eyes like fish' which was nice but not 100% my cup of tea back then and was released by the italian 's'agita' label (rip) and 'definition' which i like more and saw a release in 2003.
even today sounds stellar to my ears nearly as almost every murmer release that i come across, sounds to get sucked into, challenging enough compared to others. a name that always sets absurd's hq on fire each time a release pops up!

share the enthusiasm!

http://www.divshare.com/download/6838958-d5f

howard stelzer & frans de waard 'torn tongue' absurd #18

2009-03-05T14:04:00.000-08:00

another beloved one... not only because deals with a source material i love (a.k.a. the human voice) but also comes from 2 of my most beloved friends from the network too...

initially crafted using the voice of dead friend... at least regarding the source material... slowly turned to a great 6 track 40 min recording which upon listening couldn't say no and issued. including it in the 'research center for the definition of happiness' series with an artwork by hara vidopoulou (hara of 'genital grinder' zine), the front cover of which i always wanted - but never found the time- to print on t-shirts as well... the main idea behind the project was to use the initial voice recordings. record the cdr and then keep it as an ongoing series using for each 'volume' the original one plus the previous volumes... well until today only 2 'volumes' have been out.. this one and a business card cdr one...

[the voice that was used as source material could be somehow heard on howie's 'witte' 3"cdr on jason talbot's kissy records.]

looking back now brings in mind great moments from a turbulent period of absurd's life (well absurd lives also another turbulent period but different than that one). a period that was documented with recordings like this one...

an impresive moment documented here....

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zngzttqm2iw

playground #1 : amk

2009-03-05T09:14:00.001-08:00

this is the 2nd 'playground' issue... the first was 'stavanger' by sindre bjerga & anders gjerde (soon to be uploaded). it's idea is to work like a fanzine but a kind of an 'audio fanzine' dealing with a specific theme and layout.

the amk one as the title says deals with one of editions_zero's all time faves... amk & his banned productions too.

the idea was dropped while doing an interview with him for a fanzine, in the meantime the 1st 'playground' issue was out and while thinking the possibility of an amk cdr too, came the idea of an issue glued on various 2nd hand LPs of my collection that were collecting dust in the basement as nobody was buying them (had done back then an effort to hand them in a 2nd hand store in athens downtown but got some and the rest he kindly rejected to buy. too bored also to feature a 'shit lp lot' on ebay so were 'recycled').

thymios of editions_zero burned the cdrs at his place in ioannina, using as a cdr label a modified label of an old 78inch record, maya lavda absurd's graphist worked on the layout, and the 30x30 circular cartons that were glued on each lp side including interview and almost banned detailed discography and i, glued at the editions_zero central in the city of amphissa the vinyls... came in a limited edition... pretty funny though still have plenty of the lp sleeves so if you have a spare lp to throw away feel free to drop an email here, download the cdr and make your own copy!

happy listening! (as soon as i track down in the archive the interview i'll upload it too!)

http://www.divshare.com/download/6722346-4d7

city of worms 'quester' (harsh 001 under licence from irre tapes)

2009-02-22T02:24:00.000-08:00

here comes one of my favest u.s projects at least for the 1st half of the 90's (still does but back then was nuts with them!).

'supergroup' of i.o.s., jeph jerman, jim o' rourke, e.a.

discovered them thanks to the 'rhythm & passion' tape of neo rok zine. back then george priniotakis who run it had for distro the poison dwarfs tape on irre tapes. seeking for stuff to start my tape label wrote to matthias lang (irre tapes back then was one of the major european tape labels) for his catalogue. one of the first tapes i purchased was 'quester' and as i was haunted by it, dropped a line and asked if i could duplicate it and start my own tape label. or better say use it in order to slowly turn my tape label to more 'experimental / obscure musics' paths. matthias, who was a great help for lots of people back then, kindly allowed me to do so mid 92 a 1st edition of some 70 copies of a xeroxed cover of the tape and a piece of blue carton inside with a stamp of harsh dept harsh 001 came out. initially was supposed to be a sublabel of 'necrocannibalistic of necrocannibalismo' tapes so early copies bear the initials n.o.n. tapes harsh dept harsh 001.

a later edition of that year was a simple xerox of the irre cover and on the rear side handwritten the harsh dept harsh 001. can't recall how many tapes i traded (cuz actually that's why i started the tape label, luck of i.m.o.'s back then in greece, hard to get exchange, the only solutions were cash hidden in letters and releases to trade with...) but frankly was the baptism of fire that somehow helped to jump on the next release, etc etc etc etc...

play loud!!!!

side a

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nginrjmoznz

side b

http://www.divshare.com/download/6619456-555

klimperei 'la tordeuse a bandes obliques' (eclipsis #01 / absurd #50)

2009-02-21T23:14:00.000-08:00

'turning point' or at least this are the words that comes in mind each time i think, come across in the archive, etc of this moment / release... could use the 'every picture tells a story' too as is perhaps the only picture that evokes those feelings too from the 00's. november 2003 saw the birth of little maria-amaryllis, daughter of my pals thouli & mihalis, an event that back then sounded normal, i found a job so could spent more on releases, dissapointed from athens's local scene (w/ some exceptions) guess that the idea that dropped in march 2004 from mihalis was the chance for new options / ideas. simple as that, a special cd release to celebrate amaryllis's 1st birthday. whom to invite? klimperei! a band we both loved for their weird 'toy' sound (feel free to visit their site to get an idea of what i mean). without 2nd thoughts dropped a line to christophe petchanatz and this compilation cd including some of their most beautiful moments was set up as part of the 'research center for the definition of hapinness' series. issued officially on november the 10th 2004, handed to all those who were present at the 1st birthday party and the rest for distro. 2 covers or actually 1 but as we used that pink/white paper while printed half of the covers were printed w/ white-pink cover, half pink-white. an edition of 120 in an envelope was also made. 500 copies print run. a cd that was the beginning of more absurd travelogues, whose details or part of them will be slowly unfolded in future posts...

it's klimperei!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kapotte muziek 'lauter' (absurd cdr #2)

2009-02-21T22:54:00.000-08:00

kapotte muziek's lauter belongs to those recordings that trully helped harsh dept back in early 90's to gain its notoriousity. i'll write the harsh dept story of the tape, when the tape version is ready for upload (sometime sooner or later). forward in time now... fall 90's and as i still love 'lauter' and its sound and wanna have it available again and again, i ask frans whether he object for a cdr reissue of it. knowing frans for ages he couldn't resist of course but he suggested a reworked version of it and that's how it came out a bit reworked including as bonus an almost 25' min piece 're:laut' which was actually a piece constructed from sounds scambled from the tape. housed in a gorgeous -as always- artwork of jos moers aka mr. meeuw muzak! at last now i have the chance to have it available again (almost) to infinity!

grab it!!!!

http://www.divshare.com/download/6616186-f28

toy bizarre 'kdi dctb 116' absurd #13

2009-02-16T13:29:00.000-08:00

i met cedric peyronnet & his toy bizarre project in mid 90's thanks to tbe memorable toy bizarre cd on pure.
got hooked on his tape releases (back then) and cd releases mesmerized by their beauty. so sometime in early 00's asked cedric for a cdr, his sounds for an installation were documented on it a release that became part of the research center for the definition of happiness series (the one with the circular covers). a series of absurd that probably stores in it some of my favest moments & memories...

let the sounds create a sonic garden in your place!

for further toy bizarre infos pls visit www.ingeos.org

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yzndyizmmzo

fish eye view 'the two fish hospitality' (necrocannibalistic of necrocannibalismo tapes 1990-91)

2009-02-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

shit, i know the tape label's name sounds ridiculous... however early 90's sounded too cool!!!! took it from an article of the french death/grind zine 'u.s.d.' around an obscure grind band called 'necrocannibalistic of necrocannibalismo'. being back then a zine that could track down some of the most weirdest and rarest death/grind stuff thought it cool to use it for a tape label name... nearly 6 months earlier influenced from a canadian tape mail order of grind (mostly) stuff thought i could start my own distro / tape label... till early 90's the only thing i had 'officially' issued was of my solo noisecore unit's 1st demo tape sickness 'repulsive noise' nothing else... guess it was the grind/noise turmoil we were all in especially for the first few months of 89 before earache launched morbid angel's 1st lp and the death metal fashion outbreaked...
till then and at least for only a few months time using as a base nothing but a rehearsal studio and mostly 2 record stores as meeting points (various other coffee shops & bars were also in the list) chanced to live the greek grind scene at its peak before we all split and each of us followed his own road... back then it was asfyx, a greek thrash better say 'nuclear thrash' band influenced from voi vod (mostly). as side groups of this one were 'industry of crushed conceptions' (started as grindcore band including peris of asfyx, nektarios (of today's 'a strange attractor' record store fame), e.a. but they turned to more industrial then) and peris's 'fish eye view' side project... must admit that still feel extremely grateful to periklis tsoukalas (back then of asfyx, today of the greek folk group xainides) as accidentally he was the one who made me start officially a tape label... fish eye view was a side project he had back then... 89 saw a demo tape of his playing a bizarre lo-fi bedroom fidelity in a more experimental mood... early 90's his parents were to move thanks to their work in arabia and he didn't miss the chance and followed them. before departing we had a meeting in athens downtown where he asked me whether i'd like to release his 2nd demo tape. i took that chance and a few months after (a period during which we had exchanged a couple of letters) i received the master demo tape half recorded in greece, half in arabia and its artwork... without 2nd thoughts i xeroxed its handwritten / handmade cover, doubled tapes and had it out. not too many copies but it was the baptism of fire, first trades, etc etc etc... long story (and feelings too) to cut it short... a varathron tape followed but it didn't have the same feeling as this one... back then i liked it being 'experimental', it wasn't until a few years ago that did i realise that this little tape still belongs to my most beloved ones and without willing to exaggerate still consider it as one of the finest examples of the greek scene's late 80's/early 90's experimental scene... lo-fi bedroom fidelity at its weirdest and bloodiest best!!!!!!!!!

side a

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dn2ctcjyh2n

side b

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tndjkinig2z

onomatopoeia 'irrelevant' perverse series act 7

2009-02-13T15:14:00.000-08:00

onomatopoeia was the project of steve fricker, known in the 90's for his memorable 'cheeses international' mail order & label. came across him either via stefan schwab's c/o newsletter or thanks to the con-dom 'the eigth pillar' LP on sfcr as steve had printed and distributed the LP's booklet. his first recording attempts i can't say that were my cup of tea... slowly he started evolving a far more better sound so sometime in mid 90's i asked him for a tape. 'irrelevant' was the result and besides a killer tape release was destined to be perverse series's final release. still today i see it as a vital turning point at least regarding the period between perverse & absurd...

it was limited to 70. steve provided 70 different flags that were glued on the tape's sleeve.

play it as loud as possible!!!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zozjdmdzjyd

mental anguish 'mourning rendezvous' harsh 003 (harsh dept 1992)

2009-02-13T10:06:00.001-08:00

i came across the mastermind of chris phinney & his legendary 'harsh reality music' & mental anguish project thanks to neo rok zine and a stellar compilation that was issued by its editor george priniotakis in early 90's. in it was included a hands to piece, taken from the hands to / mental anguish split LP on harsh reality. i recall dropping a line and asking for a trade... still can't recall if i send hidden $ or a trade to get my copy. however the result is that i lost my mind when i received chris's pack not only because of the lp but also thanks to the stellar releases catalogue!!! pure brainstorming... the thing you wanted to rob a bank and buy all!!!! as i was in the early steps of harsh dept i asked him for a possible mental anguish best of as he had tons of tape releases and here is the result... it was supposed to be harsh 003, to come in 1992 limited to 80 copies on a cro2 tape... never came up w/ a proper cover for it (i still see the one i had made and find it too bullshit). i doubt if were ever made 3 or 5 copies of it. remained shelved with the wish of a release sometime later. never occured. a cdr idea was in mind for sometime in early/mid 00's the same shit too... so at last exactly after 17 years (feb 92 got the master) here it's proper release... (re)issue or call it whatever! with a cover artwork from my sweet lalia!

play it loud!!!!

side a

http://www.divshare.com/download/6549873-af5

side b (& infos, art)

http://www.divshare.com/download/6550051-c61

deison 'random screams' (tape 3 - perverse series)

2009-02-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

i came across deison thanks to gianfranco santoro (a great pal in the early / mid 90's. guy around sin org, lsd org, mangled and many other activities).
he had issued a couple of tapes back then and as i was hooked on his sounds i wrote and asked for this release.
'random screams' belongs to some of my most beloved tape releases. and for me stands as one of the greatest deison stuff too!!!! initially out in a plastic bag. c40 tape in it and infos were xeroxed on transparent paper tape's size and glued on a broken cd.

couldn't track down in the archive a proper copy so here it is... improvise and create yours!

play loud & enjoy!!!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?z2mzm0mym2m

mnortham 'from within the solar cave' CD (absurd #10)

2009-02-13T09:45:00.000-08:00

mnortham has been a great fave for a long long time. throughout the 90's either through contributions to my ever beloved & influential ND zine. his work with orogenetics, the texas scene of that time (jgrnich, erg, e.a.), his collaborations or solo work.
on the other hand i had promised myself since perverse series's failure that i'll never produce a proper cd again in my life... turned as homer quotes that 'lions and men cannot take oaths' (excuse the greeklish translation of this iliad quote) and when we discussed for a release in early 00's proposed 'from within the solar cave'... couldn't resist the temptation not only because of mnortham but also for the participation of both jgrznich and another all time fave co caspar (whose 'chants of change' has always been a great fave plus other material too).. so that's a little bit of how it occured... 500 copies. turned to be the 'outbreak of evil' as back then couldn't imagine the maelstrom of releases that was bound to come...

enjoy!!!!

http://www.divshare.com/download/6552632-102

absurd #35 - nikos veliotis & nicolas malevitsis "murder melody"

2009-02-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

october 2003 saw a super 2:13 mini fest. as summer lazyness was coming to an end the idea of a mini fest was dropped. it was also an occasion of 2:13's 4th anniversary so a trully stellar night was set up. probably one of my favest nights in smt, as far as i'm concerned regarding both the pals we played together, the audience and the whole atmosphere.

one of the night's sets was a duo with nikos veliotis (cello) and me (mr. absurd) on turntables. a reductionist influence in the sound? you can say so... still a fave moment...

at least regarding smt's vs. absurd relations since that time till now i still call it 'a calm before the storm'...

trivia... title was picked from the doc savage 'murder melody' novel. that time i was downloading various 30's pulp from blackmask.com (i think it has ceased to exist) and doc savage stories were some of them. saw myself getting them all on a cdr and asked nikos to pick up a title from the list of all novels included in the cdr so here it is...

happy listening... (don't worry you won't die from the melody as happens in the doc savage novel...)

flac

http://sharebee.com/8bcb4fd0

mp3 (@320 as usual)

http://sharebee.com/a2203756

absurd #14 - die feine trinkers bei pinkels daheim 'hungerhaken’s speckrolle'

2009-02-01T03:45:00.000-08:00

the 2nd feine trinkers release for absurd was a solid track (though while you listen to it you feel like it could have been split to pieces) in an almost different nature to 'papagoyenboom'. insanity still is around but in a different mood.

it also turned to be absurd's 1st 'found cover' release. the cdr was packed in a newspaper and had this photo used on the cover. without 2nd thoughts and as i liked it picked it and used it.

regarding artwork... a kinda 'fake leather' on 1 side paper was used. however as it had to be turned too while being printed nearly half of the copies has the print on the backside and the rest the kinda bookleather cardboard one...

http://sharebee.com/55b2395e

maeror tri 'archaic states' (absurd #7)

2009-01-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

maeror tri is one of my favest 'ambient' projects and was one of my favest for the 90's too! i mostly liked their harsh (i dare to say 'trance') side and perhaps not their so 'mellow' moods but their soundscapes were always seting up absurd's office on fire, as they still do!
initially 'archaic states' was a tape on akifumi nakajima's (aka aube) 'g.r.o.s.s.' label. was issued sometime in early 90s. upon hearing it i fall in love with the 2nd side. i liked the 1st but the 2nd was and still is an all time fave piece... 'blowing sounds from a dome' maeror tri's monstrous 30 min piece recorded to be sent as raw material to rudolv eb.er and use it, together with other participant's material for schimpfluch's legendary 'stuhlgangblockade n!' LP (there was also a tape issue of it on the italian old europa cafe).
fall 90's reissue saw a different cover and layout based on photos of beeba christopoulou, an artist that lived at the same building that absurd's main graphist (frankly i should say co-partner in crime) maya lavda.

listen and listen especially loud 'blowing sounds from a dome'!!!
enjoy!

http://sharebee.com/2c51220b

perverse series (story & catalogue)

2009-01-24T09:10:00.001-08:00

perverse series

(september 1995 – march 1996 (unofficially)/march 1997 (officially)

while I was doing my military service and under an extreme lunacy for schimpfluch label, sometime in early 1994, asked rudolv whether he’d love the idea for my starting a sort of a label dealing with schimpfluch and related artists. we kept on discussing it during 1994 that the idea was born and rudolv offered a couple of unreleased material to be released (one of which was “morx & kotschlag” that came out in February 1995 on the Selektion Host Series). This brainchild saw the daylight in late summer 1995 to become rather quick one of my worst nightmares ever…unofficially stopped in march 1996, the official disbandment came in march 1997.

no1 : runzelstirn&gurgelstock/tac/e/factor x : collaboration cd. edition of 500.

(the 1st time mentioned was from rudolv sometime in 1991, in the schimpfluch interview for GG#3, and the work was finished sometime in early 1994 when we first discussed of the perverse series project. The whole collaboration result (both artwork & soundscapes) though was remixed in a more insane&extreme approach in early 1995. the cd was released in November 1995)

no2 : merzbow : magnesia nova cd. edition of 1000.

(a co-production with Oxy pbl (Greece) which was worldwide distributed by Staalplaat & Soleilmoon. It was to come out in march 1996 but due to financial problems luckily came out in may 1996

tapes

act 1 : aube : voltanic valley cro2 60 (edition of 60 numbered copies, came in sandpaper & wire mesh)

act 2 : emil beaulieau : pure c60 (unlimited edition, details & cover were xeroxed on transparent paper, collection of beloved tracks from his 5 cds on pure)

act 3 : mangled (originally was to be a co-production with Sin Org (Italy) but never saw the daylight as Mangled ceased to exist)

act 4 : richard ramirez : backlash c40 (edition of 77 copies)

act 5 : hauthanh/mpd (split tape co-produced with myotis (Belgium). each label was to release it with different covers. the perverse edition was never out, as long as perverse ceased to exist.

act 6 : murder corporation/mpd (edition of 99, cover xeroxed on blue paper and had a fly’s Xerox on transparent paper on it. The murder corporation side was the original side recorded for the never released atrax morgue/murder corporation 'nurses' split cd for harsh dept

act 7 : onomatopoeia : irrelevant c46 (edition of 70, recorded under an enthusiasm for flags and each cover was coming with a different flag sticked on it)

also a few tapes were released as well under perverse's umbrella (a bit weird thing though some were something in between perverse and pre/early absurd ones). here's the info on them..

started issuing them sometime before the time that perverse series ceased to exist this tape series was supposed to be a sublabel of perverse. All were c40 tapes limited to 50 copies maximum.

the tape series stopped sometime in early 98…

1 - mpd/skin crime/emil beaulieau : 23 central st (or illusion of perversion)

(one day in january 97 received a tape featuring recordings of crowd/projects done during the opening of RRR’s new store. a couple of months later mpd we played on our mixing desk with the tape and here’s the result. limited to some 40 or 50 if i recall well now.)

2 - area 42 (still unpublished, side project around Miko Aspa (the guy behind Freak Animal label & a host of other projects))

3 - deison : random screams (some 40 copies. in plastic bag, tape credits and title were glued on a broken and cut cd surface. they were coming in 2 transparent xeroxes. each glued on the cd's surface.

4 - use your pain/kadef : satan serviert bittermandeln zum desert (kind of a split tape limited to some 40 if i recall well now. packed in newspaper, w/ rope and 3 almonds glued on it)

harsh dept (story & catalogue)

2009-01-18T07:36:00.000-08:00

harsh dept

(1991 – 1995)

back in 1989 was born the idea for a tape label, being involved into tape trading the idea evolved in the first harsh dept hybrid via which were unofficially “distributed” tapes of greek grind/noisecore bands and were issued varathron’s “genesis of apocryphal desire” demo as a chrome tape limited to 100 copies (under licence from the group) and the 2nd tape of the greek experimental outfit Fish Eye View “the 2 fish hospitality” a part of which was recorded in Greece and the rest of the tape & mix were done in S. Africa sometime in early 90’s. the harsh dept project started mostly inspired after a discussion with George Priniotakis, who was issuing back at the time the greek zine NEO ROK (RIP), and since its formation (sometime between late 1990/early 1991) was perceived as an extension to the activities of the Genital Grinder zine, nothing else but a different form of communication. ceased to exist at the time that the whole thing had started looking like mostly a label rather an activity around a deadend zine….quite accidentally was the first project in Greece to release recordings of the what so called “extreme musics” or use any label you prefer to describe it….

releases

harsh 001 : city of worms : quester (released in 1991 on a chrome 90 tape under licence from Matthias Lang of Irre Tapes(RIP). there were 2 editions of it, one in simple white xerox paper limited to some 77 and then another one on transparent paper sticked on blue carton limited to 50. the lengedary US project around IOS, Hands To, Jim O’Rourke, ea)

harsh 002 : kapotte muziek : lauter c46 (released in 1992)

harsh 003 : mental anguish : best of… (originally planned for release in 1992, due to a problem with the covers was shelved and finally never came out, was to be a chrome 90 min tape)

harsh 004 : factor X/tac : the animals c60 (mail collaboration between the 2 lunatics)

harsh 005 : factor X : directions c60 (reissue of a tape that was out on a French label)

harsh 006 : factor X t-shirt (edition of 100, 70 on red t-shirt with blank ink and 30 on black t-shirt with white ink. originally produced in order to announce the release of the factor X “noi” lp (harshlp 1) that was a part of the legendary “roh” series. the lp never came out and hope one day soon to be able to issue it on absurd…..)

abyssos series

abyss 001 : dimosioipalliliko retire : ianus cd (edition of 500. a work of the legendary greek experimental project. 2 tracks that were to be played simultaneously from 2 radios and the 3rd track the mix of the first 2. released in may 95, a week after harsh dept had ceased to exist)

abyss 002 : kapotte muziek : verder cd (edition of 1000. released in november 94, including mail collaborations of frans de waard with telepherique, agencement, haters and merzbow)

kapotte muziek 'verder' harsh dept. abyssos no. 2

2009-01-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

'verder' was harsh dept's 1st cd release (after a couple of failed attempts for a cd compilation in 91-92 and an unpublished 'factor X' lp in 93) and came out in late 94.
the original plan was to start a cd series under the title 'abyssos', probably influenced from various labels of that time that used to divide their releases in various series or sections can't recall exactly why now...
the cd included 4 mail collaborations of frans de waard with luminaries like telepherique, agencement, the haters & merzbow.
the print run was 1,000 copies. still in it is reflected the sound of that time plus tendencies of 80's & 90's in sound, from manipulated shortwave to lots of other tricks... beloved classic sound!!!

trivia : cover colours are darker to the original design. a week before the cd was planted, a tremendous storm hit athens. the printer who used to collaborate with the manufacturing company used to have his studio in the garage of the building where his office used to be and everything flooded. films got wet, i was told that they won't have a great problem so when they got dry were used for the cd covers.

thanks also to the master dat order track 3 was placed as number 4. same mistake kept here though for the tracking i used the right track title. besides you can realise the difference when is the haters and when is merzbow!

http://sharebee.com/e7255558

mlehst 'living without feeling'

2009-01-18T04:27:00.000-08:00

fall 90's and all brentnall's mlehst
and his bandaged hand produce label were a true sound explosion for me! harsh electroacoustics / noises that marked a series of unique cdrs. totally exhilarated with his sounds asked him for a cdr which turned to a more noisy compared to his other works of that time but trully fantastic as well!

enjoy!

trivia : 'fake' digipack cover. supposed to be limited to 150 copies, ran out of digipacks and being hard that time to track down shelved some 75 copies for a future 'reissue'. sadly never occured... though you can never know....

http://sharebee.com/6febec42

emil beaulieau 'pure'

2009-01-18T02:11:00.000-08:00

it wouldn't be a lie to say that ron lessard / emil beaulieau are absurd's godfathers. back in 96 under a terribly difficult period for me ron has been a great help and actually helped absurd in its early steps. being the newsletter dedicated to pure's releases (& related for absurd activities like alli poli in greece and also dedicated to the ever beloved elgaland-vargaland).

being fond of the 5 first emil beaulieau cds on pure did a kind of a compilation, adding the ones i loved the most. emil kindly allowed me to do a tape issue of it that became perverse series's act #2. simple tape with a transparent xerox of the early pure inserts, taken then the boy outside the old rrr store that was the cover of the first rrr 5lp boxset.

almost a decade later thanks to the birth of orion elafros, in xanthi, was reissued in a limited edition, on a slim cd case, bearing as cover a photo of a picture of my friend costas tsiknis (from the city of amphissa, phokis) that did for the bar 'stavento' (lies at the isle of kimolos).

still stands as my favest emil! play it loud!!!

http://sharebee.com/120ae5ca

die feine trinkers bei pinkels daheim "papagoyenboom' (absurd #1)

2009-01-15T11:10:00.000-08:00

here we are... absurd's 1st proper (cdr) release... initially to be perverse series's final tape release (act 8) and was to come out a couple of months after the release of onomatopoieia's 'irrelevant' tape (sooner or later will be uploaded).

i came across, die feine trinkers bei pinkels daheim, back then, thanks to stefan knappe of drone records, refering to them as the german big city orchestra, both for their musical style but also their crazy titles. being curious for their sound i checked a couple of their tape releases and thanks to stefan got in touch with jurgen eberhard discussing for a tape to the (already bankrupt) perverse series... (at that point absurd was dealing as a part of perverse series regarding its releases at least some limited edition tapes were issued under perverse series's name credited to absurd.)

however, early 97 thought was high time perverse stopped once and for all and continue with absurd. cdr boom was just starting, so being a new medium thought a cool idea to start doing cdrs. thodoris zioutos (partner in crime in the first absurd days) helped a lot with mastering, duplication of the early absurd cdrs. can't recall how took the decision to turn from tape to cdr, i think it was in march 97 during a trip to the city of volos. the thing is that it started accidentally without knowing back then the maelstrom of releases that was to come in 00's....

enjoy!!!

http://sharebee.com/5f41f165

absurd #6 (lost transmissions from planet zero)

2009-01-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

[here's the texts of what was supposed to be absurd #6. 'lost transmissions from planet zero, was issued of course but under a completely different approach, packaging (check the thu 20 post about it). wanna work again those texts and i'll upload that issue too sometime sooner or later.

those ones are mostly interviews, articles or even texts for pure cds done sometime in mid / late 90's.

no matter how hard i checked archives couldn't track down that crazy tochnit aleph interview. however if i ever do so it'll be posted separately.

of course since then various links have changed...

20city / eso steel have became of course cmr and richard francis works under own name

crawl unit turned to joe colley's own name

as of harbinger the last 2 months email doesn't seem to work.

no current contact for k2 sorry.

meeuw muzak's email is still valid though if you wanna contact jos moers for infos.

so here's some info on the #6 idea / plot

(or the what was initially planned to be part of absurd#6. )

since the time of no 3/4 back in july 97, I had started working on absurd 5,
and was collecting articles, etc. unfortunately (plus also due to my
laziness/boredom at times) some material remained shelved and unpublished.
So back at the time I started working on no 5 and conceived the idea of a
sort of a "zero" trilogy (completely influenced from projects such as the
new blockaders, haters, mev, amm, idea fire company, tart, (early) le
syndicat, eric lunde, con-dom, and too loads to mention) wanted absurd 6 to
be dedicated to these "shelved" ones.

the actual "scenario" for the issue was to "invent" stories of how the
previously unpublished material was lost & (re)found or in some others to
had the chance to include "extra" material for the "reissue", such as
happens for instance with various reissues of lost (& found, afterwards, to
realize that the track order wasn't the right one, or the mix was bad, so
let's "dissapear" the reissued copies and make a new lost&found edition,
blah, blah, blah) 50's/60's/70's obscurities (w/ 80's still's a problem but
sooner or later a greater need is gonna be created in the market so.) when
for instance a band/artist (whatever) of that time had only issued back then
only but a 7" or a sole lp and suddenly today is reissued a deluxe 5
cdboxset for instance including extra unpublished material that was lying
around his house, or his ex-girlfriend's house, etc etc etc.

here's the archive

http://sharebee.com/8269de7d

absurd #2 + absurd #3/4 (texts)

2009-01-14T14:55:00.000-08:00

archive material... absurd used to deal with the pure series and related, alli poli (greece) and its related projects, friends.... regarding pure, pure artists were contacted and were asked to send a text around their pure cd in any way they feel like...

features though included also g.m.bh., antifrost, a spot on chondros / katsiani's '51 saturdays', etc...

since then of course links have changed so here are the new ones...

click on each to check...

the haters

big city orchestra

drone records

toy bizarre

antifrost

chondros / katsiani

solndnergeist

g.m.b.h. has ceased to exist for long. sebastien keeps on with his ferns records. in the latest update i saw that he has probably returned to paris after having spent a long time in another city of france.

here are the texts too...

http://sharebee.com/3c787bcd

giuseppe ielasi '5 tracks' absurd #8 (2001)

2009-01-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

i had just discovered fringes and its first recordings as far as i recall and liked the work of giuseppe a lot back then! actually giuseppe was the first sound artist to engage absurd's involment with gigs set up, etc... march 2001 took place the first live set that absurd organized ever. a live improv set at small music theatre between giuseppe ielasi, nikos veliotis, costis drygianakis, nikos veliotis.
however.. must thank nektarios pappas of vinyl microstore that a day before allowed giuseppe to handle a trully memorable live set at his record store (mp3 and infos on that day to follow in another post soon). to celebrate the event absurd issued a limited edition cdr to 100 copies. part of the 'research center for the definition of happiness' series. this time issued under its 'athens' branch...

still one of my beloved absurds... highly recommended for late night listening... enjoy!

http://sharebee.com/1fd9dbd9

for infos on giuseppe's current activities please visit www.schoolmap-records.com

silkworms cannot be confiscated until they have become perfect cocoons

2009-01-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

silkworms cannot be confiscated until they have become perfect cocoons, is a project that started accidentally (trully can't recall how the idea was born) with socrates martinis (aka blanco estira nuestro, hermana helice, nixilx.nijilx). the couple of ideas we had discussed for a collaboration, turned to an installation that was handled at the folk museum of the city of xanthi (a lovely place that has supported and has housed a lot of activities that absurd has been involved), on the 11th of February 2006, day that took place a memorable live set of nikos veliotis's 'vomvos' (= drone)project. for the occasion we used 2 loops we had created, that were playing in 2 different places in the museum. enjoy the extracts of them (including 1 loop we didn't use) and play them to infinity!

http://rapidshare.com/files/183215409/silkworms.rar.html

phil turnbull's no night sweats

2009-01-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

[another unpublished archive document... the entire interview was manipulated to an extremely short text that was to appear in an unpublished issue of overdub zine... anyway enjoy...]

i came across phil turnbull or better say he came across me a couple of years ago when droppin’ a mail in the avantgarde_cdr mail list asked for some fall stuff on cdr to listen. phil answered, we did a little trade and when received the desired cdr, i noticed he had included a cdr compilation named ‘poor galileo he has gone mad’ a kinda anthology of australian post-punk bands of the late 70’s/early 80’s… pretty funny but when i put it in the cd player could never imagine that i might get hooked to it. suddenly found myself listening to voigt/465, scapa flow, systematics, seems twice and more… and slowly too dropping a line to phil for more trades.
for those unfamiliar to his name, he was a member of the legendary voigt/465 group, then wild west and no nights sweats and the last few years he’s been one of those guys who w/ great respect & love for those good ol’days started restoring the old material in digital form trying to ‘save’ it in a way or so (call it whatever). in his site you can get infos on various reissues on comp cdrs he has done or infos on other related australian post punk groups/labels/reissues. plus much more… and why not asking him for a little trade in order to discover & enjoy some truly joyous moments?

http://www.users.bigpond.com/pturnbul

[ Smelly Fish ]
Yesterday it was Wollongong harbour (wiv me mum) where the smelly fish were smelly. Sometimes I can stand it and other times not - retching, nose blowing, ingesting water and soothing Stevesant smoke (when only the best will do) are the ways in which I can partially stop the smelliness going too far down my throat.
Luckily, none of these occurred yesterday and I was able to make a delightful bar-b-q lunch of thai kingys and succulent gem fish. See, I can cook and eat it but not ever smell the raw smelly fish.

- so when did you start restoring the old tapes archives?

i'd dabbled in digitising vinyl and cassette source material during 2000 but only really got enthused in 2001 when there was a concrete proposal to add some tracks to what eventually became the "can't stop it" compilation, released by guy blackman / chapter music. all of the material for voigt/465, wild west and the tame o'mearas was remastered professionally at one of sydney's most famous mastering studios - studios 301. but, in some ways most importantly, i got the right software and computer hardware to be able to do all the rest at home on much cheaper equipment. overall i'm very happy with the results - i may not have a mastering engineer's ears but i think the stuff i've done at home is pretty good anyway.

- how did you come up w/ the idea of the 'australian post punk' archives comp. cdrs?

as above, really. the initial impetus was doing the professional mastering but then i realized there was a lot of singles, eps and cassette 'masters' in my possesion that would only just deteriorate more if i didn't put the effort in and do it myself. the vast majority of the 'australian post-punk archives' cd-rs are studio recordings either released on vinyl that i still kept after all these years or came from cassettes that band members and studio participants had copied and kept, for the most part, in the back of their cupboards. ofcourse, the rest of the archives are sourced from bootleg live recordings that tim vandenberg and patrick gibson had made at the time. tim's collection was vast and patrick's was eye-opening.

- besides the app archives have you compiled any other cdrs/cds?

i digitised and cleaned up all of my old vinyl that hadn't been re-released on cd at the time. the 1st one was the early scritti politti singles which I did around 2000. i called my compilation "early stuff" and it was was widely copied across the internet community. the recent official release of this material is called "early". i wonder where they got that name from?? i also did lots of the fall and so on but, for the most part, it's all been re-released professionally since i did them and these always sound better than my attempts simply because my source vinyl was so degraded after all those years of cummunal living.

- a little bit 'bout the past, how did voigt/465 start? and can you give me a few details on the rest of the projects you've been into such as wild west & no nights sweats?

during the later years of high school, myself and some friends started learning to sing and play instruments in typical garage band fashion. then, before i started art school in 1976, i bought a synthesiser and i got together with 2 of my schoolfriends who had a liking for music which had a more avant leaning. we spent 76-78 learning how to play properly doing lots of systems music and spacey jams along the way. with the advent of punk and
the sydney underground rock scene - radio birdman et al - we tried to toughen up the music and, eventually, we did to some extent. voigt/465 broke up in 79 and i gravitated to another high school friend and one of the slugfuckers to make similar kinds of music to voigt - but with a more melodic bent : wild west. it started off as just more of my angular jerky rock things but this was eventually put aside, luckily, for peter nelson's slower, more moody pieces. the drummer left but we kept on using other friends as guest stars in the percussion spot until peter left to go overseas in 82. luckily we'd recorded a lot of material and we'd copied these masters onto cassette - we only have one master tape form this whole time - the voigt/465 single sessions - all the other masters were destroyed or taped over. after wild west i just played music at home onto a 4 track teac reel-to-reel where i got love my arp odyssey even more. i eventually played this stuff to patrick gibson and we started adding vocals on top and mixing them at m-squared studios. this naturally went on to live performances where the casette player was the star whilst pat and i roamed the stage in bad sinatra / martin gear.

- any other sites around the australian post punk scene of the late 70's/early 80's that you recommend?

all the links i think are important are at
http://www.users.bigpond.com/pturnbul/nns_band_links.htm

can you jot me in brief some of your memories of the late 70's/early 80's aussie post punk scene? moments, places, groups, etc. fave australian post punk bands of the time?

the main memories are of fun, excitement, huge numbers of friends and a "who gives a fuck" attitude about it all. i NEVER thought that i'd become famous with music but it was just so deeply satisfying to play with friends, to record the songs we'd created by ourselves and to play in front of all our other friends. the number of people who came to see us slowly expanded but I can pretty much say that they were all known to us - we loved meeting new people at gigs and getting drunk with them later as other bands played. It was all pretty much hand to mouth, really. no-one in the proper performance
spaces - hotels, bars, concert halls - would have anything to do with us so we had to organise gigs for ourselves in inner city community halls and soon. most of the time these ended in noise complaints, etc and we never made any money out of the gigs. for myself and most of my close friends, we kept up full time employment even if making music was our way of life. Of course, there were obviously bands who didn't have jobs to support them and who also wanted to make money from what they loved doing. boys next door, pel mel and tactics are 3 that come to mind who, in there own ways, made a living of sorts from continually playing and expanding their live performance base outside of the inner cities. my favourites are still the tame o'mearas, tsk tsk tsk and the systematics.

- hey how about fave bands, artists, records?

there's a few bands / artists that i continually return to : faust, can, neu!, henry cow, slapp happy, robert wyatt, this heat and pere ubu. all of them were ingrained into my psyche during my late teens and early twenties. i must have played can's "ege bamyasi" at least twice a month since the mid 70s - so 700 times all up. and i was sooo happy when it was re-released last year with just fantastic sound quality. wyatt's "rock bottom" was also a
very personal favourite - most of my friends liked it grudgingly but it just sat on my heart like a warm pillow. this heat's "health and efficiency" is the BEST post-punk song ever made - weird, heartfelt and played with such vehemance that it shines. and pere ubu's "modern dance" is probably the best post-punk LP - not a single dud moment.

- can you give me some infos on your monday missive's?

the monday missive's were initially a way for me to keep in contact (on a personal basis) with work friends after i strted to work from home for half the week. i felt, rightly, that people would start to forget me so i wrote some funny little stories to remind them of my stunning wit! these eventually took on a more surreal role in my life as i started to enjoy writing them and worried less about how people would react to them. eventually i gave up due to tiredness, illness and lack of response from the dwindling number of people who still remained in the office.

absurd #8 (the commodities scrapbook)

2009-01-11T13:18:00.000-08:00

as i used peter strickland's interview in the previous post around the scb/bb cdr, i searched one of my hard discs and unearhted the unpublished archives of absurd #8 'the commodities scrapbook' from 2003. the whole plan back then or at least as it started back in 2001 was the 'zero trilogy' never finished it actually, or better say it's first number 'an issue of absolute nothingness' was out in 2001 in 1500 copies (1st print run of 1000 and an additional of 500 then). as it turned to a financial bleeding as the printing costs were back then say 300-350 euros if i recall well and had to spend some 400 for p&p costs. so the 2nd volume 'lost transmissions from planet zero' saw a release later and not at all in the form i initially thought it to be. not that i didn't like it to say the truth of course! it'll be uploaded later. a final trilogy part was never in mind however while working on ideas my mind's corridors spewn this one.. financial reasons back then that remained unpublished... stupidity as well that didn't go online back then too but already absurd's old site was facing other problems so...
anyway... here it is... enjoy it to the last bit...

http://rapidshare.com/files/182219911/absurd_8_the_commodities_scrapbook.txt.html

dimosioypalliliko retire 'ianus'

2009-01-11T12:27:00.000-08:00

dim. retire besides being cool friends for a long long time have been an influential project for me back in the early days. legendary for their performances (at times risky and dangerous ones!) but also for their humorous, cynical (well call it whatever) view around various topics have been a project that me speaking stands as the most impressive regarding experimental musics of the greek scene of the 80's / 90's... around late 70's they used to run 'shedia'(=raft) publications, in the 80's the 'alli poli' project including publications, performances, also a same titled gallery in the city of thessaloniki. at a certain point they used to run a pirate station too. since mid 90's performed under the name of chondros / katsiani, the names of the 2/3 of the project. a series of projects, performances was handled including as well publications too. soundscapes of those performances were documented on the cd '0+' on records 'edo' (= greek for 'here'). sometime in early 00's issued a series of almost 10 cdrs including new audio works plus reissue of older material including tapes from the 80's or recordings from performances handled in late 80's / early 90's. you can still ask for infos around them here

'ianus' was supposed to be the 1st cd of the disbanded 'harsh dept prods.', well, due to various problems turned to be the project's 2nd cd release or better say almost its final or posthumous release. issued a couple of months before i finished my military service, just about to launch perverse series (that went bankrupt a few months later in 1996) i still see this cd as a turning point between a certain period to another one... initially listened to it in 93 a few months since its recording. if am not mistaken was used actually for a performance or kinda like that at alli poli back then. recorded and mastered by costis drygianakis (then of the 'optical musics' project fame). arranged its release in 93 but finally managed to see daylight almost 2 years after... the work is supposed to represent the 'faces' of janus the roman god (hence the printing mistake in title). side 1 let's say a more 'angry' face, 2nd a more 'mellow' one (at least always seemed to me like that). 3rd track is the simultaneous play of both. work initially for a radio play, or better say simultaneous play from 2 different radio stations. unfortunately such an idea never occured...

trivia : at the time the cd was handed at the manufacturing plant, greece was under the fever of a satanist or so cult, the day the master was given for the glass master i was called by the plant's representative and asked whether the voices on the 1st track are part of an 'occultist', 'satanic' ritual or an invocation of something like that!?!?!?!?!!?!

get it!

the bohman brothers & the sonic catering band

2009-01-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

here's a recording of 2 beloved projects and friends. peter strickland (of the scb fame) is a great pal for long time. scb also have been a great fave plus the peripheral conserve label that issued such great musics back in early 00's till it ceased to exist.
bohmans as well have been this eccentric duo that have offered me not only some great times of listening but also one of my most unforgetable live sets in small music theatre some 6 years ago. needless to say about adam bohman, a long time fave not only for solo or collaborative works but also being a member of my ever beloved morphogenesis project.

'imperial metric' was supposed to be a lathe 10" between gold soundz and absurd. shelved for looong finally saw daylight as a cdr. different cover on each label.

included as well is the pdf with the initial 10" labels. used by absurd (i think also by sindre) for the inner sleeve of the cdr. so print cover photo and labels and make your own unique cover...

enjoy!

http://rapidshare.com/files/182174453/the_bohman_brothers___the_sonic_catering_band_-_imperial_metric.rar

while digging infos for the scb cover, etc.. unearthed an old interview with peter. done ages ago for (a still unplublished) issue of absurd... the plot was the following... questions asked about scb, countries he lived in, friends / collaborators and instead of answers, recipes or foods, etc that remind him of them... so here you are... enjoy this 'dessert'!

i still thank michael prime for the contact with peter strickland a couple of years ago, one of the founding members of the sonic catering band project. peter was coming to greece at the time (well he’s often here actually i’d say) so had the chance to meet & go out for drifting the couple of times we have met.
peter’s besides his activities with sonic catering band is also shooting short movies and seems like filming will be the activity which he will spent most of his time in the recent future, being either in the uk or in hungary where he’s also spending lots of his time as well working.

he’s also running the peripheral converse label where the vast majority of the scb releases was out but also releases of the eccentric bohman brothers, or the splendid 10” of clare connors. you can get an idea of scb & peripheral converse at www.soniccatering.com

being involved in a project whose major source for raw material is cooking, as they were cooking on stage manipulating the produced sounds, the same holds for studio work too, i was curious to see how’s peter’s views on some topics of his interests/life will be reflected as food or recipes.
enjoy the meal….

starting meal

Grilled aubergine slices. Garnish with chopped red onions, tomatoes and
parsley. Lightly drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

hungary

Körözött – Liptauer cheese (creamy) pressed through a sieve with half the
quantity of butter. Season with salt, red paprika, chopped chives and
chopped red onions. Serve as a dip or on bread.

uk

Garlic Mushroom Moni Puree – mushrooms, chopped pineapples and onions
with garlic and lemon sauce served on a wrap.

filming

Bread and water

cooking

Pumpkin soup - Cut a small pumpkin in half and take seeds out. Cut what
is left into big chunks and cook in water until soft. Take the chunks out of
the pan. Cool, peel and mash with a liquidiser. Put vegetable stock in the
water left in the pan. Bring to the boil and then add the mashed pumpkin.
Also add orange rind, the juice of one orange, one spoonful of ginger paste,
single cream and yoghurt mixed in with an egg yolk (a small cup each). Stir
continuously adding a dash of salt and lemon pepper, nutmeg and a spoonful
of dry sherry. Bring very gently to the boil and serve with grated parmesan
cheese and fresh coriander leaves.

music

Humous – one cup of cooked chickpeas, 2 spoonfuls of Tahini (sesame seed
paste), 2 garlic cloves, spoonful of lemon juice, spoonful of mayonnaise.
Blend and serve.

fears on stage

Pancakes – plain flour mixed with milk in a bowl. Stir well. Put large
spoonful of mixture onto flat pan. Toss both sides until golden. Add lemon
and sugar, then serve.

project members

Peter Strickland – chocolate; Colin Fletcher – Cornish Pastie; Tim Kirby
– Horse Radish

reflections on early SCB days

Baked Beans on toast

reflections on current SCB days

Omelette with pine kernels, rocket leaves, grated goats’ cheese,
pomegranate juice, chopped tomatoes and red onions

how do you feel drifting?

Burek (cheese pie) – feta cheese wrapped in puff pastry

bohman brothers

Sunday Roast – roast lamb with mint sauce (vinegar with mint). Roasted
potatoes, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes served with gravy, baked
parsnips.

peripheral conserve

Champagne.

entomology

Honey with natural Greek yoghurt, caster sugar and crushed walnuts

dessert

250g of butter, 2 cups of caster sugar, 4 eggs, 1 cup of all purpose
flour, 1 cup of self-raising flour, half cup of cocoa powder, 1 cup of milk,
1 cup of chopped walnuts.

For chocolate cream:
250g of butter
1 cup of icing sugar
400g of chocolate (melted)
4 teaspoons of brandy

Put the sugar and eggs, one at a time into the butter. Mix until frothy. Add
milk. In a separate bowl, add two kinds of flour and cocoa powder. Add the
two mixtures together.

Butter a baking tin and put mixture in. Bake for one hour at 180°C. Cover
with foil towards end to prevent burning.

For the chocolate cream: beat the butter, icing sugar and brandy until
frothy, adding melted chocolate.

Cut the cake into slices. Cover the top with cream too. Finally add the
walnuts on top. Leave in the fridge to firm.

editions_zero #2 (stelzer / talbot / rawlings vs zioutos / grivas / malevitsis

2009-01-11T05:39:00.000-08:00

early 00's i have just started getting in contact with howie of intransitive recordings and have just exchanged the first bunches of cdrs/cds, etc..
in one of those early packs were a couple of recordings, sent mostly for the history and to get an idea of the duo (stelzer / talbot) and trio, etc, etc recordings.

at the same time with thodoris zioutos (who back then used to run absurd's old site and was a friend since mid 90's) we were seriously thinking of starting an improv duo project. various sounds were in mind back then and host of ideas to work on. to cut the long story short, that time thodoris started teaching at a music school at the same building that was housed till 2007 small music theatre. so in a tiny room that used from thodoris for his lessons we set up a tirny rehearsal room.

it didn't take that long to come up with the idea of a split cdr release. back then i liked the split releases (at times i still do to be honest) so worked out immediately... asked howie if i could use the split cdr's recordings, at the same time we did a session in our tiny room during which anastasis, who used to run small music theatre, joined accidentally and our trio 'side' was recorded during that evening rehearsal... and that eventually became editions_zero's 2nd baby... enjoy!

http://rapidshare.com/files/182049998/editions_zero_2.rar

goem / fdw

2009-01-11T05:31:00.000-08:00

started accidentally... we were hanging w/ jason of 1000+1 tilt that friday night at a bar downtown when (can't recall how) came the idea of a goem live set. simple as that. frans liked the idea and worked out a little masynergy fest at the school of polytechnics, athens. a super night! it would have been a dreadful mistake not to release also a cdr in order to remember the whole idea, process, festival thing. so enjoy...

goem/fdw

reasons pt.4
robbed
engine

co-produced w/ www.tiltrecordings.org

http://rapidshare.com/files/182072884/goem_fdw.rar

thu 20 mp3

2009-01-03T02:13:00.000-08:00

here's one of my all time fave projects. the dutch thu 20, project around roel meelkop (goem, zebra, kapotte muziek, etc for further info wwww.rOm.nl), peter diumelinks (ex-v2 archief, kapotte muziek, etc), guido doesborg, jos smolders (www.earlabs.org), jac van bussel (lewd, www.antenne-tilburg.nl.

the idea for the release was to be the first mp3 release of absurd on anet.gr starting this way the zine's mp3 database...well due to problems back then the 2 tracks of which the whole piece consisted of were uploaded as real audios. eary 00's a cdr version of it was included as a supplement in the zine 'lost transmissions from planet zero (included in the zine were interviews with dale lloyd (www.and-oar.org), per svensson (www.persvenssonsoundart.com), valerio tricoli (www.bowindorecordings.com/valerio_tricoli.htm) and a thu 20 story.

finally almost after 12 years gets uploaded in the form i initially wanted it to be... enjoy!

http://sharebee.com/648a23b7

an introduction to go

2009-01-03T01:29:00.000-08:00

it's been quite a long since the idea for a database was born. must have been fall 90's when with thodoris zioutos(of the defunct www.anet.gr) that we were thinking of an mp3 server to host nearly the entity of our local network's archives plus new ones.... sometime later in early 00's poped up the idea of a dvd or dvdr including nearly the entire absurd backcatalogue... turned to be of those ideas that pop up and die like those butterfly species that born and die within 24 hours... however for long the idea was in the air till a recent trip to the city of ioannina to meet thymios of editions_zero that did i realise he had converted a great part of the catalogue to mp3 and had scanned covers... so the blog idea to start slowly uploading them was taken...
so to cut the long story short... 'all noises swell together (by themselves) in landscapes' will be the vehicle to store sounds that slowly built my audiodiaries the last 20 years under various names, periods, etc.. be it absurd, my participation in editions_zero, genital grinder zine days and the heyday of the greek grindcore scene, blah blah... however in mind is one more crazy baby 'excrete music' (title taken from the s/t violent onsen geisha beloved cd) to upload new things. however i don't know when it'll be unleashed... till then... download and enjoy!
(to paraphrase the two shot sons killer LP title) 'in sound my memory is stored'
happy 2009!
nicolas

ps: important note... all mp3's are @320