[ManiacSmile]

I got a chance to hear a CD that I borrowed for a very short time but it was one of the most beautiful compilations that I have ever heard - made me listen to it for 5 hours straght. I had to give the CD back, but I wrote down the names of the artists - Legendary Pink Dots, Coil, Current 93, Death In June and some of the Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance works that I heard before. Anyone has any suggestions about the first four ? I would really like to purchase some of their albums, but I don't know which ones are worth the time. Thanks for the input.

 

[minya]

LPD - unfortunately I'm unfamiliar with these folks. If you like the experimental-psychedelic-rock-tip, though, check out Martijn de Kleer's album on Beta-Lactam Ring (the link I gave you links to their "request a sampler CD" page.. costs only $2... I recommend it.) (edit: Martijn de Kleer is an ex-member of the Pink Dots)

Coil - legendary heroes of the industrial and experimental music scene; seminal works: Love's Secret Domain, Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 1 & 2, and the double-CD compilation of their Equinox/Solstice works.

Current 93 - mostly unfamiliar with mr. Tibet also, but unless you're into wanky folk-ish music, stick to the older stuff.

Death in June - thinly-veiled Nazi neo-folk music; don't care for them at all. But if you're interested, pick up DISCriminate, a 2CD "best-of."

- Chris

 

[scamper]

For LPD, check out "Crushed Velvet Apocolypse" and "Maria Dimension". Those are their two best records imo.

Don't forget to mention "Horse Rotorvator" when you are talking about Coil. To my tastes, this was Coil at their peak.

For Current 93, if you can find it pick up Emblems: The Mentral Years. If you want to hear some of the best of both periods of C93's music, you will find it here.

To me, "Dogs Blood Rising" and "Thunder Perfect Mind" are the best single records.

I liked some of Death in June's early stuff. "The Corn Years" is pretty good. I always thought Douglas P was pulling everyone's leg with the neo-facist stuff. These days I am not sure.

While you are digging into this family of sound, you should also pick up some Nurse with Wound. Maybe "Who Can I Turn to Stereo".

Also, you might pick up Lustmord's "The Place Where Dark Stars Hang" or "Heresey".

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Wow, what was the compilation? Even if it was home-grown, I'd be curious to see the tracklist, those are some of my favourite bands.

LPD -- I love these guys, in my top 20 favourite bands of all time, and in my top favourite live bands. There's a really good Russian collection that should get you started. They also have a "golden period":

Golden Age
Crushed Velvet Apocalypse
Maria Dimension
Shadow Weaver
Malachai
and also
Legendary Pink Box is another good cross section of their early material. Tool around here for more information.

You may also like Tear Garden. Last Man To Fly is a DID for me. Literally. Tired Eyes Slowly Burning is another classic.

Coil - what minya and scamper said, plus something about a Hare with a Voice of Silver is an excellent introducer.

DCD -- get the box set, you won't be sorry. There's a 2CD version, and there's a 3CD+1DVD version, I recommend the latter. All their albums are good, but that's an excellent place to start.

Current 93, DIJ, not sure, don't have that much by them. Got kinda tired of DIJ, but last few purchases have been good. Don't remember names though, will dig them out and post again. World That Summer was my introduction to them, so it should be yours, too.

Cocteau Twins - again, get the box set, in this case, it's the singles box set, then start getting the albums. Treasure through Heaven or Las Vegas is my golden period for them (inc. Pink Opaque, Moon and the Melodies, Victorialand, and Blue Bell Knoll).

They also have been remastering the albums, and have a two-disc compilation that's pretty good: Stars & Topsoil.

Heh, you're exercising my brain. Hurts. Stop it.

EDIT: Also want to second Thunder Perfect Mind -- there's also a companion C93 album by the same name that sounds completely different. The intention is to listen to both at the same time for a unique experience. I keep meaning to try that.

 

[minya]

scamper/Dusty: Thanks for the LPD recommendations. I've been meaning to check the LPD out for a while, and now I know where to start. Have either of you given the de Kleer album a listen? It's got a couple weak tracks... but some of it is brilliant psychedelic rock. I love it.

re: scamper's DIJ comments: the "fascist or not" dispute has been raging for years and is a huge point of controversy, but there's now a whole new subgenre of industrial music that fetishizes German/Nordic occultism (runes and paganism and all that) in the same way the Nazi regime did; while that's not necessarily a bad thing, the nationalist/neo-fascist undertones of most of it turn me off big-time. (Eis und Licht, etc.)

Also, I need to pick up Dogs Blood Rising! Damn. So many records I need to own.

ManiacSmile: if you're looking for an easy and efficient place to order this music online, try Soleilmoon and Strange Fortune. Both are excellent stores with a wide variety of music and good prices.

- Chris

 

[ManiacSmile]

Thanx for the input guys ! I have a little trip to the Village stores planned for today

Dusty Chalk
Quote:

There's a really good Russian collection that should get you started.

You mean there was actually a record label in Russia that issued those LPD CDs ? I woud never think anyone even knows the name of these guys there. As for the CC and DCD I already have a few albums, thanks to the Cocteau Twins thread.

Minya
Quote:

MusicLover: if you're looking for an easy and efficient place to order this music online...

You mean ManiacSmile

 

[minya]

Quote:

Originally posted by ManiacSmile You mean ManiacSmile

Crap. Yes, I apologize. Your "M" nicks get me confused.

- Chris

 

[scamper]

Minya - Yeah, I totally understand the fact that the Nazi stuff turns you off on Death in June. I personally haven't purchased any DIJ/Douglas P material in a Looooong time.

I first heard them way back in the day (old hipster here) and Doug wasn't quite as overt back then. Plus, the first records have Rose McDowell singing on them and I must own everything with her voice on it. LOL.

There was a big split in this music family a while back. Most of the group of people sort of disowned Doug. Doug aparently hates Tibet and Tony Wakeford now.

RE: LPD

Go with Crushed Velvet and Maria Dimension first. IMO, those two records are them at their apex. They nail every single song on both cds.

Haven't checked out the de Kleer thing. I will keep an eye out for it next time I am browsing the shelves in Streetlight.

Nice to find some people interested in this little scene.

 

[Schrieks]

LPD is my favorite band (Sonic Youth second). I'm going to see Edward Ka Spel's solos set this week, in fact

My favorite LPD period, though, is the the earlist period (1980-1988), while most people seem to feel that the late-80s to early-90s was the best period (likewise, many feel that sonic youth ca 1987-1990 was the best, while I love the first 4 records most.. plus Goo)..... I love equally but differently the oldest regular releases and and the demo-ish friends-only tape-only releases of LPD. I really dig a lot of the albums after that but I always go back to the oldest releases and cite them as my clear favorites. They churn my imagination the most.

You'll find that there are themes that run through the albums. You have Towers 1-5 on The Tower. Tower 5 ends the album with "You chose your grave. Now lie there.. lie there.. lie there.." And then you find Tower 8 on the Edward KaSpel album Lyvv China Doll.. That track beginning "Lie there face down and be quiet.".... This is only one of many, many threads.. they bind the KaSpelian world together. ..Don't get me started on the Lisa theme.. it'd take a while.

Though it seems you've probably begun shopping already, I say check the song titles of the release you borrowed. Match them to an album and start there. I got many of my LPD/WSD CDs from Revolution and some from Other Music when I lived in NJ and visited NYC a lot. (I hope those places are still around)

Below are my favorites, though I like every one of the 40+ related releases I own.

====My favorites.. Depending on my mood any of these I'll say is my very favorite
Only Dreaming (tape-only, kinda-polished, but the low-fi of tape is a factor there. will be reissued soon on CD)
Under Triple Moons (a reissue of unpolished stuff)
Brighter Now (regular release)
The Tower (regular release)
Curse (regular release)
Chemical Playschool Volumes 3+4
Legendary Pink Box, especially CD2 (a reissue of unpolished stuff plus some polished re-recordings of old songs)
EKS: Chyekk China Doll
EKS: Lyvv China Doll
Prayer For Aradia (more unpolished old stuff)
Traumstadt One (more unpolished old stuff)

====My next favorites.. I love these immensely, but not as much as those above
Stained Glass Soma fountains (more unpolished old stuff)
Any Day Now
The Golden Age
Basilisk
EKS: Tanith And The Lion Tree


Other stuff........................
Coil.. I only have Scatology (love it!)..... I'll get more. I know I should.

C93 I have never gotten into, really. Emblems, Lucifer Over London, Dog's Blood Rising and a few others and I still have not been compelled to listen to any all the way through. I'll try again.

DIJ... I like their stuff and I find that the CDs I own have a lot of duplication. I have (the 2CD that was sold on their 1997 USA tour that was reissued as--) Discrimination and it's very good. Don't know if Doug P (not SIE) is Nazi or whatnot. He's gay, though, which makes his possible Fascist/Nazi leanings a little queer. heh

You didn't mention them/him, but I REALLY REALLY recommend Blood and Flame by Non. To call it noise is correct but misleading. There's structure and it is scary. It's my favorite noise album and it falls into the WSD-type world. It is Noise, though, so it's a bit different from the ones you mentioned above. Boyd Rice (the heart of NON.. well, he IS NON) is possibly of questionable ideology also, but damn, what a great album.

Oh, and Karl Blake/Lemon Kittens.. Wonderful Stuff, IMHO.. The Karl Blake Studio Archives (Prehensile Tales and especially Paper Thin Religion) are great CDs, but they're quite different than most WSD stuff. Very playful.. often quite dark.. quite inspiring if you're making music alone.

 

[scamper]

I probably should check out some of the Karl Blake material. For some reason, I have never been drawn to purchase any of his stuff.

You have to get Horse Rotorvator at least. Scatology is not even in the same league, imo. Though, it is still great.

 

[Schrieks]

Quote:

Originally posted by scamper I probably should check out some of the Karl Blake material. For some reason, I have never been drawn to purchase any of his stuff.

I have not heard his Shockhead Peters stuff, and the Sol Invictus CDs I have (2 of them) are not too compelling for me.. .. A friend had some release by Blake and she said it was Spoken Word, I think.. .. But the solo archives CDs above are quite different from Sol Invictus, and it's not spoken word.. it's not goth.. it's not apocolyptic folk.. I don't know what it is, except a really creative guy at home with a bunch of instruments! I think the CDs are out of print, though...

I'll get that coil album.. I've known it's THE one to get for years.. just never got around to it, y'know?

 

[scamper]

Yeah, man, I know. I know.

There are tons of cds out there that I still need to get as well. I would like to have the Coil live cds.

There was a project Wakeford did that was sort of Chamber Music. La Croix something something. From what I remember that was really nice.

His voice, like Tibet's, takes some getting used to...My wife still hates Tibet and I will not EVEN play Sol Invictus when she is around

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by ManiacSmile You mean there was actually a record label in Russia that issued those LPD CDs ? I woud never think anyone even knows the name of these guys there.

Yup. You wouldn't think so, but their love of music is as great as ours.

It's this one: (link)

This is a good one, too:

[IMAGE]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000071JV.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/IMAGE]

 

[ManiacSmile]

Dusty Chalk,


You see I lived in Russia for almost 17 years and the only time I heard someone mention the name of Pink Dots was a guy I met years ago at a house party of a friend of mine, who later turned out to be a DJ on one of the pirate radio stations broadcasting some very interesting music for those who suffered from insomnia...