Plateaus comprises Chris Rosi, Elliot Moeller, Jon Green, and Kevin Gist, who have been active since around 2011. Do It For You was released as a single on Hozac Records in 2012 and appears on their self-titled debut put out by Art Fag Recordings that same year. Those familiar with Hozac won’t be surprised to find these guys in their catalog, since Hozac has been putting out lo-fi gems for the better part of a decade, including work by Heavy Times and Radar Eyes. For fans of Jay Reatard and Ty Seagall, this should be a welcome addition to your collection. You can find more updates about tours and new releases on their Facebook page, and if your curious this track also has a kick-ass music video.
Ueh – Cambous
This track was featured on a compilation entitled Do Whatever You Want, Don’t Do Whatever You Don’t Want!! which features works relating to the Japanese collective known as Acid Mothers Temple. The collective got started around 1995 and have gone through many different incarnations based on who was performing at the time, including Acid Mothers Temple & the Cosmic Inferno, Acid Mothers Temple SWR, Acid Gurus Temple, and Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. This track from Ueh originally appeared on a self-titled release put out on the house label for Acid Mothers Temple. Though Ueh doesn’t actually share members with Acid Mothers Temple, it is associated with the group through both releases on their label and a split release, Pataphysical Overdrive To My Cosmos with Makoto Kawabata. That came out in 2004 and it doesn’t look like there has been anything else put out by Ueh, though members Benjamin Gilbert and Audrey Ginestet has been active with a group called Aquaserge since Ueh went on hiatus. I’d recommend digging into Acid Mothers Temple, though the sheer size of their discography can be a bit intimidating. I’ve got some recommendations below in case you’re ready to dive right in:
Amanaz – Khala My Friend
This track comes from a vibrant rock scene in 1970s Zambia affectionately referred to by collectors/enthusiasts as Zamrock. According to this Guardian profile, the Zambian government issued a law mandating that 95% of music on Zambian radio must be from native Zambian artists, and many groups put their own spin on the psych sounds that were creeping into the country from the United States. While the scene was short lived because of an economic recession which hit the country in the late 1970s and the influx of more outside radio programming, it has left behind a wealth of fuzzed-out garage gems. Paul Ngozi, an alias which translates to Paul Danger, is credited with introducing the Zamrock sound through his solo work and releases under the name The Ngozi Family. Another group, W.I.T.C.H. (We Intend to Cause Havoc) released a number of albums throughout the 1970s and are closely associated with the Zamrock sound.
Amanaz released only one album, Africa, in 1975 on a label called Zambia Music Parlor that released a lot of the Zamrock material from the period. It has been reissued by Now-Again Records, who also put out a fantastic psych compilation called Forge Your Own Chains which I can’t recommend enough. Now-Again has been releasing a lot of material from this period in Zambia and if this album is any indication there is a lot of good music to (re)discover.
OM – Bhirma’s Theme
OM rose from the ashes of the group Sleep, one of the early pioneers of stoner/sludge metal and originally comprised Al Cisneros and Chris Haikus. Cisneros and Haikus first worked together in a group called Asbestosdeath and released their first record under the Sleep moniker, Volume One in 1991. It was their next release Sleep’s Holy Mountain the following year that cemented their role in the development of stoner metal. The group went on to release two versions of similar material, first Jerusalem in 1997 and then under the name Dopesmoker in 2003. The estimable folks at Southern Lord have reissued Dopesmoker a few times over the years and it’s wall to wall goodness.
To the chagrin of many, the group and its founding members seemed to slow down after the release of Dopesmoker. But Cisneros and Haikus returned as OM with 2005’s Variations on a Theme. Bhirma’s Theme comes from a 2007 release on Southern Lord entitled Pilgrimage and its worthy of reverence and (dare I say it) pilgrimage, though luckily you shouldn’t have to go very far to hear it.
Jordan De La Sierra – Music for Gymnastics
Jordan De La Sierra was a classically trained pianist who began his recording career with a double LP of hypnotizing long form ambient works in the minimalist style of Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and La Monte Young. It anticipates a lot of the work that would make Windham Hill a new age juggernaut, but his debut record, Gymnosphere: Song of the Rose, was released on a small label called Unity Records in 1978. Though it received little attention at the time, it has luckily been given the Numero treatment since then, and I would argue the world is a better place for it.
The original release came with a 16 page booklet which includes some original artwork, an essay by the artist called “The Tableau of Space” and a greeting from the artist (image from Discogs):
Now who isn’t charmed by that kind of earnestness. It reminds me of the art of Gilbert Williams, who really embodies the sort of hypercolor utopia that I find so irresistible:
In short, put on your peasant shirt and dangly earring, get out your crystal prayer bowl, and become a being of pure light.
Klaus Schulze – Bayreuth Return
This track is one half of Schulze’s 1975 release Timewind and while it’s certainly a wonderful example of Berlin School electronic experimentation, one look at Schulze’s discography highlights the difficulty of picking just one release. He performed on Tangerine Dream’s debut album Electronic Meditation as well as on the Lord Krishna Von Goloka release that I’ve also written about here in addition to releasing over 40 albums of his own beginning with Irrlicht.
Part of that extensive discography includes releases under another name, Richard Wahnfried which he described in the notes for Time Actor as a blending of avant garde music and hypercommercial muzak. This appropriation of commercial ambient music in service of avant garde forms influences many experimental musicians today, from manipulating cassette tapes originally designed for corporate outreach by groups like Good Willsmith to the long-form future mall music of Virtual Dream Plaza. Schulze and the artists in his milieu helped to expand the vocabulary of electronics in experimental music and, eventually, music more generally and in my opinion it’s hard to overstate their influence. Since it is getting more and more affordable for people to obtain synths thanks to software-based synth engines, those interested would do well to immerse themselves in the music of this period if they have not already, both because it is good to understand the history and because it’s a sonic treat.
Ravi Shankar & Andre Previn – Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra
To commemorate what would have been Pandit Ravi Shankar’s 96th birthday, I thought I’d document another fascinating collaboration of Shankar’s that is in the same vein of East meets West as his collaborations with Yehudi Menuhin, which I have documented in another post. This work arose from a commission Shankar received to compose a work for sitar and an orchestra from the London Symphony Orchestra. Shankar was intrigued by composing in this way following those collaborations with Menuhin, especially since many of those recordings were improvised while this was to be composed in advance. Shankar blurred the lines by including bongo drums instead of the traditional tabla drum typically found in ragas as well as incorporating the call-and-response form that is typical of a concerto into the composition. There are many excellent recordings of Shankar performing more traditional ragas and today would be a good day to dive in, but I wanted to shine a light on this slightly off-beat record in his tremendous body of work. He was a master of the form and his influence on Western perception of Indian classical music and on music in general is difficult to overstate. His legacy lives on in these many recordings and the increased influence of raga forms on contemporary music and in more literal form through his daughter, Norah Jones. This recording, despite being so unorthodox, sold surprisingly well when it was released in 1971, leading one EMI executive to remark that it “sold like a pop record.” Somehow I find it hard to believe that this trend could be repeated, but one can dream.
Pas De Deux – Cardiocleptomanie
Those who have followed the annual Eurovision song contest for a long time might remember Pas De Deux from their 1983 entry representing Belgium entitled Rendez-vous. You can watch their performance at the contest here, which the announcer introduces by saying
I’ve described this as sort of crypto-punk. I suppose Belgium deserves some credit for trying something new.
That glowing introduction was delivered with classic British passive-aggressive disdain, but given how fresh Cardiocleptomanie sounds today I think this Belgian group got the last laugh. The group comprised Dett Peyskens (who is currently part of the group Red Zebra), Hilde Van Roy, and Walter Verdin. Cardiocleptomanie comes off the group’s only full-length release Axe Ends which also came out in 1983. The synths probably give this one away as being early-80s, but the combination of driving rhythms and almost disinterested vocals are irresistible. Perfect for anybody who has ever harbored a little crush on the girl from the cover of Duran Duran’s Rio.
Joe Townsend – Going Over The Hill
Though Mississippi Records/Little Axe Records has gone through some re-branding/changes in management, they consistently put out top notch reissues. Their reissues of obscure blues records, either in their entirety or in compilation form, are particularly excellent and Oh Graveyard You Can’t Hold Me Always is a perfect example. I couldn’t find any sort of temporal or geographic limitation that guides this compilation, but it’s made up of bluesy gospel tunes that certainly have the feel of live recordings made in homes and churches throughout the south. I couldn’t find much information on Joe Townsend, but his tune Take Your Burdens to the Lord has appeared on a number of other compilations. Mississippi Records is responsible for a number of great releases that I can personally endorse, including The Life and Times of Abner Jay and Michael Hurley’s Armchair Boogie, but I have yet to come across material they put out that doesn’t have some hidden gems waiting to get the audience they deserve. They have a record store in Portland, OR so if you’re in that neck of the woods I’d encourage you to check it out.
megaritual – Eclipse
megaritual is the brainchild of Australian multi-instrumentalist Dale Paul Walker, and his latest, Eclipse, represents a maturation of forms laid out in two earlier releases, Mantra Music (Vol. 1) and Mantra Music (Vol. 2). While the first two releases were Walker-only joints, he is joined on eclipse by bassist Govinda Das. Blending Indian-style raga forms with heavy guitar rifts is a clever concept, and Eclipse combines the two masterfully into a one-track release which is both meditative and apocalyptic. You can name your price to get it, along with the other two megaritual releases, and if you dig Eclipse then I’d recommend checking the two earlier EPs out as well. I wasn’t able to find anything in the way of physical releases, at least at present, but I’ll edit the post should anything cross my path. For now fire up those ear cans and rock the fuck out.
Orion's Bastard 