Tips for music you didn't know about (archeology)

Antimon · Last edited by Antimon on Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:36 am; edited 2 times in total

I mostly wanted to start a thread to thank Blue Hell for mentioning the group White Noise in the chat. I'm listening to An Electric Storm on Spotify right now and loving it!

So while there's a lot of music available for free (for starters, right here on the forum there's a huge archive of wonderful things), there's also stuff that was made long ago or being made currently that isn't made available for everyone to hear without some kind of effort or compensation (Spotify for example, while having a "free" version, isn't available everywhere and is designed to make you want to pay for it). I figured we could give some hints about that kind of music that we like in this thread, as an alternative to the online music forum and artists' forums here.

Any takers? Smile

I'll start by describing White Noise: "An Electric Storm" - a record from 1969, makes me think of a more sensible "pop" version of The Residents maybe, with electronic stuff and weirdness happening everywhere. Makes me all warm inside.

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:33 am Post subject:

I know that LP very well. I have it on vinyl.. original pressing.. and I have also a recent reissue on CD. Brilliant stuff. A lot of the weird and wonderful stuff is also all over Youtube, but I reckon the problem is that you have to know about it in the first place in order to know what to search for.

BTW, it seems that Peter Baumann's first solo LP is not very well known these days. I guess his first LP is the best, the second kinda is almost the same and then he goes synth pop.

A fairly remarkable track on his first LP is this one:

This is a successful attempt at making contemporary classical music and the kind of electronic music he did with TD connect.

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:00 am Post subject:

Michael Hoenig's LP "Departure from the Northern Wastelands" is also a classic. That being said, the collab with the guitar guy from Ash Ra Tempel is also good, but mostly as an early example of what Hoenig was doing at the time and what led to "Departure from the Northern Wastelands". The guitar playing does not work that well on "Early Waters", but Manuel Göttsching got better and his own synth/guitar solo LP under the Ash Ra name; Blackouts, is really good.

Early Waters:

"Departure from the Northern Wastelands"

Antimon · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:03 am Post subject:

Yeah maybe the problem is to know that stuff exists rather than actually get in touch with it. Smile

Listening to Peter Baumann now!

Antimon · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:11 am Post subject:

Renamed the thread Smile

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:13 am Post subject:

Well, so it is not archeology anymore? Shocked

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:17 am Post subject:

A kinda lost chapter is the mix and evolution of psychedelic rock, folk and early prog in Europe. Most people just know of Genesis and Yes, and that's basically it. And there is this myth that UK punk was a reaction to the überskilled progheads. This sounds good, but it isn't true.

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:21 am Post subject:

Uh.. and then there is stuff like this: Very Happy

DrJustice · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:34 am Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:40 am Post subject:

Possibly Repeat Repeat is better than I remember it to be. Or not..?

It kinda fits in with what was done at the time.

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:45 am Post subject:

Anyways..

DrJustice · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:50 am Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:59 am Post subject:

Nostalgia..?

I still like a lot of the 50s and 60s blend of Space Age Pop, Tiki and Exotica.

This is dated of course. These days you must have all the sounds come from some Korg or Roland Workstation.. and then it must simmer for a few hours in Ableton Live.

http://www.spaceagepop.com

Antimon · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:38 am Post subject:

Antimon · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:39 am Post subject:

Actually what I was hoping for was pretty much what has already happened - a bunch of posts with interesting music! Very Happy

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 7:11 am Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 7:14 am Post subject:

(Edit by DJ: I took the liberty of updating this with a complete (not cut before the end) and better quality version of this national treasure - I hope you don't mind Smile

)

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 7:16 am Post subject:

DrJustice · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 7:49 am Post subject:

Egil for Prime Minister!

Now for a proper space music outfit; Neuronium, from before it became Michel Huygens New Age UFO/aliens vessel. Everything from "Quasar 2C361" (1977) to "Invisible Views" (1983) is kosher in my book. Oh, how I regret selling those early LPs...

Edit to add: by a stroke of luck I found out that "Quasar 2C361" and "Vuelo Quimico" had been released on a double CD in 1998, so at least I got that one back...

DrJustice · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 7:55 am Post subject:

And then some more synth pop. This time from Landscape:

DrJustice · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 8:06 am Post subject:

Oh, and how about some Logic System. Maybe it's well known around here, but IME not so known in general. Here's "Logic", IMO Hideki Matsutake's magnum opus, I love this record to bits:

DrJustice · Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 11:14 am Post subject:

How about you, Stefan - do you know of any half forgotten gems to dust off and share with us? Smile

Antimon · Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 5:12 pm Post subject:

Actually looking at your posts I feel like I don't know anything about anything... but ok here goes:

Back around 1986 or so I liked to listen to a radio show where they did comical stuff interspersed with weird music, a lot of it electronic. A couple of tracks I heard there has stuck with me for all these years (I recorded the music from the shows onto tape and I think I still have the cassettes somewhere). After the internet age arrived, I have tried googling around for them from time to time, with no result even though I remember a lot of the lyrics. I just now did yet another try and hey presto! Mystery solved. cheers

My first google this evening was for the words "hereby my invitation we do invite you..." The hit was on an old Sun Ra song called Enlightenment. It wasn't the track I was after though, the one I knew was more electronic. After some struggling I gave up and searched for the other song instead - a cover of the Rod Stewart song "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy". Jackpot!

This got me thinking, maybe the other song is a cover of Enlightenment by the same act (Morgan Fisher / Hybrid Kids)? A quick look around told me that this was the case:

I am now a very happy guy.

Time to check out this Morgan Fisher fellow some more.

Antimon · Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 5:22 pm Post subject:

Since you're throwing norwegian stuff around I feel I need to add this in here. Wink

It's not obscure at all in Sweden (at least for someone my age), but maybe not as known elsewhere...

DrJustice · Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:52 pm Post subject:

Yay! More Swedish stuff: Here's the Grand Master and pioneer of space music, Ralph Lundsteen - I didn't quite know what to pick, but here's a video with footage from his home and studio, the wonderful Andromeda studio. If you don't know about Lundsteen, do follow that link to Andromeda and explore!