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Looper's Delight
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CAUTION BIG MAIL!!! I think the listing of our fave records is a great thing, cos it shows what a diverse bunch we are, but with the occasional suprising simerlarities, (the my life in the bush of ghosts album turns up quite a bit...should have been on my list too, many others!) Some records I have never heard of and am interested to hear WHY so, if anyones interested or has the time, a new challenge... So you have your nine favorite records, but on the island is a tribe of cannibals and they take your records in exchange for NOT eating you, but they agree that you may keep ONE! But you have to say WHY!!! Where did you hear it first. What you like about it. What it sounds like (for those of us that dont know) AND (to keep it relevant to the list) in what way it pertains to looping! However obscure! So I'll get the ball rolling. As this idea was inspired by... > And Mark Francombe is correct, Can's "Tago Mago" IS the best album, ever. > Discuss. "Tago Mago" By Can, It is then! The first thing is that its one of those records that when you play it to someone else they go "When was it recorded?" and you go 1971 and they go "WHAT???" Its like it has no references from music of the era. Its so restrained in one way, not a show-off musician among them and yet, they let rip, rock out and freak out at the same time. Its inpired SO many musicians from varous different genres, from techno artists to punks! John Lydon (Pistols), Sean Rider (Happy Mondays) Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth)many DJ's. I first heard it in Art Class at school, around 1976, we were all listening to Clash, Buzcocks, and a bit of Dub Reggae, when this hippy girl put it on... I freaked and went to buy EVERYTHING by them, she also suggested Gong tho!, which was a big mistake! I like that it can be a late night chillin' ambient record, but if you turn it up or play it at a club it becomes different somehow, more dancey, summery, groovy, funky! What does it sound like? Well its best to remember that it was originally a double album (CD Version Spoon CD 006/7 is squished onto one CD) and the first album was the er... songs and the second album was the weird stuff. Basically its all improvised and editted down by the bass player Holger Czukay. Each band member has a sound that is unique and inspiring that ...well... just seem to go together so well! Holgers bass is simple, funky, But not too funky, a real groove, tad reggae. Michael Karolis guitar is all over the place, changing from subtle finger picking, choppy rythymic chords to screeching distortion in a second. Irmin Schmits keys are the most ambient thing there, they wash over the music, massivly effected organs, you dont even realise he's there most of the time, except when there is a sudden spike of ring modulated noise digging you in the guts when you least expect it. Damo Suzuki is a genius vocalist, not lyricist I must point out, his rambling surreal sentances weave in and out of the album, some lines reappear in other songs, he shuts up when needed and lets the band get on with it, jumps back in and gets them back on track. then on album two, he takes some drug or other and becomes... oh god!!!! Monks chanting, crazed lunatics babbling, speaking in tongues, Islamic chants, murmering priests in confessional...OK enough! AND the whole thing is driven by the utterly fantastic drumming of Jaki Liebezeit. He combines burundi drummers with Drum and Bass with funky drummer. His beats are like two trains racing, their rythums interlinking then polyrythmic. So tight, he keeps the whole band in order, but allows spaces for them to add beats and stabs. Looping wise, there is no specific looping technology going on here, but it was the first really expressive use of delay feedback which is used many times on the album, sometimes for effect swooshes somtimes for doubling the rhythum parts. More than that though, the whole album is a looper album, it deals with repetition and trance-states, and almost Mantra like grooves. Its starts with... "Paperhouse", which is like an intro song really, this is what you can expect from the whole album in one short song. "Mushroom" follows, slow, weirder, spiky laid back for a while, then Bang! screech!! then back to laid back slow fade and BOOOM! an atomic bomb goes off!!! As the dust is settling... "Oh Yeah" slowly fades in fom the background, a psychedelic journey into the sun, backwards vocals, ambient pads over the repetitous groove from bass and drums. Then comes the master opus... "Halleluwah" which took one whole side of vinyl on the original. Unexpainable, BUY IT! And then to the weird shit... "Augmn" is freaky and really out there... the first half is like they are trying out stuff which all comes together in one crazed moment when a dog barks and an oscillator swoops and the tribal drumming kicks in! Maybe the dog was barking cos the tone was in its hearing range and not ours but over the next few minutes the tone slowly swoops back up again the only accomaniment to the drumming! "Peking O" is another experiment, its echoed beginning building to free jazz and suddenly crashing as a stupid, almost silly bossa nova thing comes in and everyone in the room laughs and relaxes after wondering whether or not to say something for a few moments during the weirdness. The album finishes with... "Bring me Coffee or Tea" which is just sweet, lazy. The freakyness of the second album over you can relax and enjoy youself, its like the final jam the band have after the album is finished and they should really pack up their gear and go home, a bit of a mess, but hey, you can hear the smiles on the faces of the band as they come to the end. I'm smiling too! Sorry this ended up being quite an essay, I'm on holiday lying on the beach in Phuket, listening to "Can" on my minidisk while I write! My girlfriend just handed me something so I'll stop. If anyone else is up to the challenge, please dont feel you have to write as much, just a few lines, but be personal please, Mark PS: Whens the repeater coming out? ... DOH!! Sorry! Mark Francombe Red mark.francombe@mogul.com http://www.8day.com/redweb/ ICQ: 4531031 (Please dont send .exe files (zip them 1st) my mail server bites them chews them up and sends me a rude message!)