Up Mix

For those that like their music 'Up', here's another finely curated mix of Italian film, radio and television music from the 1960's and 1970's by Dee [formerly David] Thrussell [head curator of the rather  fine Omni Recording Corporation and front person of Oz 'kinky electronic pop' combo Snog]. Peek here for the companion mix 'Down'.

Up Mix

1. Eco Spaziale #2 - Pietro Grossi
2. La Via Della Droga (seq. 7) - Goblin
3. Stridulum (titoli) - Franco Micalizzi
4. Pronti Per L'Agguato (versione 2) - Franco Micalizzi
5. Vocalisation - Alessandro Alessandroni
6. Spiagge Azzurre - Alessandro Alessandroni
7. Il Colore Degli Angeli - Berto Pisano
8. Playgirl '70 (party music 1) - Piero Piccioni
9. Casanova '70 (finale) - Armando Trovaioli
10. Cavallina a Cavallo - Ennio Morricone
11. Gli Angeli Del 2000 - Mario Molino
12. Preludietto - Alessandro Alessandroni
13. La Guerre Est Finie - Giovanni Fusco
14. I Sovversivi (titoli) - Giovanni Fusco
15. Un Tranquilo Di Campagna (#2) - Ennio Morricone
16. Dedicato Al Mare Egeo - Ennio Morricone
17. Hiasmina - Berto Pisano & Jacques Chaumont
18. Oh My Love - Riz Ortolani (featuring Katyna Ranieri)
19. Stacchi Polizieschi #1 - Pietro Grossi

Suxo Plexo Muxo Mix

Few vinyl archaeologists dig deeper than Andy Votel and when he suggested A Sound Awareness host this mix I was pretty much 'dancing on the ceiling with joy'. Originally aired on Jonny Trunk's OST Show on Resonance FM in March 2013, 'Suxo Plexo Muxo' features a zoned out mix of Eastern European cinematic oddities, weird eye Giallo schlock, Parisian art house freak folk and a plethora underexposed and uncharted celluloid wonders from around the world which will send even the most avid sound collector scouring the crates for years to come.

As always, hats off to Finders Keepers and Trunk Records for the kind permissions. Artwork remixed by myself and Mr. Votel using a few of the rather fine images on display here.

Dig, delve and enjoy!

Suxo Plexo Muxo Mix

Tracklist 
from Pan Kleks - Andrzej Korzynski - (Polton Poland)
from Anna - Gainsbourg Columbier (INA France)
from Belladonna Of Sadness - Masahiko (Finders Keepers)
from Chi - Goblin (Cinevox IT)
from Phantasm - Myrow Seagrave (Verese Sarabande)
from Sitting Target - Stanley Myers (FK)
from Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders - Lubos Fiser (FK)
from La Salamander - Patrick Moraz (Evasion Ch)
from Morgiana - Lubos Fiser (FK)
from Nightmares Come At Night (The B-Music Of Soledad Miranda) - Bruno Nicolai (FK)
from Divertissements - Louk De Book (Cache Cache)
from When Love Becomes Lust - Morricone (Cerberus)
from Daisies - Jiri Sust / Jiri Slitr (FK)
from Saxana - Angelo Michajlov (FK)
from Kama Sutra - The Inner Space (Crippled Dick)
from Lilith - Bruno Spoerri (Cache Cache)
from Pan Kleks - Andrzej Korzynski (Polton Poland)
from Naturally Free - Avenue (Apla Aus) 
from Blood On Satans Claw - Marc Wilkinson (Trunk)
from The Innocents - Isla Cameron (FK)
from Qui êtes vous, Polly Maggoo? - Michel Legrand (AZ)
from The Cremator - Zdenek Liska (FK)
from Fascination - Phillippe D'Aram (FK)
from Stone - Billy Green (FK)
from Sweet Movie - Manos Hadjidakis (Sonopresse)
from Mad Monster Party - Maury Laws (Rankin Bass)
from Honest Blue Eyes - Berndt Egerbladh (CBS)
from Saxana - Angelo Michajlov (FK)
from When Love Becomes Lust - Morricone (Cerberus)
from Danger Diabolik - Morricone (Disobediente)
from S.O.S - Andrzej Korzynski (Disposable Music)
from Zwolf Im Langstrasse- Bruno Spoerri (Cacophonic)
from Man Of Marble - Andrzej Korzynski (Cache Cache)
from Snakes - Suzanne Ciani (FK)
from Holy Mountain - Frangipane Jodorowsky (Abcko)
from Outland - Jerry Goldsmith (MCA)
from Tulipan - Andrzej Korzynski (Cache Cache)
from Kiu - J Pagan (PDI)
from Varadhu Vandha - S. Janaki and Iliayaraaja (FK)
from De Sade 70 Trailer (The B-Music Of Soledad Miranda) - Bruno Nicolai (FK)
from All The Colours Of The Dark - Bruno Nicolai (FK)
from Three Nuts For Cinderella - Karel Svoboda (Supraphon Cz)
from Zwolf Im Langstrasse- Bruno Spoerri (Cacophonic)
from Hausu - Godiego (Columbia Japan)
from Jeunes Filles Impudiques - Pierre Raph (FK)
from Pastoral - JA Seazer (RCA Japan)
from Agilok & Blubbo - The Inner Space (Wax Wah)
from Takin Off - Bobo Bates (Decca)
from Nightmares Come At Night (The B-Music Of Soledad Miranda) - Bruno Nicolai (FK)
from Girls In The Sun - Stavros Xarhakos (EMI Greece)
from Senza Motivo Apparente - Morrricone (General IT)
from Cul De Sac (Matnia) -  Hank Jones & Oliver Nelson (Impulse)
from Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders - Lubos Fiser (FK)
from Mala Morska Vila - Zdenek Liska (FK)
from Anna - Gainsbourg Columbier (INA France)

Down Mix

If you're a regular reader of this blog you've probably worked out I have a 'thing' for oddball film music and it's with great pleasure I present this wonderfully curated mix of rare Italian soundtrack and library records which have been expertly woven together by David Thrussell (head curator of the rather fine Omni Recording Corporation reissue label). Enjoy.

Down Mix

1. Suicidio - Corviria
2. Tema Di Andromeda (titoli) - Mario Migliardi
3. Asymetric - Armando Sciascia
4. Primavera - Pietro Grossi
5. Horizons - Fabio Fabor
6. Toni Ligabue (Titoli) - Armando Trovjaoli
7. Balletto Venusiano - Pietro Grossi
8. Algorithmique - Fabio Fabor
9. Caldo Caldo - Giampiero Boneschi
10. Reagente B - Armando Sciascia
11. Momento Cosmico - Pietro Grossi
12. Esponenziale - Bruno Nicolai
13. A Come Andromeda (seq. 10) - Mario Migliardi
14. Un Tempo Infinito - Ennio Morricone
15. Lamento - Egisto Macchi
16. Preludio No. 6 - Egisto Macchi

Recorded Music For Film, Radio & Television: Electronic Vol.1

Fans of dark electronic tape gloopage will have much to celebrate this month with the impending reissue of Tod Dockstader's long out of print library records on the Mordant Music label. Originally released in 1979 on the Boosey & Hawkes library imprint, "Electronic Volume One" is a masterpiece of future shock electronica for film, radio and television - a strange mixture of ominous oscillations, fluctuating electro sound tones and weirdly pastoral tape glitchwerk. Lend your ears to the oddly motorik vibrations of "Snap Sail" or the weirdly glacial drift of "Floating Up" and then pop over to Mordant manor for more info.

Fauna Marina

Here's a track from a quirky little Italian library record by Egisto Macchi which features several musical compositions inspired by all things watery and sub aquatic. I'm rather fond of the eerie strange pulses of the plankton track but decided that the track about crustaceans needed to be heard mainly because my four year old daughter did a funny little crab jig to it when I played it. Maybe you could try your own movement and dance lesson at home? The record also features a rather outstanding watercolour drawing on the front cover which takes 'peaked outsider' graphic design to a whole new level - but you've probably noticed that already. Jump in and enjoy the swim but watch out for those pincers.

Veris The Program Mix

For those that like to dig a little bit deeper, here's a new audio collage of oddball library music and eccentic vibrations by vinyl archaeologist Veris The Program (one half of Mondo Fuzz). I've enjoyed his collections of underexposed and mostly ungoogleable sounds for years and this mix is no exception. Lovely stuff. Should you wish to dig and delve further, Veris was also responsible for this rather wonderful mix on Finders Keepers a while back. Tracklist in comments. Enjoy.

Tuscan Castle And Country Seat

Tuscan Castle And Country Seat is a perplexingly odd record. Very odd indeed. Originally recorded in 1974 by Marco Melchiori with the intention that the resultant music would be used by the Italian broadcasting company RAI as background music. It’s difficult to imagine what kind of weird, acid soaked radio or television production it would actually complement. Strangely housed in a sleeve which functionally depicts mundane photographs of Tuscan villas, it has all the hallmarks of an ill conceived estate agency marketing scam. Straddling the boundaries between progressive rock, noise, minimalism and avant-rock this recording is a dream zone, outsider punk improv masterpiece. The opening track, “White Gladiator” rides the wave of dark moog modulation and utilises a blunted guitar riff Sterling Morrison would be proud of writing. The sound is rhythmically repetitive with both drum and guitar forming an isochronous groove which is intermittently punctuated by fluctuating electronics and soaring freakout organ oscillations. I can’t remember the last time I heard such 'out there' guitar-amp-action. “Old Colours” is fleetingly impressionistic, comprising of a murmuring detuned piano which hovers somewhere between elegiac beauty and dark mournful disintegration, part Eric Satie, part hallucinatory Kosmische electronic meditation. Side two opens with “Green Water” which heralds the 'dumbest' guitar riff I’ve ever heard which combines the heavy proto punk of Detroit raw power with the cyclical phase and pattern of classical downtown New York minimalism. Weird gear indeed. Underneath this blunted riff fest, lo-fi drug haze electronic oscillations drift loose, oozing brain fuzz on the floor. It’s hard to believe this music was actually recorded in 1974 let alone intended to be used as stock music for Italian television programmes. Likewise, “Vision Of Shore” is an epic, zoned electronic/guitar improvisational space jam. Howling electronic pulses ebb and flow as dark nebulous sustained guitar chords resonate in cosmogonic sound pools. The effect is both immersive and curiously beautiful. More oddly, the last track, “City Sound Perspective” is strangely reminiscent of a mutated Swell Maps out take, with lopsided, clipped, art house guitar weaving around a simple drum loop which unexpectedly metamorphoses into a strange amalgam of Bo Diddley-esque syncopation, raucous garage and wigged out electronic modulation. Outsider freak rock never sounded so good. This is a stunningly unique and perplexing recording, don't sleep.

"Tuscan Castle And Country Seat" by Musica Di Teisco is out now on Roundtable in a limited run of 500.

Percupulsions / Gymnorythmies 1

Here's a little compendium disc which is definitely worthy of your attention. 'Percupulsions' by Patrice Sciortino was released on the French 'Neuilly' library label in 1970 and was originally intended to be used primarily as functional mood music for film,radio and television. As a historical document,it's a fascinating example of avant garde music colliding with popular culture in a most unexpected manner. Musically it's astoundingly singular in both its compositional breadth and lyrical diversity. Psycho baroque harpsichord patterns jar harshly in rhythmic counterpoint creating a strange kind of derailed avant primitive minimalism. Oddly tuned gamelan tones float over perpetually changing clock-like rhythms creating an uncanny metronomic pulse. Interleaved with dissolving free improv skitter, the track "Spelelien" summons ghostly vibraphone, supernatural rattle and gloomy unease while the short, quick paced dark repetitions of "Multitudinaire" and "Para-Docks conjure bleak mechanistic paranoia. It's amazing to hear percussionists tease such complex and otherworldly sonics out of a such a limited palette of instrumentation. The overall effect is akin to listening to Tony Oxley, Moondog and Steve Reich gleefully jam a deranged, non machine-generated form of proto-techno. Despite the rhythmic complexity, it's all woodblock, handclaps and tom-toms on show, no electronic instrumentation in sight. Weird gear indeed. 'Gymnorythmies 1' is a very different proposition altogether. Created as an accompaniment to early school dance and gymnastic lessons [very much in a similiar vein as the BBC's innovative 'Music, Mime and Movement' and 'Listen, Move and Dance' series] this is very much music for dance and expression. "Excercices Avec Cerceaux No. 2" elevates a simple hula hoop exercise into a giddy, unearthly enchantment and is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. Have a listen to the track uploaded by the ever wonderful Toys & Techniques here.  The track, "No.12 Relaxation",evokes a dreamlike world where sound clusters of ethereal glissando shimmer celestially only to be punctuated at random intervals by a baleful voice. Odd, disquieting stuff indeed.  Throughout this disc, the playing is beautifully restrained, precise and hypnotic creating a strange hybrid of childlike melodics and avant garde modular percussion. Hats off to the Omni Recording Company for making this visionary music available once more.

I Futuribili

Another impossible to find Italian library recording sees the light of day once more. Originally released in 1972, in a minute pressing of 500 copies by the Italian Gemelli label, Egisto Macchi's "I Futuribili" is perhaps one of the finest examples of Italian library music ever recorded. Despite working extensively in the field of film, television and soundtrack music for over forty years, Egisto Macchi is known little outside a few soundtrack collectors and music library music aficionados. This is a shame, as much of his work and especially this recording is remarkably unparalleled in both vision and execution. The oppressive incertitude of "Camere Anecoiche"is a masterful study in compositional suspense. Vapourous and eerie electronic tones pulse and fluctuate like the flapping wings of stunted and misshapen insects. Sound becomes slowly asphyxiated as tense, blunted string motifs twist, loosen and tighten around the main electronic theme, the effect is like being suspended in a hallucinatory, motionless hall of fevered dreams. With each successive listen, new details are born out of the darkness, hidden resonances wait in the shadows, eager to snare the unsuspecting listener. "Nouvi Planeti" demonstrates Egisto Macchi's consummate prowess in cinematic composition, this arrangement weirdly pollinates twilight zone stuttering pizzicato, rattling percussive palpitations and deep resonant drum tremors which oddly sound reminiscent of a funereal procession in space. "Richiami Spacziali" is darker still, a vertigo inducing contradiction of ascending and descending scales, rising and falling in foul perfection. Sonorous strings decay in bleak noctambulation, the forest is alive with owl-like woodwind, archaic electronics cackle, rattle and hiss creating a veritable cinema for the ears. Thematically, "I Futuribili"is a strange beast, with sound images consistently converging in unexpected and radical ways. It seems strange that music such as this, which was originally intended as mere background music for the flickering screen and cathode ray tube sounds so emotively powerful to modern ears. Far from a collection of miscellaneous cues, each composition builds and develops into a singular vision of a dark, sinister, mysterious sound world. Is this sacred music? Is it music of the profane? Is this music of inner or music of outer space? Is this music of past, present or future? "Forme Planetaire" is a perfect example of these contradictions, as dank moog droplets languorously fall from the heavens, forming taught harmonic stalactites gilded by an elegant and restrained string arrangement. Sounds dissolve then momentarily reappear, flickering, wraithlike. In this dark,untenanted landscape everything which is solid melts into the black miasmatic smog.  "I Futuribili", which translates as "The Futuristic" is a fascinating, category defying recording, investigate it at the earliest opportunity. Another wonderful cinematic communique from the immeasurable darkness by Roundtable. Now, if someone will only be so kind as to reissue Città Notte.

"I Futuribili" by Egisto Macchi is out now on Roundtable/Omni Recording Corporation in a limited run of 500.

Niente

This long-lost Italian library session from 1971 may prove arguably to be the finest release of the year. Rescued by vinyl archaeologists James Pianta, Jeff Wybrow, Callum Flack and David Thrussell, this wonderfully dark and complex recording is an unrepentant collision of free jazz, avant garde sensibility and rhythmic drum patterns which will appeal to beat diggers and free improv heads alike. Recorded by the Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza as a companion piece to the mythical "The Feed-Back" by The Group (a record which has recently changed hands for over $1000), the result is a profoundly disorienting music that thrives on the tension between aggressive rhythmic interplay, unsettling free form improvisation and dark mood music.

Founded in Rome in 1964 by composer Franco Evangelsiti, Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza was formed as experimental music laboratory dedicated to the exploration of new music techniques such as improvisation, noise and anti-musical systems. Comprising of soundtrack musicians working in the burgeoning Italian film and television scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the collective featured such musical luminaries as Ennio Morricone (trumpet) and Egisto Macchi (percussions) in its ranks. This release very much documents the definitive moments of this 'peaked' improvisational collective.

"Niente" opens with a deep propulsive drum groove somewhere between Clyde Stubblefield and Jaki Liebezeit. The beat is motorik, relentless and unforgiving. Dark fissures of analog synth bubble up, a twisted fuzz bass prowls around the yard, the elasticated metal of prepared piano shards incise and unhinge the groove. The beat goes on. The drummer drums, staring unblinking into the abyss. Sounds organically crack, cut, rattle and tremor but never quite unsettle the drummer's endless metronomic pulse. There is a dark hypnotic undertow to much of this music evoking a phantasmagorical landscape of insecurity, trauma and fear. Listening becomes a profoundly disquieting experience. "Bambu #2" is a nightmare factory of hazed tape music, combining abrasive fuzz, muted trumpet and giallio vocal murmurings.  "Renitenza" is beautifully hypnotic and dizzying at the same time. Constructed around complex drum phasing and daydream zoner improv, the track travels from vigorous, almost deranged percussive forays into a decayed, ghostly cave of sound. Likewise, "Padrone Delle Ferrierre" weirdly shimmers in flickering polyrhythms, scrying in the smoke until it slowly dissolves in tenebrous, blurred narcotic instantiability. Side two opens with the heavy drum skonk of "Mattatoio". The sound is wilder, freer, more animalistic, a dense and tightly woven mesh of fierce drums, hot-wired guitar skree, jazz marimba and howling horns. "Sieben" is a particular favourite, a short tight Schifrinesque drum loop, combining strummed aeolian harp, blunted harmonics and eerie chimes to chilling effect. "Natale E Detroit" is peculiarly odd, like a weird meeting point between Ligeti's "Lux Aeterna" and calypso music, just hearing this unique oddity was worth the price of admission alone. "Niente" is a truly masterful and essential release and worth your immediate attention. Do not sleep.

"Niente" by Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza is out now on Roundtable/Omni Recording Corporation in a limited run of 500.

The Omni Recording Company

Here's a little label that's definitely worthy of your investigation. The Omni Recording Company is one of my favourite purveyors of oddball and 'out there' sounds à la Trunk, Roundtable and Finders Keepers. Finely curated by maverick collector and musician David Thrussell, the label has unearthed a vast catalogue of weird and wonderful musical gems which range from off-kilter avant library music, electronic space jazz, hillbilly freak funk to global soundtrack psychedelia. 

The Patrice Sciortino "Chronoradial" disc is a particular favourite. Originally released in 1970, on the cult French Musique Pour L’Image production label, this release showcases his underexposed and criminally neglected compositional mastery. Incredibly complex arrangements of densely layered avant percussive salvos, soundtrack jazz, psycho dramatic orchestration and ethereal choirs interweave and fragment in undeniably fascinating rhythms of off-kilter beauty. "Chronoradial" is no easy listen and despite being over forty years old much the music still feels uncannily contemporaneous. The playful minimal percussive dial tone rhythm of "Kullos 2" wouldn't seem out of place on a new Pansonic lp. The choral pieces in particular are evocative and compositionally unconventional with sparse Javanese percussion tones intermingling with ethereal wordless vocals to hauntingly hallucinogenic effect. This is a stunning release and very much deserves a wider audience.

The wonderfully entitled "Orion 2000" by Orchestra Peter Thomas is oft described as the 'Holy Grail' of 'Kraut Jazz In Space Music'. Originally released on the Golden Ring library imprint in the mid seventies, this release combines brooding big band noir jazz, Blaxploitation style syncopated funk and electronic studio trickery to create an oddball blend of intoxicating space age astro moog jazz. Think, the hip ray gun swank of Hugo Montenegro, the psyche rock electronic percolations of Pierre Henry and you're half way there. There's enough analogue space gloop on here to power even the most modest rocket ship. Das ist ein groovy beat baby.

Last up, an old favourite. Those familiar with the legendary Incredibly Strange Music books published by RE/Search almost twenty years ago will be delighted to finally see “Songs of Couch and Consultation” by Katie Lee reissued. Recorded in 1957, the record is a twisted beatnik psychoanalytical journey through the repressed mind of folk chanteuse Katie Lee. Odd and hilarious in equal measures and perhaps one of the finest examples of musical psychotherapy ever committed to vinyl.

..... definitely a label to watch.

The Kramford Look

Here's a little oddball record that I like. Odd, because I've spent a large part of my adult life looking for records like it. It's the kind of record that makes the endless hours spent rummaging through consumer dietrus at rain soaked carboots, church fairs and the occasional local dump worthwhile. If your bag is sinister Giallo schlock, dusty wibbly electronic library themes or kinky cinematic arrangement you'll want to dig a little deeper to find this gem. The descriptive cues on the back of the record such as "Apprehensive theme with childlike overtones, glockenspiel" give little indication of the sonic wonders contained within its grooves and if I pulled this out from a box of scratched Mantovani records at the local booter I'd be well chuffed. You can find yours here.

Musique Pour L'Image