steering clear of the mainstream
since 2001

june 2010

Oddity #1: Cock ESP/Evil Moisture's "Monsters Of Cock" split 5" vinyl
This must be one of the most extreme, crazy noise releases ever.  It boasts a startling 381 songs in UNDER 5 MINUTES! Adding to the mystery, it was released on 12 record labels, and only 380 copies were made. But, then again, what else can you expect from a collaboration between the likes of Gameboy, Sunship, Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers, Freedom From, Uglysound and many more...  For the mos part, it seems to be out of print, although some of the songs also appear on Gameboy's "Recycled Sampler" (a 60 minute cassette), along with numerous other noise tracks. Addendum: Recently, V/Vm Test Records' Freenoise Archives has put Monsters of Cock up for free download!

Oddity #2: Major Ego Produkt
Major Ego Produkt was a small label run by MAJOR EGO. It had a main label section, focusing on "normal" noise music, but it also has a trashart section, which is called Major Ego Produkt Objekts & Aktions.   This subdivision has a number of releases, which are all released in limited editions ranging anywhere between 1-50 copies.  Their first release was a playable 7" record that was mounted on top of a broken LP; only 19 copies were made.  Not so weird.   But, then came their second release, of only which 2 were made.  It was a playable audio cassette (with remixes of poor quality bootlegs) trapped inside a functioning radio/tape deck.   To access the tape, you had to unscrew the tape deck and take it apart.  Later came a tape packaged in dessert jelly, of which 10 copies were made.  Then came a tape with a "pornmontage" in a glass frame, with, brace yourself, human sperm.   Thankfully only 1 copy was made.  Then, a tape packaged is another tape's ashes (2 copies), a tape packaged in broken glass (10 copies), and an unplayable object made with pieces of CD and LP were all produced.  Later came a tiny wooden box with assorted objects in it, which had no real musical value, much like it's successor, a cassette box object described as "a statement that will make you laugh or freak out."  Both of those releases were made in editions of 10.  Then comes a 4-track locked inside a broken 4-track mixer, which is very expensive and thus limited to one copy.  Later came the illegal Drum & Bass release, consisting of tobacco and a chunk of hash (10 copies).  In the later years came a broken tape release - one copy, and the final release, called "Best of Popular Music," which consisted of 3 blank cds in a portfolio.  One copy was made and it is a statement about the state of popular music. 

Oddity #3: MSBR Records
All noise fans know about MSBR.  His mixture of amazing, brutal noise and handmade packaging ideas have made him one of the most respected Japanese artists ever.   Every cd released on his label is crafted beautifully in unique, experimental packaging.  For example, the first release, an MSBR LP, used wire, aluminum, gold and silver powder, concrete, sand, plaster, and various other xeroxed bits in the packaging.   Another tape was wrapped in oiled newspaper.  In yet another case, smoked small fish (along with wood, yarn and paper) were used!  One particularily inventive release was made with chocolate and cocoa powder, which formed a hard chocolate shell around the cd encased inside.  And if that isn't enough, each copy of the "Schaschlik" release came in one of his socks.  For more information, including pictures all of MSBR's best packaging ideas, visit www.msbr.com.

Oddity #4: Jandek
Lots of people already know about Jandek, but I wouldn't feel right excluding him here.  Jandek is a musician.  He has 29 releases out, all on his own "Corwood" label.   What's so special about that?  Well, that's pretty much all we know about him.   Huh?  Well, Jandek is a mysterious person.  All of his music has it's own distinct style and is very hard to describe - half singing, half talking, but completely unsettling.  He has a little cult following going on, with many people trying to investigate and theorize on who he actually is.  Some of his releases have pictures of him on them, but he always appears to be detached and unhappy in them (like the picture shown here).  Lots of his music is spooky; lots of it is depressed.  Apparently, he last released an entirely solo voice record called "Put My Dream On This Planet" and a new cd, "This Narrow Road" will be out shortly.  Keep in mind that Jandek has never performed in public or had any interviews done.  He (or rather Corwood Industries) has used the same P.O. Box for 20 years.  Read about the legendary Jandek mystery in full at tisue.net/jandek/.  It's an odd little tale.

Oddity #5: Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! A Music War 7"
This is similar to the first oddity, except it is a compilation.  In short, this seven-incher, on Slap-A-Ham Records, features 84 songs by 73 bands.  That's a lot.  Of course, every song is short, with music by the likes of Fuck On The Beach and Final Conflict.  And, interestingly enough, this is the third in a series.   The two others, "Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! The Record" and "Son of Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh!" are both out.  "The Record" only has 41 bands playing 64 songs, and is available in many different vinyl colours.    "Son of..." has an impressive 69 songs, and is only available in purple.   All of the songs are of the grindcore / diy / hardcore genre, and each song is named appropriately.  Tracks include "Penis Art" (done by fittingly named Dicktator), "goat molester", "i wonder who can say in 15 seconds anything more sophisticated than bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh!", and my personal favourite: "vomit omlet."  That song is [sic] in two ways.

Oddity #6: Thurston Moore/Marco Fusinato - tm/mf cd
The "tm/mf" cd is an interesting collaboration between a musician and a visual artist.  Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) played 10 songs, each one a little longer than a minute, while Marco Fusinato struggled to paint a picture in the short duration of each piece.  Apparently, all of Marco's paintings turned out as canvases painted red, as there wasn't much time for anything else.  However, each painting was done with a different "paintbrush"; objects such as plastic bags, a tin can, and many more were all used.  Unfortunately, you can't see the paintings while listening to the music in cd form, so it's probably little more than a novelty.    As one critic (Aquarius Records) puts it: "This sucks. I mean this really sucks. I don't think I can express how much this sucky piece of suck really sucks." For more information, including photos, go to http://www.cottier.com.au/exhibition/tmmf.html.

Oddity #7: American Tapes
I'm sure many people have heard of American Tapes.  Famous in the diy noise underground, American Tapes is often considered to be in the same realm as MSBR Records.   As of now, they have something like 81 tapes and 4 books out.  Like MSBR, most of these releases have been crafted with beautiful, homemade packaging - making use of a variety of bizarre materials.  Often, things like wood pieces, wire, paint, branches, and paper will be used.  In one case, a pea pod, goop, a paint stick, and a crushed Del Monte can were used!  Other things that have popped up on various covers include grime, windex, paint remover, a tackboard, toy railroad tracks, wood filler, toothpicks, iron rods, and chalk.  What about the music?  It's mostly experimental stuff; guitar-and-drum pieces, free jazz, and songs played on homemade instruments have all been released on American Tapes at one point or another.   For more information, including the American Tapes discography, a write-up about the history of the label, and pictures of all of their best packaging ideas, visit their webpage at http://www.msu.edu/~olsonjoh/.

This oddity, released on the Mullatta Records label, is comprised of a number of avant garde pieces played by pre-schoolers and grade-schoolers. The young 'uns bring us multi-instrumented tracks of Bach, Sonny Rollins, and many more. As well, there are a number of pieces composed by the children themselves, with all the instruments incorporated: percussion, piano, violin, and recorder. Interestingly enough, the label describes it as "programme music for an alien invasion of Earth," hence the title. This is the same record label that brought us Oddity #9...

Electronica pranksters V/VM made a series of 2 "HelpAphexTwin" releases, made of unofficial and unauthorized remixes of Aphex Twin's work. They are both 3" cd's, and are released on their own "HelpAphexTwin" label. HAT01 (the first release) is called "we don't give a shit" and HAT02 (the second release) is called "because you don't give a fuck". Despite thier prankster notoriety, they claim that they were "not fooling" when they made this series.  Yeah right.

386DX is a neat little band with one cd out, entitled "The Best of 386DX" (on Staalplaat). They make computer-sounding versions of songs that already exist. For example, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Nirvana), and "Purple Haze" (Hendrix) have both been treated to some 386DX-ing. There are 15 songs on this album, and they all sound like crappy casio keyboard demo-songs, along with a computer voice (you know, the ones the pronounce everything that's typed into them phonetically). As you can guess, all the background music is played on the 386DX, an actual (old old old) instrument that has a similar kitch value to old casio organs. Interestingly enough, the cover is made of ASCII art, depicting a certain Rolling Stones album cover. This also comes with a video (to be played on a computer), which is for their version of "California Dreaming." This video features a person playing the song while dancing enthusiastically on a street, with pedestrians and all.

These guys are insane. Reynols is a trio based in Argentina. The lead singer/drummer has Down's Syndrome. Their name evolved from an incident where a chihuahua walked on a tv remote and the tv changed to an image of Burt Reynolds, although nobody knows what happened to the unfortunate "d." At one point, they were almost arrested for plugging their guitars into pumpkins and "playing" in public (in Buenos Aires) because the government thought it would give Argentina a bad image. At one point, they created a cd called "Pauline Oliveros in the Arms of Reynols," which caused them to be invited to perform with Oliveros for a seven-hour concert at the Lincoln Center! Also, they've performed concerts to plants on various occassions, created tributes to dry ice, and have performed "psychic energy refractions with toothbrushes". They have tons of releases out (over 50) on tons of labels, including BWCD, Childish Tapes, Scrotum Records, American Tapes, and much much more. They have become quite infamous, on a wordwide level, and have appeared on many public broadcasts, including daytime talkshows and such. One of their releases was comprised solely of blank tape hiss. Another release was a blank cd case, considered the "dematerialized CD." Yet another was "10,000 Chickens Symphony," an opera made by 10,000 chickens. They've made a rock opera about fish. To sum up, I'll give you a nice litle anecdote. In a "Speeder" interview, when they were asked how successful they think that they are, they replied, "more famous than a frozen glass of wool." That's Reynols for you.

Produced by the University of Missouri's Department of Communication and also used by radio stations to record broadcasts, these massive records require special players that are made to fit vinyl bigger than your average 12-inchers. These are obviously not available to the general public for regular purchase, and are not regularly made anymore. A friend of mine, Jason Tar (the creator of !ooT,eviLnaCskcuD Records), gave me this information about them: "16" records were mass produced. A local shop (Stormy Records) has a ton of 'em. Plus they even have a player for sale, but it is surely pricey."

Whoopee Doo! An entire cd made using the sounds of a Volkswagen! A Volkswagen Kombi! A Kombi!! Well, that explains the "artist" involved here. The driver, Lucas Abela (also the owner of the Dual Plover label that this is released on) was involved in a car accident that almost took his life. After that, his car began to make strange noises whenever he drove it. Thus, the idea was born. Unfortunately, A Kombi is no longer with us (he passed away in 1996), but his legacy will live on! Luckily, Lucas is still alive and kicking, and his Dual Plover label continues to bring us high quality music from the likes of the Noise Ramones, Deerhoof, and even Merzbow! The Dual Plover webpage is at www.dualplover.com.

Crippled Ninja Productions is probably best known for its "videogame music" releases, the ones that sound like ultra-complex 4-bit videogame scores. Aside from those, though, they've released loads of other cool stuff. At one point, they released a 30 minute remix cdr using the sounds from 11 hours of musical doodling (available for 2 dollars), an experimental video tape with super-saturated images, a cd using sounds from a laundromat and a payphone outside said laundromat (also two dollars), and a series of cassettes that each contain unique sounds - none are alike. As well, each Crippled Ninja package comes with tons of cool stuff inside it! Check 'em out at http://www.difmin.com/crippledninjas. For lots more information, check out Indieville's interview with Crippled Ninja Productions!
Also, check out a review of a Crippled Ninja compilation!

dogproofracoonbubble is a diy noise musician whose music comes from a large variety of sources. He has taken musical samples (or found sounds) from various places, including a water treatment facility, electronic children's toys, vacuums, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Once he collects these sounds, he cuts them up and puts them together to make some fascinating sound art. He's also made a video which collects a variety of short clips, played in slow-motion. Things like a fire and a team handball match, among others, are given the slow-motion treatment on the 30 minute video, and the score is done by none other than dogproof... He is also planning a video that uses images from a broken nintendo machine. Everything's released on tape or vhs and everything's dirt cheap. In fact, you can get the slow-motion video for a mere three dollars, postage paid! He is also known for the "cut up yr world on recycled cassette" series, released in a series of 10, where each cassette is unique! Go over to http://community-2.webtv.net/dogproofracoonb/SOUND/ to see a catalogue and more information on dogproofracoonbubble. (All his releases are on the gi'-i-sa-wa record label.) As well, you can learn more about dogproofracoonbubble in his Indieville interview!

This is an entire CD made using a SayIt digital voice synthesizer, a program in which you! Only 33 copies were made and released on UBUS Records, and it was Telesmata's first release, ever! Telelesmata would type random letters (and spaces) to see what the synthesizer would say. What would come out would be weird, made-up words. This yielded similar results as if you were to pronounce the phrase "snakjha hfiaji askjhasf." That is also why the musician named it "Neologistics." As you may already know, a neologism is a word that doesn't actually exist. Just so you know, SayIt is a freeware program available for download from AnalogX. For more info, including mp3 files and a chance to buy it for 8 bucks, visit http://www.homestead.com/ubus/main.html. Also, you can hear a previously unreleased Telesmata track, "A Day At The Races," on the new Bind-A-Placket Records compilation, Harsh Planet. "A Day At The Races" uses solely the sounds of automobile engines as its sound source.

This nCr label release has an interesting story behind it. The cd, essentially, is a "remix" album of a bunch of songs from mainstream pop albums turned into psychotic experimental noise. Originally, it was made as a kind of a prank. The creators, nCr Records, found out about a concert that was coming to their town called "The Smash Hits Roadshow," so they set out to make a cd to sell to all the mainstream-loving kids as they left the show. They would explain to the kids that it was a "bootleg" cd of all the bands they had just heard. Unfortunately, the cd wasn't ready when the concert came along, so they never got the chance to complete their mission. So, now it is available to all us noise fans (and people with a sense of humour). For more information about nCr (and Smashed Hits), visit http://www.angelfire.com/emo/ncrecords/.

This is an interesting release, on the Impulse To Injury label from Quebec. It's a recording of the sound of the CD being packaged into it's paper bag. Very conceptual, this little cd is probably worth buying just for the novelty value. As well, only 5 copies were ever made. It's only 2 bucks american, which is also kind of neat. Check out the Impluse To Injury label website at http://radiantslab.com/impulse/.

D-503 has put out many releases, all of them experimental. One release was 59 seconds of noise, recorded onto a floppy disc (this was on Lucha Libre Recordings). It also came with a text file and a jpeg. Another release, called "I'm Feeling Puffy" was an entire album made with the sounds of a skipping Puff Daddy cd found on the side of the road (also on Lucha Libre). It is available for 2 bucks american! As well, some sounds were added by D-503. I will explain more of his releases in the next Oddities showcase...

This is a neat little record label that's produced quite a number of releases. One release came in a chip bag (an EMPTY chip bag), and you could specify what flavour you wanted, Ready Salted, Salt n' Vinegar, or Smokey Bacon. Unfortunately, all 9 copies are now sold out. Another release included a noise cover of Glenn Miller's "In The Mood." Various things can show up on the packaging of Yuffie's releases; scissors, calculator parts, matches, and lots of other junk have all showed up at one time or another. Another release, D-503's "Pop Tunes," was made using solely the sounds of skipping and manipulated pop cds. Another release (on a sublabel called BraBomb Produkt) was just a theme song from the cartoon series "Gustav: Lover of Many Women." 15 seconds in length, the creators themselves deemed it "the biggest waste of a CDR you are ever likely to encounter." Another one of Bra Bomb's releases was a video: one minute of cartoons and 30 seconds of "a dog's ass." It was soundtracked by the Orators. Yuffie is starting a new series of tapes, called "Short Tapes," where each tape is a C1 (a one minute tape.) In each Short Tape, there are two musicians involved, and each one does a 30 second piece for their side of the cassette. Also planned for Yuffie's Space Quest's future is a 7", with 2 mainstream song covers (or should I say reconstructions?), including the much-loved "Thong Song." If that wasn't enough, every one of Yuffie releases is 5 bucks or less!

This cool little 3 inch CD has an interesting story behind it. Stahlgren and Ferguson, the artists, were asked by Omag Magnetizing Systems to fix the problems in the Magnetic Ink Numbering System, a series of machines that sort all of the paper cheques that pass through the World Banking Systems. They spent longer than a month recording all the various aspects of the numbering system, including the magnetizing, printing, reading, and sorting processes. They helped fix the problem, but in the end they were left with tapes upon tapes of recordings that captured the whole process microscopically. Within this release, you can hear a small portion of these recordings. The sounds were edited and processed a bit, of course, but you still get an essence of what it is like.

Upon receiving this submission for Oddities, I had no idea what to think. Although I was familiar with some of MWF's other works, that doesn't mean much, considering MWF's music is more eclectic than Radio Shack's battery counter. In the "Big Seventies Songbook," MWF reconstructs a whole plethora of music from the 1970s, including "Yellow Submarine" (retitled "Giant Yello Sub") and "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (retitled "In-A-Zen-Gadda-Da-Vida"). But, don't expect to recognize much of this, as many of the fragments of melody are buried within MWF's electronic diddlings and doodlings, and most of the vocals are heavily modulated - to the point of just sounding silly. Want to know some other tracks on this album? Here's a few more: "Puff The Magic Dragon." "Across The Universe," "Games People Play," and "Cinnamon Girl," among others. By the way, this release is available for 10 dollars on CDR and 5 dollars on cassette at www.woodrecords.com. A full review will be done shortly.

Grindcore heroes Spazz released this, a ONE-INCH plastic record, on Slap-A-Ham records.  We're not sure how long it is, but it's definitely under a minute.  Only one pressing was ever done, and only 14 copies of it were produced.  It kame in handmade green covers and featured two songs (one on each side):  "Hemorrhoidal Dance of Death" (played at 78 RPM) and "Patches Are For Posers" (played at 33 RPM).  It was apparently bootlegged at one point, so perhaps there's hope for you tracking it down (I doubt anyone's willing to part with their copy).

Remember the old "Mario Paint" program that could be purchased for the Super Nintendo videogame console?  You could draw pictures, play silly games, and - best of all - compose works of music by placing notes on a time signature and choosing from a selection of wacky, heavily synthesized sounds.  Well, by hooking their Nintendo system up to an amplifier (via RCA cables through a VHS recorder), The Electric Family have composed an ENTIRE ALBUM of Mario Paint symphonies.  Upon hearing these tracks, you'll recognize a sort of experimental charm that goes with them, and there's some melodies to enjoy as well. You can check out free MP3s of the entire album here.

Although technically not a MUSICAL release, CASH was released by Vinyl Communications and is carried by Mego Records' distribution house, M.DOS.  What CASH is, essentially, is perfume.  A bottle of perfume.  What does it smell like?  Cash.  Yes, after eight months in the lab, the folks at Sabotage Communications have produced a perfume that smells like a freshly-minted American one hundred dollar bill.  And, it's only $18.85 American for 50ml!  That's 50ml of $100 for only $18.85!!  Well, not quite.   Recently, they filled up a massive tanker truck with the perfume and allowed people to dispense it into specially created CASH flacons for their own personal use.  Want to smell rich?  Track this stuff down!

Zach Howard writes: "Hi, here's something that you can add to the Oddities section of your site. It's a 2" record by the Japanese thrash band, Slight Slappers. It was released on Slap a Ham records, the same label that did the Spazz 1" record (see Oddity #27). There were 666 copies of the record made. It's billed as a "total noise" ep in case anyone ever found a way to play it. On the back it says "If you wanna break needle, Go ahead, put this on turntable!! To; All D.J. Play this vinyl fuckin' loud at any clubs!!". Hope this makes a good addition to your site. Take care."  Click here for a coin comparison.

This is an interesting 3" CD co-released on Listen / Apestaartje.  Two waterproof contact microphones were frozen inside a 10" by 10" block of ice.  The ice was then submerged in water and the recording was started, lasting until the ice had finished melting.  No processing was made to the recording, although small digital errors were removed.

Courtesy of psycho-label extraordinaire, youresofuckingselfish is a long, droney noise track made solely out of an angry conversation Erik had with his girlfriend.

Pop/lo-fi label Asaurus Records is notorious for their legendary themed compilations.  They'll get a wide array of their best friends and create all sorts of topical comps and tribute albums.  There's Candycore, a collection of 27 songs about candy.  Then there's There Were Trees in That Forest, an Arbor Day comp with all the songs about trees, and For Whom The Casio Tolls, a collection of 17 kiddie-keyboard tunes.  A Tape Between Friends, limited to 100 copies, is defined as "a collection of songs recorded in out-of-way places, recreating the sound and feeling of nostalgia."  On the tribute album front, they've done a cassette comp called The Hiss That We Have Missed (19 Smashing Pumpkins covers) and have one for Depeche Mode in the works.  The best thing is - all of these are available cheap, usually at three or four dollars.  As well, Asaurus constantly has a number of comps in the works - check out their website for details and instructions on how to contribute (forthcoming projects include the Depeche Mode tribute and a collection of commercial jingle covers.)

Well to begin with, they've named their band "Dead Vagina," which is notable in itself. But more interestingly, this is a twelve track noise record with each song named after a a different one of the band members' ex-girlfriends. Zany.

4800 tracks, 4800 different submissions, 80 minutes, one second per track. That is the concept behind Obscurica Records' Sloppy Seconds compilation. They plan on breaking the CDR up into 80 minute-long sets of 60 tracks each, and are currently at track number fourteen as of writing (not bad for such an ambitious project). What the final product will be like is anyone's guess, but it's surely worth checking out.

Sounds like a little five year old Japanese girl, playing somewhat interesting organ and singing in a voice about ten pitches higher than the Deerhoof chick... all the songs are about a dog.

-Adam Cooley

This one was put out on Sublime Frequencies, I believe, which is a pretty weird record label run by the Sun City Girls. Some of the albums they've put out are really musically rewarding; actual bands in Niger or the Sahara Desert playing music.. really great shit. SOME of the albums they release are just random street sounds or random gamelan performances. This is probably the most bizarre album they've released though; it's just the sounds of dragonflies, but the dragonflies are noisier than Merzbow or Wolf Eyes or something. This is crazy shit, it actually hurt my ears.

-Adam Cooley

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