The avant-garde trio comprising Jac Berrocal (Nurse With Wound), David Fenech, and Vincent Epplay has unveiled their fifth LP, “Broken Allures” to be released on Cold Spring on the 30th of August. This latest release continues their approach to musique concrète, blending the sounds and techniques of each member.

The album is available in several formats via Cold Spring:

• CD in a matt-laminate flood-printed digipak.
• Limited edition of 150 copies on transparent yellow vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve with a full-color insert.
• Black vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve with a full-color insert.

French musician Jac Berrocal is renowned for his collaborations with Nurse With Wound, Vince Taylor, Jaki Liebezeit, Pascal Comelade, and Sunny Murray. For this project, the trio further enlisted the talents of two musicians: Cosey Fanni Tutti and Jah Wobble.

Cosey Fanni Tutti, known for her work with Throbbing Gristle, Chris & Cosey, and COUM Transmissions contributes vocals, cornet, and electric guitar, and has written lyrics for two tracks.

Jah Wobble, a founding member of Public Image Limited and a collaborator with a diverse array of artists including African Head Charge, Brian Eno, Björk, and Sinéad O’Connor, lends his industrial dub sound to the album.

“Broken Allures” includes the track “Outspoken Caress” featuring Cosey Fanni Tutti, with a video directed by Vincent Epplay.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

(Photo by Spoon Records) The second phase of the Can live series, “Can Live in Paris 1973”, is set for release on vinyl, CD and digitally on 23 February 2024 via Mute and Future Days (the new EU label created by Spoon Records).

“Live in Paris 1973” finds Can for a performance recorded at L’Olympia in Paris on 12 May 1973, marking the first of the live series to feature Damo Suzuki on vocals. From 1970-73 the core line up of Irmin Schmidt, Jaki Liebezeit, Michael Karoli, and Holger Czukay were joined by Japanese improviser and vocalist Suzuki. They met after a chance encounter while Suzuki was busking in Munich.

Here is an excerpt of “Can Live In Paris 1973”.

This new album shows the band at a particularly important stage of their career, with two of their most important albums – “Tago Mago” and “Ege Bamyasi” – recently released. The recording itself was uncovered and pieced together from recordings within the Spoon Records vaults and those sent in by helpful fans, and brought into the 21st century by founding member Irmin Schmidt and producer / engineer René Tinner who have compiled and edited all the albums in this series.

The new release follows “Can Live in Brighton 1975”, “Can Live in Stuttgart 1975” and “Can Live in Cuxhaven 1976“.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

(Photo by Jürgen Sieckmeyer) Out on February 17 2023 on Mute is the reissue of Phew’s 1992 album, “Our Likeness” which was recorded at Conny Plank’s studio in Cologne. On this album avant-garde vocalist, electronics innovator and post-punk artist Phew was joined by Jaki Liebezeit, Alexander Hacke, Chrislo Haas and Thomas Stern.

Phew first came to the fore as the vocalist of Japanese post-punk group Aunt Sally (whose 1979 debut was reissued last year on Mesh-Key) before going on to record a solo single with Ryuichi Sakamoto. Her 1981 self-titled album, recorded with Liebezeit and Holger Czukay, was engineered by Conny Plank, and was followed by 1987’s “View”.

It was Chrislo Haas (D.A.F. / Liaisons Dangereuses / Der Plan), who had met Phew briefly when Plank engineered her debut solo album in 1981, who arranged for Alexander Hacke (guitar / Einstürzende Neubauten) and Thomas Stern (bass / Crime & the City Solution) to join. Can’s drummer Jaki Liebezeit also reunited with Phew to collaborate alongside this new generation of German experimental musicians. Chrislo Haas also introduced Phew to Daniel Miller, for the original release of “Our Likeness”.

Phew remembers: “When I was recording at Conny’s Studio in 1981, a young German man came to visit, sat quietly in the studio for a while and left without saying a word. His politeness was long remembered and can still be recalled. It was when he came to Japan that I discovered he was Chrislo Haas of D.A.F. At the end of the 1980s he visited me in Tokyo, then we decided to make something together, and a few months later we were recording at Conny’s Studio. Chrislo contacted the musicians who took part, Alex Hacke, Jaki Liebezeit and Thomas Stern, told Mute about the project and Our Likeness was released. I often wonder what kind of music Chrislo would have made if he had still been here on earth. Twenty-four years later, I met Alex Hacke again at a festival in Poland, where I got to play with hackedepicciotto. And now I am working with Danielle de Picciotto. More to come!”

You can check out the title track below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

(Photo by Spoon Records) Mute and Spoon Records have released details of the second in a series of Can live album releases. “Live in Brighton 1975” will be released December 3 on limited edition triple gold vinyl, double CD, and digital platforms.

Sleeve notes for the release were written by Can biographer, author, and editor Rob Young and British journalist Kris Needs. The latter was involved in several live Can shows at the Friars club in Aylesbury, England between 1973-1977.

The Can Live series has taken the best of the bootlegged recordings and – overseen by founding member Irmin Schmidt and producer / engineer Rene Tinner – run them through the wringer of 21st century technology to bring you these vital historical documents in the best quality versions possible.

Here’s an excerpt from what to expect.

About Can

Can was a German experimental rock band formed in Cologne in 1968 by the core quartet of Holger Czukay (bass, tape editing), Irmin Schmidt (keyboards), Michael Karoli (guitar), and Jaki Liebezeit (drums). The group cycled through several vocalists, most prominently the American-born Malcolm Mooney (1968–70) and the Japanese-born Damo Suzuki (1970–73), as well as various temporary members.

Coming from backgrounds in the avant-garde and jazz, the members of Can blended elements of psychedelic rock, funk, and noise on influential albums such as Tago Mago (1971), Ege Bamyasi (1972) and Future Days (1973).[7] Can also had occasional commercial success, with singles such as “Spoon” and “I Want More” reaching national singles charts. They have been widely hailed as pioneers of the German krautrock scene, and a considerable influence on subsequent rock, post-punk, ambient, and electronic music.

More interesting for many of our readers is that Jaki Liebezeit would go on to record with numerous musicians, such as Jah Wobble and Philip Jeck, with whom he produced an album for Jah Wobble’s 30 Hertz Records, and contributed drums and percussion to many albums as a guest musician over the years, such as the Depeche Mode album “Ultra” and Brian Eno’s album “Before and After Science”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

(Photo by Masayuki Shioda) Phew, a Japanese singer and analogue electronics improviser working in the areas of experimental and avant-garde music, has announced details of a new album – her first for Mute since 1992’s “Our Likeness”. A first track is available now, “Into the Stream”, for which you can view the video below. “New Decade” is out on Mute on 22 October 2021.

The video acts as a sequel to the closing track on her recent compilation for Disciples and was directed by Lisa Aoki. Below is the video for “Into the Stream”.

About Phew

Phew rose to prominence with the art-punk group Aunt Sally before her first solo release in 1981, recorded at Conny Plank’s studio in Cologne with Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit.

After Aunt Sally broke up after releasing one LP she has mostly worked solo with musicians such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Holger Czukay, Jaki Liebezeit, Chrislo Haas, Alexander Hacke, Yuji Takahashi, Seiichi Yamamoto, Hiroyuki Nagashima, Otomo Yoshihide in the group Novo Tono, Dieter Moebius on Phew’s Project Undark Radium Girls project, Jim O’Rourke and Ana da Silva.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Richard H. Kirk is a world-wide recognized artist who started his ‘career’ in the 70s! He of course will always be linked to Cabaret Voltaire, which is considered by numerous music lovers as an electronic/industrial pioneer. Next to Cabaret Voltaire, Richard H. Kirk has been involved in multiple projects (Sandoz, Electronic Eye, Acid Horse, Biochemical Dread…) and worked with numerous artists. He this year released a new album (cf. “Dasein”) under his own name and on his own label Intone. Richard accepted answering a few questions about this new work.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Richard, you’ve released an endless list of productions featuring songs & albums, which entered into history so what does your newest opus “Dasein” mean to you?

Richard: It’s about the world we live in today. Too fast, too violent, too much reliance upon technology, and social media and it’s about my place in that world. It’s about the lack of spirituality, and the manipulation of people by religious organisations… It’s also about the idea of living for now, as we are not immortal (yet).

Q: Did you’d some specific ideas, concept or a kind of guiding line in mind when starting the writing of Dasein?

Richard: Not really, but as world wide events unfolded over the years during the making of the album, the narrative presented itself and could not be avoided. Syria/Russia/Trump/North Korea and, of course, Brexit and the sorry state of affairs in my own country which is in a state of permanent austerity – a cruel ideology and completely unnecessary. The shift to right wing and fascist ideas in the UK, Europe and the USA.

Q: “Dasein” sounds a bit to me as a sonic summary of your work; moving from pure vintage electro (80s) experiments to groovy and danceable passages. What’s your own feeling about this work and what did you try to accomplish?

Richard: Just a progression of different ways of working, using both old and new technology, and to give something that can’t be achieved by computer programs – my own voice and guitar playing.

Q: I think you’re one of those artists dealing with a real ‘sound DNA’ a listener directly recognize and, which is also unique. What does it say about your perception of sound research and-creation?

Richard: I’ve been making music / sound for over 40 years and have learnt a lot along the way, but really I work instinctively and don’t think about things too much before entering the studio.

Q: Composing electronic music seems quite easy today; you just need a few software programs to make music, but in the end most of the productions sound all the same. What’s your perception of this evolution and the new techniques?

Richard: I agree. Too much music is being made just because people can. It’s too easy and a lot of it sounds the same. Really, the technology is not that important to me. What you need is an idea and it should come from the heart and soul.

Q: You’re into music since the late 70s so how do you look back and analyze your evolution as musician throughout the years? 

Richard: I leave that to other people, self analysis is never a good idea. I just carry on and follow where my instinct leads. Holger Czukay of Can, who sadly passed away recently said many years ago, ‘always look to the past or the future for your inspiration in music, never take too much influence from what’s going on in the present’. Or words to that effect.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Can musician Holger Czukay is no more. The Cologne musician and co-founder of the band Can died at the age of 79 years in his studio – an old cinema based in Weilerswist – which he had converted into the apartment in recent years. The cause of death is yet to be determined. , Czukay died only a few days after his wife Ursula, who died on July 28th on her 55th birthday.

Holger Czukay revolutionized the musical world from 1968 to 1978 with the band Can. Czukay founded Can in 1968 together with Irmin Schmidt. Both had studied with the Cologne composer Karlheinz Stockhausen and the duo was joined later on by the late Michael Karoli (he died in 2001 at the age of 53) and Jaki Liebezeit (he died in January 2017, 78 years old).

The band knew it’s international breakthrough in 1971 with the music for the Francis Durbridge crime drama “The Knife”. Through albums such as “Monster Movie” (1969), “Tago Mago” (1971), “Ege Bamyasi” (1972) and “Future Days” (1973), the band exerted a considerable influence on avant-garde, experimental, post-punk, ambient, new wave and electronic music.

After the end of Can, Czukay went on a solo endeavour – with the album “Der Osten Ist Rot” and the single “Cool In The Pool”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Originally put out on the famous Zick Zack label in Germany in 1981 as a 12″, the Die Krupps album “Stahlwerksynfonie” was recorded in Can’s famous Innerspace Studio (with Holger Czukay in attendance) on March 20th, 1981. However, several live and alternate recordings never saw the light of day until 30 years later when they were released as part of a Die Krupps CD reissue series. To this day, “Stahlwerksynfonie” and the early live material has never received a vinyl reissue.

This Artoffact Records double album reissue contains bonus tracks and the live recordings, including extensive liner notes and historical photos. The project was overseen by Juergen Engler, and the two records come in a gatefold sleeve.

The album is available here as a very limited edition double vinyl in grey/black splatter colour. You can also order it from Artoffact Records on black audiophile vinyl.

Enjoy this track already!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Out on June 16, 2017 on triple vinyl, download, CD and streaming services is “The Singles”, a brand new collection of all of CAN’s single releases. This is the first time CAN’s singles will be presented together.

You can listen to the rare 1971 7″ single release “Turtles Have Short Legs” right below. This was the band’s third single, never appeared on a studio album and was recorded around the time of the “Tago Mago” sessions with the line up of Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli, Jaki Liebezeit, Irmin Schmidt and Damo Suzuki.

In related news, on Saturday April 8th Irmin Schmidt will conduct the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican in London marking CAN’s 50th anniversary year. He will be presenting the world premiere of an original orchestral work composed by Schmidt and Gregor Schwellenbach, “CAN Dialog”, which will include quotations of some of the band’s most well-known pieces. In addition Irmin Schmidt will also conduct the world premiere of the concert version of “La Fermosa, Ballett-Suite” by Irmin Schmidt. The second half of the show provides an entirely different experience of CAN material, as realized by The CAN Project, a specially curated supergroup brought together by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore featuring CAN’s first singer Malcolm Mooney, Steve Shelley, Deb Googe, James Sedwards, Pat Thomas, Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen.

And the CAN festivities will continue in 2018 as in Spring 2018, Faber & Faber are publishing a new book devoted to CAN, “All Gates Open”. The special edition will come in two volumes: one will be the first complete, authorized biography of the band written by Rob Young and the second, “CAN Kiosk” by Irmin Schmidt, is a collage of thoughts, visuals and interviews.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com