End of the Summer

soon we're coming back after the summer break with new posts and interviews. we have a lot of amazing stuff found in these months. stay tuned!

Sounds from underground/File N°72

It's happening again. Like Twin Peaks. New album of Nac/Hut Report, entitled "Grey Zone Collapse Nostalgia" is out right now and I personally hope - as a member of the band - that it'll freak you up. this summer gonna be weird and noisy!

Voice of Underground - How we loved and played in 2016.

  many bloggers in the beginning of the year make some kind of classification of the best albums of the last 12 months. As I don't like any kind of hierarchy I preferred to create this wonderful collage of interviews I made in 2016. As every band answered to the same questions we have an opportunity to see how the underground bands see the musical context nowadays, which are the instruments used right now by the experimental scene and much more. I hope that this article/huge interview/collage of thoughts will help you to understand the the underground is stronger and more united then ever. thanks to all the bands that contribute to the blog, for their music and for making this world a better place - without people like you we would have to listen Justin(choose the Justin you wish there's always some that makes shitty music). but as I used to do, i leave the voice to the musicians. This is the Voice of Underground. How we loved and played in 2016.

0. name of the band

Figure With Meat, Primidivinity, Filthy Little Star, Uncle Grasha's Flying Circus, 1:11, ILD I DIT ANSIGT, СЕСТРА ХАМЕЛЕОН, República Bananera, Slow Slow Loris, Raune & McCartney, The Son of a Seagull,Theo Nugraha,Douglas Feto Alado, Gripper, DJ Crivellator, Queelum, ESMECTATONS, Perra Galga, Złota Jesień, DISLEXIA FREE, Päfgens, 1994, Plebs & Fuckboys, YOUNG PRIMATES, Sagabarindo Tuchela, Lu Garfield, ClearVisionDream Productions, Strikkeklubben, Quefear, EOJ, Kitxch, Nuances d’Engrais, TEKNA, Dominik Suchy, Drearian, Paddock, t.b. OR NOT t.b., Екатерина Литвинова, Rat Filth, Be the Hammer, The Parking Lot Experiments, Secret Salmon, CRØSSENSE, Tedwyn James, Lilylivered, Dogless, Mr Holiday, Greg White, Antichrist Volt, Cloud Choir, Human Pesticide, Flores Feias, Buraco Negro, Aux Luna, Drwiwy, Skyjelly , Vincent Eoppolo, CANDY, Wild Books, Micleusanu, Toypurina, Restroom music.

1. where are you from?

Mansfield, Ohio. Hartford. Hobart, Tasmania. Czech Republic. Seoul. Aarhus, Denmark. Odessa, Ukraine. Northwest coast of Puerto Rico.Berlin. Berlin and Münster in Germany. Kiev, Palangkaraya (Central Borneo), Rio das Ostras, Brazil. Jose C. Paz, Buenos Aires. Argentina. Latina, Italy. Aberdeen, Scotland. São Paulo, Brazil. Tijuana B.C. Mexico. Warsaw, Poland. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Slovakia. Coleford. The Internet. Ontario, Canada. Uruguay. Sydney, AU/London, UK. The Internet. Denmark. Moscow, Russia. Quezon City, Philippines. The planet Earth. Brusselles. Majorca and Albacete. Slovakia. North East England. Albury-Wodonga, Australia. Offenbach/Main, Germany. Russia, Nizhniy Novgorod. Melbourne, Australia. Belgium. Melbourne, Australia. Poland. Vancouver, Canada. Poland. Detroit. Melbourne, Australia. Montreal. Black Sea (Odessa). Beijing, China.Melbourne, Australia. Curitiba,Brazil. Brazil. England. Belarus. Fall River. Wilmington, Delaware USA. Seoul, South Korea. Warsaw, Poland. Bucharest, Romania. Tijuana, Mexico. Rennes, France and Minnesota, USA.

2. what kind of instruments/equipment you use? do you use some particular record technique? which is your method of composition?

I play drums and usually use anything that can make a sound the usual person would dislike.

I just mess around with effects and add some synthy sounds in.

We use any unusual instrument, children keyboards, sea bells, metal plates, children military (especially tank) toys etc.

We're guitar/drums duo.

Every object we can get our hands on which produces an interesting sound.(…) We record with phones, cameras, Pcs.

Soviet bass, expensive electro guitar, drums and karaoke mic.

It’s overflowing with digital and analogue synthesizers, guitars, a bass, lots of metal sound sources, many more pedals coz Angie is the pedal queen, a collection of flutes and toys and some mannequin arms.

Mostly an electric bass, synthesizers, various noise generators/boxes, pedals, gongs and other traditional Chinese instruments.

I'm using tools like piezo, Casio keys, walkman, music toys, Nintendo DS, Circuit bending etc 

Electric guitar with heavy fuzz, drums, a sampler called Funk Brazil and voice.

I use a dell notebook, monotron, electric guitar, sometimes bass, microphone, connected to a Tascam external audio soundcard

My gear nowadays  is based on sampler grooveboxes, I started off with handheld game consoles and old computers with software sequencers on them

Sounds from underground/File N°71

amazing bridge between experimental, avant-grade sound and some melodic vocals that will fit perfectly to define our summer 2017. love, love, love. dig it otherwise you're a bad person
0. name of the band
Sunday
1. where are you from?
Richmond, VA in United States
2. what kind of instruments/equipment you use? do you use some particular record technique? which is your method of composition?
I use a pretty sparse set up of mostly software synths and VST’s in Ableton and then I have a Teisco ev-2t which is this cheaper Japanese remake of the Vox phantom that Ian Curtis had, and I often use a looper to write. The compositional process is lots of moderating stream of consciousness flows. I don’t often start off with a clear idea for how the entire piece should function and I sort of use the act of recording as a means of songwriting.
3. what do you think about the music context nowadays and how you place yourself in? do you feel a part of any scene?
I feel a part of a historical lineage of home recording artists and other music fans who have a DIY approach to music that isn’t necessarily about achieving a certain roughness or unrefined quality to the music. As far as being a part of a scene, there are a few artists whose work I really admire, such as Hogan, this synth wiz kid from Delta-9 or some quadrilateral place where riddles predominate. My friends from school have been pretty successful in music and they have been an encouraging influence, but generally I feel pretty exterior to most of that.
4. do you think that nowadays has still sense talking about "underground"?
Yeah, I’ve often wondered about that myself, but I think that as long as there is artistic creation there will be an undercurrent of progressive artists challenging dominant aesthetic and distributional models and in that sense breathing an experimental spirit –– the essence of art making –– into an otherwise increasingly homogenized field where bands get branded and then installed as the vanguard for some promotional purpose or other. The proliferation of channels that allow people to access and discover music is certainly a mixed blessing, but in general I’d like to think that the creative underground has kept pace with the developments, because there are more people out there making and releasing music.
5. do you play live? how public react to your music?
I am in a band named Newscaster and we play live and the audience can be small and half the time it is in front of a room full of people who even if they didn’t like it I would think they would be too polite to say so, but yeah it seems like everyone is having a good time. I tend to get anxious before I perform and there’s a lot of drama queen sort of behavior which is totally unwarranted, but I would like to put on a big show. I have a lot of ideas. We’re playing at a festival back at my old school on Friday, so maybe there will be an opportunity for a more immersive set. We’re practicing on sequencing in between songs to have a continuous set and also open up improvisational opportunities. Considering playing solo stuff live, but need to get better with the Octatrack first.
6. Genesis P-Orridge said "Our records were documents of attitudes and experiences and observations by us and other determinedly individual outsiders. Fashion was an enemy, style irrelevant.". What do your records represent to you?
Really like that quote. I think my records are me trying to reveal my own subconscious processes. Shadowboxing with my own self-made phantoms and flights of whimsy that document my delayed reaction the impressions I receive. It’s a personal truth I’m looking for, but ideally it would end up dovetailing with a progressive politics which doesn’t romanticize escapism.

Sounds from underground/File N°70

 
noise, free-improvisation, with a bit of pleasant melodies? yes, we want «Smoker's Lung Sandwich» is a New York based group that will give you all the psychedelic, outsider experience you're looking for right now. absolutely dig it!
0. name of the band
Smoker's Lung Sandwich
1. where are you from?
We are from Huntington, Long Island, New York, with the exception of our newest member, who is from Smithtown, not far from us.
2. what kind of instruments/equipment you use? do you use some particular record technique? which is your method of composition?
We often use standard rock band instrumentation, such as drums, electric guitar, electric bass, keyboard, and vocals.

Sounds from underground/File N°69

great noisy stuff from Romania. the story is about the group called «Makunouchi Bento» and we gonna trip into their world. another wonderful psychedelic trip. from the eternal music journey with love.
0. name of the band
Makunouchi Bento.
1. where are you from?
Piaţa Bălcescu. Piaţa Unirii. Timișoara, Romania, specifically.
2. what kind of instruments/equipment you use? do you use some particular record technique? which is your method of composition?
Computers and software, mostly. Reaper is our DAW of choice, we use Native Instruments Kontakt a lot, Reaktor and many other VST instruments and effects - some of which we also betatest or help developing. We record our own field recordings with a Zoom H4 and Olympus LS-10. Sometimes, we play around with iPad apps and various toy instruments, acoustic or electronic. Not sure if our "method" of composition has a name, call it Dinsdale if you wish. We make music, we experiment with sounds, pass audio bits forward and backward until we're pleased with the mess we made. One thing is sure, we experiment  a lot and we are having fun.

Sounds from underground/File N°68

in our musical journey we're still in Slovenia. feels like possibly great scene? perhaps. anyway our guest today is a group called «Balans». their Lp is entitled «Bunkerpop» and I think that is already enough reason to love them.  it's like haunted, psychedelic avant-garde master taking you info his trip. absolute must have/love/steal
0.name of the band
balans. It means balance in some Slavic languages.
1. where are you from?
We're from the universe of Slovenia, Europe. Ljubljana is a small pact of wild wolves with a lot of pigeons that annoy tourists and people that eat burek after 2am in the morning.
2.what kind of instruments/equipment you use? do you use some particular record technique? which is your method of composition?
Čona actually got her guitar for her birthday and Jadran stole a bass guitar and some effects from some dude we don't know anymore. Čona also likes to use her vocal chords and Jadran likes to play around with some midi synths plus we also integrate loops and field recordings in our music. We've never been in a proper studio and we don't plan to do that in the near future; for now you're gonna keep hearing our low quality recordings with us talking during the jamming. We prefer spontaneity, improvising and reinterpreting our material, rather than structured songs.

Self Portrait/Venus Crash

dry pastels on pocket paper. Venus Crush. 2017

Sounds from underground/File N°67

so we are talking about this great band you're looking for from a long time? the one that make this a bit weird stuff that at the same time is so addictive? this sort of music you want to make listen to all your friends and you want they love it as much as you? ok, I got it, you're talking about music of «oOo». just great. I don't think it needs further explanation. dig it
0. name of the band
oOo and when we are collaborating with other musicians oOo & free O
1. where are you from?
We are citizens of Earth and you can find us most of the time practicing in Ljubljana capital of so called country Slovenia. We don't believe in borders and nationalities and weird stuff like that...
2. what kind of instruments/equipment you use? do you use some particular record technique? which is your method of composition?
It all begun with Tina on drums, Mihael and Žiga on guitars. But since we play improvised garage noise r'n'r music we started to expand our range of sounds with saxophone, trumpet, synthesizers and things we can hit or press and they react back with sound.

Sounds from underground/File N°66

a bit of chill sounds from «Borne y los Santos». this cool formation from Santiago comes to us with these great 9 tracks that surely will contribute to make our Spring special. dig it0. name of the band
Borne y los Santos
1. where are you from?
From Santiago, Chile.
2. what kind of instruments/equipment you use? do you use some particular record technique? which is your method of composition?
We are a rock quintet, with drums (Claudius Rieth), bass guitar (Pape Astauburuaga), two guitars (Robert Rowe and me), and hammond keyboard (Feliciano Quintana). We like old instruments. Normally I compose my songs alone at home, and I make a home demo with the entire structure of the song, lyrics and a rough idea of the way it should be played by the band. But then it comes to the rehearsal studio, where the true magic and the energy comes.... that energy is something you cannot plan in anyway.

Images from underground/File N°017

 
Marcel Herms is an artist from Netherlands that will bring us in his very special world. His amazing works express the alienation, restlessness and uncommon beauty. You'll find more of his works here and follow his page on facebook. Highly recommended

1. where are you from?
I live in Deventer, a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands.

Sounds from underground/File N°65

Moon Human music is a sort of outsider psychedelic magic. Their last album «Creature Feature» is an obligatory position for all of us. Outstanding 
0. name of the band
Moon Human
1. where are you from?
We are from the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington
2. what kind of instruments/equipment you use? do you use some particular record technique? which is your method of composition?
Grant McGilberry plays drums, Carter Prince plays guitar (an epiphone casino or fender telecaster) and Jon Dugger plays bass (most often a squier jazz bass) We try to primarily record ourselves analogously with tape. We are DIY and are collecting gear but our current setup is still pretty lofi.

Sounds from underground/File N°64

a bit of sane Japanese psychedelic pop for this Sunday. enjoy and stay tune


0. name of the band
Romance Soft Pouch
1. where are you from?
Tokyo, Japan
I am living in Nerima-city
2. what kind of instruments/equipment you use? do you use some particular record technique? which is your method of composition?
The instruments I use are Fender Mustang and Telecaster.
Base is using 100 $ cheap dirty.
Synthesizer uses KORG's R3 and Arturia micro brute
The recorder uses Ableton live 9 and sometimes uses cassette MTR
There is no specific record technique
Just make the most of your equipment.
3. what do you think about the music context nowadays and how you place yourself in? do you feel a part of any scene?
In Japan, genre called City pop is popular
I can not go fashion.
However, music that resonates with foreign Indie pop is also coming out
I'm happy because I like foreign Indie pop.
4. do you think that nowadays has still sense talking about "underground"?
yes,
Like punk was popular in the late 70's my music came out from underground
I think that it should be recognized.
5. do you play live? how public react to your music?
Although I was doing it in the previous band
I just started and I have not been live
I want to play live soon!
6. Genesis P-Orridge said "Our records were documents of attitudes and experiences and observations by us and other determinedly individual outsiders. Fashion was an enemy, style irrelevant.". What do your records represent to you?
I am a no good human being because there is no place to compete only with music
The record of the music I made is very important
I think that my music expresses his or her no goodness

Self portrait/Pietà

happy new year and happy birthday to the blog that has exactly 1 year :)

we'll see in 2017 with new pictures and music. today «Pietà», 2016, pastels on wrapping paper. BR