Favorite bands..that sound awful..

[Tubetec]

Heres Desmond Lesie's 'music of the future' . Legend has it that he comissioned a specially made console from Neve,and even though he recieved the mixer ,it was never fully paid for . The mixer and some of his other equipment still resides at Castle Leslie ,Co Monaghan ,Ireland .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64wdnHq7vT0

Sometimes I just crash edit together atmospheric pieces of sound by cueing them on youtube ,horns and sirens are a favourite ,try running these alongside Des Leslies thing ,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kdbH40abnY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAMiTfSU7ZA

Simply adjust the relative levels of the different tracks on the fly and you have an instant soundscape, its like the ultimate incidental noise generator .

 

[clintrubber]

I do happen to have a classical CD by John Zorn... scary difficult  stuff.

Which one ?

I like it when artists (like him indeed) have such vastly different sides. It can however result in concert-attendance where you don't get what you hope* for, but that's part of the game

*: last year, an one hour concert by Zorn gave 55 minutes of abstract sampled sounds, with sax, drums & bass idling... and only the last 5 minutes were WWIII air raid sirens, where the magnitude of the public had came for. As said, all part of the game. 

Kind of shocked that nobody has mentioned Tom Waits yet. Kind of hard to explain to people why I like his stuff, and even his voice!

Doesn't hurt indeed to have him mentioned here as well! We had Marc Ribot being mentioned already, so we didn't totally goof ;-)

 

[clintrubber]

Checked out  Jesus Lizard  . Thanks so much for mentioning. Me too like.

Here's what came to mind while listening. You like any of them?
- Birthday Party (more (self-)destructive)
- Steve Albini ('dirty' guitar distortion but more so 'live sound' of the albums)
- PIL (bass & abrasive monotony in a good sense)
- Pere Ubu (only very early stuff, for quirkiness, 'Modern Dance')
- Fugazi (some structure and some of the guitar work?)
- Police (not sure why, maybe sparseness of guitar)

Nice, glad you liked it!

I like Birthdayparty and Shellac etc as well.  Thanks for mentioning Pere Ubu, I should listen to them again soon!
I guess what makes TJL standout for me is that they're (with all respect to the others) a bit better musicians so are able to give the music more depth, and make the songs more interesting.

Their first albums the best imho. Their 1st full length album (Head) has several songs that might not 'catch' you right away, but after a short while they're friends for the rest of your life. Denison has written some highly ingenious riffs & licks, both simple&catchy ('Mouthbreather', or check out Tomahawk: God Hates A Coward), others cryptic ('If You Had Lips') & ... well, OK, enough ;-)

Let me put it this way: many people know where they were when they heard that Elvis died.
Me: I do exactly recall where I was when I heard TJL on the radio for the first time ;-)

You have more 'awful' stuff? 

Uhhh, talking about Denison + Patton, let's mention: Tomahawk

Calibro 35 is nice as well, but somewhat different (blend of cheesy & exciting soundtrack-ish Italian B-movie music

And the 'The Jesus Lizard from the UK': Penthouse (not allowed to use that name in the States, so there they called themselves  50 Tons Of Black Terror) Nice over the top Jaguar/Jazzmaster stuff.

I almost forgot Barkmarket (check L.Ron and Lardroom)

Note I managed to refrain from plugging own music ;-)
Back in the day for instance we've been doing TJL-related stuff as well, which got also reviews as us being some kind of TJL-clone, but there weren't many that did, so we also took this as a compliment. ;-)

Bye!

 

[Scodiddly]

Which one ?

I like it when artists (like him indeed) have such vastly different sides. It can however result in concert-attendance where you don't get what you hope* for, but that's part of the game

"On the Torment of the Saints".

 

[clintrubber]

"On the Torment of the Saints".

I liked what I heard (went through some previews). But not everyones cup of tea I can well imagine.

And in general, you gotta give it to him, the program might be easy/difficult/demanding, but I've never heard a badly produced album by him (soundwise).

 

[desol]

Kiedis was always a bit of a bluffer ,Its Fruschianti's harmony vox that I was always listening out for ,he just seems to pick a particularly harmonically rich fifth ,or whatever, it just sounds instantly 'right'.

If you listen to a lot of Keidis's singing, it's literally one note kept through out the whole song. He's probably the worst melody singer I've ever heard that's famous, I think? The only thing that saves what he does, is the odd cool lyric and/or the rhythmic rapping  style that he does over the music. But, it's basically rapping...because he can't sing.

 

[Script]

"On the Torment of the Saints".

Those previews are indeed not enough, except for saying that it sounds pretty 'contemporary'.  Thanks for posting and happy you like it

,...

The persiflage of Red Hot Chilli Peppers by Mr Bungle sure makes me smile and laugh. Also, technically it's well played. Apart from that, however,  as music it leaves me somewhat cold. There's little 'soul' in it for me. (And I'm not a Peppers fan -- rather the. J. Geils Band  type, maybe?, when it comes to popular funk rock.)

For the same reason I usually prefer Beefheart over Zappa,  But there's also the other way round, as I definitely prefer Jeff Beck over Eric Clapton.

....
Tried to listened to  Download.  last night and sure recognize the guy behind it. But I fell asleep after track three... it was very late, or rather early, already. Will definitely give it another spin -- sounded sickening

 

[KrIVIUM2323]

Script: the first album of Download (Furnace) is pretty difficult too...
However between Charlie's Family and Furnace the first is more awfull! Lol.

I forgot to mention all Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire works.
And in the metal department there is a lot of awful things i like: almost all Earache catalog from 90's with Carcass, Entombed, Godflesh, Napalm Death, Obituary...  From England too Meat Hook Seed is well horrible..me like.
Nailbomb is pretty awful too, worse than Sepultura even!
Not so fan of black or death metal.
In technical Trash there was a great Swiss band, Coroner. Very good. Pestilence "Sphere" was impressive too between jazz, bossa nova and technical trash.
In France we had some nasty things too.
Treponem pal, SUP, Proton Burst (' La Nuit 'soundtrack of Druillet's comics  from metal hurlant), and my most beloved one's Cut The Navel String and Hint. For both bands the first album ('Takis' for CTNS and '100% White Puzzle' for Hint) are at the pinnacle of weirdness.

 

[boji]

"Sometimes I just crash edit together atmospheric pieces of sound by cueing them on youtube ,horns and sirens are a favourite ,try running these alongside Des Leslies thing "

One of my favorite things to experiment with!  I wanted to code up a website that randomly juxtaposed YT  vids for this very reason.

Shellac

Great example, great band. The raw, ADA type digital guitar sound was kinda their trademark.

Edit: So...what does it mean when the music is supposed to slay headroom by design?!?
To wit:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No5EHttfnWE

 

[Script]

Edit: So...what does it mean when the music is supposed to slay headroom by design?!?

I guess in this particular case the music tries to mimick/reflect/be mimetic of and criticize (quote: "disgusting") the violence going on around us (as shown in the video) ?  Even if the music was there first...

Whether it's good or awful or just bad music I'd be hard pressed to say after just one piece.

 

[boji]

"Whether it's good or awful or just bad music I'd be hard pressed to say after just one piece."

This is not an outlier.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hiphopheads/comments/6h5493/is_distortionclipping_the_new_trend_in_rap/

 

[Script]

This is not an outlier.

No, I guess not. Interesting. And thanks a lot for posting. Will definitely check it out.

I guess this one belongs more into Ian's 'awful modern music's thread

Don't know, maybe just a trend like any other? Such as Intonator = the new vocoder ( Cher), somewhat ubiquitous. Maybe that distortion sounds 'fresh' or 'rebellious' to some...  Or it's the 'industry' drawing inspiration from the 'home recording underground'... KanyeWest, who knows.

Eventually listeners will grow tired of it  and it'll fade away, I assume. Remember the. Dimension C. Pedal? Happens with a lot of gear. In the worst case, suddenly there is this new 'act' with a new signature sound --awesome, until the world finds out it's nothing more than a Preset on a new rack FX or a new drum machine etc etc
...

Distortion in rap (probably different, but...)
Techno Animal  (mentioned above.)
Public Enemy

 

[Script]

Thanks for.  Cut the Navel Cord.
Good that they resurface(d), I think.
...

Right now still chewing a bit on  Fantomas, haha, who sound like a mix of John Zorn's  'Cobra',  some of Zappa's stuff and the last part especially of  John Oswald's  'Plexure' (minutes 16:00 to end).

Collage: pastiche, parody... ?

https://youtu.be/3eZQq9ebtEg

Anyway, Oswald too is another one for those very special 'candlelight' or 'twilight' moments...

 

[Tubetec]

Just reading trough the latest posts ,
I think if things are heavily brick wall limited ,timbre is lost, as the space the music has to breathe is gone. Kinda like what I said over in the other music post ,if there isnt space for the decay things become crowded and subtleties are lost . Again the reason for 'bit munching' isnt always an  aesthetic one ,but an economic imperative enforced by the 'well everybody else does it too' mentality . I guess content plays a huge part in all of this too , I suppose Nirvana are a good example of the quite/loud thing ,the kinda jangley arppegio in the verse ,which gives way to the all systems on full distortion in the chorus ,light and dark ,ups and downs in both volume and tempo ,its just more interesting  than blam full frontal assault from 00.00 to 03.15 and a beat/tempo thats regular as the atomic clock. This concept of space in music has kinda been ratcheted  down to dead air time in many engineer/producers minds nowadays it seems.

Throbbing gristle ,ahahah heard of them alright ,something to do with that weirdo Genesis P Orridge , I read something before about (him ,shim, her,it , I havent the foggiest to be honest)  and Rick Reuben attempting to work together at one point ,wasnt clear exactly what happened ,but the studio caught fire and several people were very lucky to escape with their lives. I believe Orridge attempted to sue Reuben afterwards unsucessfully ,and the whole thing turned toxic and poisonous . I know one old Veteran here of the UK punk rock scene of the 70's and the later punk/art that emerged from it ,had some dealings with afore mentioned as well , keep well clear was the shout out,unless of course your into getting mindfucked humilliated and abused .
Spiritual and emotional torture as a means to an end musically ,not an untested concept in music by any means ,kinda how punk evolved after all .

Psychic tv one here ,Orridges only input, sonically at least ,seems to be  his nitrous oxide powered giggles at the very end, he's a 'strange fish' as we'd say here . Again I kinda feel in danger of drawing the fire of the PC/Gender re-alignment brigade over my charachterisations above ,but this endless searching new gender identities and badges just looks horrendously devicive from where I stand ,really just polarises the us and them mentality which is the exact opposite of the claimed goal of equality .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0LE-SbwGPM

Lovin this thread by the way ......but lets not get hung up on platitudinousness and having to qualify and almost apologise for posting obscure weird music or opinions for that matter , as long as things remain civil and we dont end up pointing our guns across the table at each other ,were doing a whole hell of a lot better than the rest .

 

[Tubetec]

Heres another genius of timbre and space, very much down along the self destructive road in personal terms too ,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OQEameTmxI

Of course Hannett was much more famous for producing other peoples records.
Couple of interesting control room clips of Hannett at work and other sundry interviews he did a long the way  too ,well worth a watch on tube ,monumentally off his chops on drugs ,yet lucid and insightfull .

I worked with a good friend of Martins later on ,and sure enough the methodology was identical ,there wasnt a drug dealer in 50 miles of the studio could keep up with the demands ,tough session actually,lot of politics and slagging off due to the various different ethnicities(no colour difference incidently)  people involved. I did learn a nice bit about Hannett's trademark swirley sound  though and some really awesome drum mic techniquies , but when it came to time to mix down yer man got a bit protective about his sh*t and I was told thank you and goodbye . Oh yeah another funny thing happened when the studio boss arrived into the control room one morning to clean up ,as he was prone to do even under lock out conditions . The drug stash inadvertantly got put into the bin , there was war when the lads arrived in and found the place cleaned and no dope , In the end it was rubber gloves on and into the bin ,but I found the stuff in the end . I think he was a bit pissed off my connections didnt have the full range of drugs that he wanted ,smack crack coke speed acid pills ,I wasnt going to take the risk of dealing with that calibre of individual and risking my job to watch the guys crawling around the control room on their hands and knees like beavis and butthead on mescaline .

Hannett did get a shot at a U2 album also ,he did a few remixes they liked ,but when it came time to meet up Martin was off his game , a bottle of hard liquor in one hand  and old style cough medicine in the other  , there was no way Paul McGuinness would ever have allowed Hannett get his hooks into his lovely boys, and it was end of story .

 

[KrIVIUM2323]

he's a 'strange fish' as we'd say here .

Nice way to describe G.P. Orridge.
;D

Speaking about crazy guy's who produce music i'm surprised no one mentionned Lee Scratch Perry.
His music is not on the awful side (well, it depends...) but comming from rock and roll/metal/industrial my first encounter with dub and the "mighty upsetter" was quite a weird moment.
Since i'm hooked!

Jah Rastafary!


In the progressive rock scene there was some stange things too.

CAN was great and weird.

From France we had Magma which is/was pretty difficult music performed by virtuoso musician's.
I don't know if it traveled over France?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddD9lAdUK3c

 

[Script]

Lee Scratch Perry.

Unbeatable together with producer/sound engineer  King Tubby

....

Changing genre. Many people outside the Jazz community actually liked and still like 'B*tches Brew' by Miles Davis. Anyway, this liveset is great in that it captures the rhythmic feel and loose groove that producer Teo Macero created in the studio by splicing tape and synchronizing takes and parts by adjusting the speed of reels by hand on the fly -- which you can clearly hear on some of the album recordings.

Here the 'crew', including Keith Jarrett on 'his most be-hated' electric organ, delivers it all live with most intense energy. Truly 'aweful-inspiring', even for people who don't particularly like Jazz, I dare claim.

https://youtu.be/yH327Ttfs7o
"Live at the Isle of Wight"
Call it anything  8)

 

[Tubetec]

Great vintage reggae this one ,
complete with semi automatic gun fire, reverb tank hits and wobbley dubley bubley echo ,
Dr Alimentado Best dressed chicken in the town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhlAi2FfPhw
Full album clip this one ,well worth making sure you have the 45 minutes or so to listen to it ,you wont wanna switch it off.Roll up some chuffage sit back and relax man  8)

The extended version of Miles Davis on the corner sessions I sucked down in flac format a few years ago ,some really awesome jams on there
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIqXprCArdo
It really captures that tribal urban jungle street beat jam style with Davis doing his bull elephant calls over the top ,well worth finding in a uncompressed digital format if you can .

 

[Script]

The extended version of Miles Davis on the corner sessions

Hell, that CD set is expensive... : It will have to wait.

Love 'On the corner' and don't think it sounds 'awful' at all, but drives my wife nuts, although she's become used to quite a lot of weird stuff over the years.

Some people say 'On the corner' is one of the influences behind so-called Electronica music.

 

[Script]

I throw in  Seun Kuti, the more successful of the two musician sons of  Fela Kuti.
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN80u3pLTCb_iYX_XyywbgSviEKWIw2Rv

Music is good, also because he plays with his father's band called Egypt 80. What I don't like is the production. It sound sterile. The production is actually very good -- that is, technically. All instruments can he clearly identified and located.

But strangely, this also makes the music sound thin, neigh, actually a bit like cardboard or rather: like bubble wrap. It's simply too clean!!! Producer is famous, the world's one and only Brian Eno.