THE FIRST VIENNA VEGETABLE ORCHESTRA
Automate - (2003)

Experimental music is not always about pushing music — and the definition of music — into new territories. Occasionally it consists of making conventional music with unconventional means. After a casual listen, you might think that Automate is just another album of glitch electronica, with moments of house and an episode of noise. Wrong. This is the Vegetable Orchestra and there is not a single synthesizer, sampler, or computer involved. Automate features serious musicians imitating electronic music by playing amplified vegetables. The most natural way to use a vegetable (besides eating it) is as a percussion instrument, so most of the music here is beat-driven, tiny beats amplified by contact microphones. Microtonal radish marimbas provide the "looped" staccato patterns often used as melodies in electronic music (except they are not looped; everything is played for real). Various shakers and scratching effects with contact mics are used to recreate synth effects. And a blender becomes the drone in "Urgem X" (the orchestra allows the use of kitchen utensils and appliances too). There is a strong novelty or comedy aspect to the whole project, but the music stretches beyond that. It is surprisingly well written and arranged, daring, challenging, and often surprising. The cover version of Kraftwerk's "Radioaktivität" is hilarious, but the microsound mock-up "Automate" can fool more than a few Kim Cascone aficionados. And it is not for vegetarians only. I could not believe it either. Check it out for the novelty of it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mynftowrtil

And the bands website....
www.gemueseorchester.org

DANGER MOUSE & SPARKLEHORSE
Dark Night Of The Soul - (2009)

Musical visionary Danger Mouse, iconoclastic filmmaker David Lynch, and celebrated rock recluse Sparklehorse have converged to create Dark Night of the Soul, a project encompassing a new full-length album and limited edition book. As half of the acclaimed duo Gnarls Barkley, Danger Mouse is no stranger to high-stakes collaborations. With the help of Sparklehorse, he has recruited a remarkable cast of contemporary artists to lend their vocals, including the Flaming Lips, Black Francis of the Pixies, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes, James Mercer of the Shins, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Nina Persson of the Cardigans, cryptic Southern songwriter Vic Chesnutt, avant-folk icon Suzanne Vega, punk titan Iggy Pop, and even Lynch himself. To create the images that accompany the music, Danger Mouse chose David Lynch. Known for revealing the gripping horror beneath suburban banality, Lynch crafts eerie beauty from the most irregular of elements. For Dark Night of the Soul, the creator of Twin Peaks, Inland Empire, Blue Velvet, and Eraserhead, delivers a gorgeous, hypnotic series of photographs. This captivating project explores and escapes the reality of the world. The book package includes the full sequence of Lynch's images, a foreword by Danger Mouse, selected lyrics, and an art-printed CD-R, in a run of only 5000 copies, each individually numbered. For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. You can get that music here and burn it to any kind of CD-R you like.

http://www.mediafire.com/?qvagmqddi41

SUN RA
The Heliocentric Worlds Of Sun Ra, Vol. 1 - (1965)

The German Happy Bird label issued this pirate of Heliocentric Worlds, Vol. 1 (1965) during the mid-'80s when the majority of Sun Ra platters were not widely available. Surprisingly, one distinct disparity is the radically improved sound quality of Other Worlds (1983), allowing greater attention to the subtle detail in the overtones and interplay. These seven sides became the first of what many free and avant-garde jazz enthusiasts had heard from Ra. At the heart of his post-bop performances is the flexibility of the support from the Arkestra, whose percussive talents were equal only to their unquestionable abilities on other respective instruments. The probing nature of longer selections such as "Outer Nothingness" and "The Cosmos" contrasts "Of Heavenly Things," providing Ra a chance to steer the combo's intrepid excursions from the all-too-rare perspective of a percussionist. His tympani leads motivate the cut, which is also highlighted by Ronnie Boykins (bass) and John Gilmore (tenor sax). All the more impressive is the consistent level of improvisational skills that each member brings to the ensemble. Jimmy Johnson's (drums) timekeeping ranges from appropriately propulsive and bombastic to a spurious foil for Ra's seemingly maniacal prodding. Indeed, this material solidifies the progression that the bandleader had made from his former tuneful, yet ever intricate big-band type of arrangements. While Sun Ra and His Arkestra may not be for everyone, parties whose tastes fall within Ra's unique realm are encouraged to locate Other Worlds and/or The Sun Myth (1983), which replicates the running order of Heliocentric Worlds, Vol. 2 (1965). (allmusic.com)

http://www.mediafire.com/?ttztew4erwe

*** 7" SINGLE ***
THE VSS
Response / I Cut My Teeth / Cosmic Retribution / Crawling In Place - (1995)



http://www.mediafire.com/?idqawhxzhwf

THE RESIDENTS
Postcards From Patmos - (2008)

The Residents have released a CD collecting some of the music from The Bunny Boy internet series. Deeply abstract and moody. The Residents entered the world of electronic synthesis in the 1970s during a time of legendary exploration and growth. When pioneers like Robert Moog and Don Buchla were creating analog synthesizers that were finally affordable for the masses, The Residents eagerly became one of the earliest groups to embrace the new technology. While recording The Bunny Boy album, The Residents employed an arsenal of digital synthesis equipment. However, when the time came to score the Internet series, the mood of the series seemed to call for the older analog synthesis that they had not used in decades. Enthusiastically unwrapping their older instruments, the group soon discovered that, other than the occasional and humorous oscillator drift, the instruments all worked perfectly. Of course, being out of tune was not considered a problem. To supplement their own collection, The Residents turned to old friends who had also kept some of their original analog units. Then, combining their new analog experiments with organic location recordings from their collection, the group quickly assembled these soundscapes to support the darkly humorous images found in The Bunny Boy videos. The Residents had come full circle, and again experienced the pains and joys of broken patch cables and dirty pots.

http://www.mediafire.com/?jdtdyyjjzyy

SPIRIT
The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus - (1970)

Although Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus has the reputation of being Spirit's most far-out album, it actually contains the most disciplined songwriting and playing of the original lineup, cutting back on some of the drifting and offering some of their more melodic tunes. The lilting "Nature's Way" was the most endearing FM standard on the album, which also included some of Spirit's best songs in "Animal Zoo" and "Mr. Skin."

http://www.mediafire.com/?wnldmhyzyl4

ZEN GUERRILLA
Plasmic Tears And The Invisible City EP - (2002)

Here's another example of Zen Guerrilla's prolific output: a 24 minute cd ep containing what they call, with good reason, a "flip-out psychedelic instrumental" that serves as the soundtrack to a film entitled "Plasmic Tears And The Invisible City". The disc starts off a lot more mellow than we are used to hearing from these notorious jams-kicker-outers, but gradually builds into louder, heavier realms of warm psych guitar swirl and motorik rhythm, not unlike the krautrock grooves of Ash Ra Temple or modern practicioners of the same like Circle and Mogwai. But then about 15 minutes in, it seems like the (presumably drugged-out) characters in the movie have entered some futuristic club or something, as the heavy 70s psych jams suddenly meet bleeping mechanical beats, shortwave radio noise, unintelligible voices, and even some sampled old timey jazz. It turns into a psychedelic funhouse sound collage -- definitely a "trip". It would be nice with visuals for sure.

http://www.mediafire.com/?bwhmjmjjwxj