Guess who’s back? flush with post-infectionary zest & more real-time world-turmoil than the mind can manage – it is the wonderful Illusion of Safety.

sunken treasure.

almost missed this one, which only graced the vial very recently. a series of surprise disappointments with poor & immensely boring records from Lake at the prolusion of the 80s (The Prophet & Clevont Fitzhubert) – with shifting instrumentation & the heavy loss of Michael Gregory Jackson – has so far deterred further exploration into his eighties output (which hopefully improved?).

Lenny White was a Jazz Fusion drummer who emerged chiefly with the group Return To Forever in the 70s. he became associated with the “power drummers” of the era such as Billy Cobham, Narada Michael Walden, Aphonso Mouzon & Tony Williams. although it is generally observed that he did not quite have the chops of the aforementioned A-listers, he did, however, as a leader, produce two of the most emblematic & exemplary 70s Fusion albums of the era, Venusian Summer & Big City. the “conceptual” Fusion albums, where each track would often possess it’s own personnel, varying instrumentations & specific themes or ideation, was a strong feature of the genre in its prime. imagination & sonic costume was required, & Lenny White’s first two albums as a leader personify that precedent as some of the strongest examples of the genre.

A highlight of the Breakcore plateau, relatively brief but justly resounding, unpretentious – just deliver the fucking goods – mauling modesty & joyous industrial-strength but still keenly musical Breakcore comfort-food from Brighton solo hoodlum.

The MC5-kick out the jams 12”LP:

A rare stray from AACM member Muarice McIntyre from 69. Maurice is a weltering saxophonist who crops up on a few sessions (I forget which ones exactly) here & there, but scorched the steeple black on Richard Abrams superb ‘Levels and Degrees of Light’ debut. This is his first LP as a band leader, & he has conjured a considerable entourage that extols the likes of Malachi Favors, Claudine Myers, Thurman Barker & more from the AACM quorum. Continue reading Maurice McIntyre-humility in the light of the creator CD: →

Wow! Pretty stubborn precocity. Its just 1982 & a gaggle of “plastic arts students from Paris” are garbling out harsh, dynamic, extreme-pitch corrosives & aggressive Noise stridency with Industrial relish. Continue reading Le Syndicat-Timespace Losses 1982/1987 CD: →

Ouch! Very’ very fine, ripping, fast-free-flow aggressive harsh noise from dual heavy-weights Animal Machine & Napalmed. This is straight-forward, furious & preemptive Stridor. Fast, energetic harsh, quality. It’s not as spasmodically labile as say, Sewage or Hinyouki, but it is rapid & continually surging, with a strong propellant & sense of plummeting. Continue reading Animal Machine-Napalmed (collaboration)-vegetable music for carnivorous people-split cassette →