Wil Gira: Math Rock from WBS guitarist Keif Henley

Wil Gira was a band Keif put together in the final years of Waltz Bop Shop. This is a recording of a show that I recorded for them at a house party they played with WBS (see last post for a WBS song from that party).

Artist: Wil Gira
Album: Live on Arno
Players:
Jeff G - Bass
Mike D - Drums
Joey F - Trombone
Keif H - Guitar


Tracklist:
1)Fellini Circus
2)Herpetology
3)In the Dancing Cage
4)Next

Jeff G is also featured below in DJJ. He tells me that this is the only recorded version of In the Dancing Cage. Available in WAV, FLAC,Ogg Vorbis, MP3. Enjoy.

Waltz Bop Shop: Name Dropping at Angela's and Melting

Today we have the final two tracks that will be posted from Waltz Bop Shop (although there is a concert on video tape that I might take the time to digitize at some point). The first song, And Melting was recorded at a house party in my living room (stay tuned for more from Wil Gira, who also played). The other is an A Capella version of Name Dropping At Angela's that Jenette recorded at my house in the mountains after Waltz Bop Shop had broken up. The spoken word piece overdubbed onto And Melting was recorded on the same day and is a reading of an excerpt from a short story I published in the mid 90's.

Release: Two Tracks, one recorded live at a house party (199?).
The Players:
Keif Henley on Guitar
Rodney Cupp on Bass
Me -Drum kit
Jenette Isaacson on vocals/spoken word.
Spoken word on "And Melting" overdubbed later...


Track List:
1) And Melting
2) Name Dropping At Angela's (A Capella Mix)

Enjoy.

Choke: Live in Las Cruces (Video)

Dave posted this over at the internet archive...
Thanks Dave.

This broadcast on community cable.
AIDS Benefit show on October 5th 1991
Shot and edited by
Keif (from Waltz Bop Shop)
and Jon (from Jonny Cats).
Show put together by the future Mr. Vague
(who is also in Dirt Communion- available on bandcamp).

Choke: Hard to Swallow- 4-track demos

I have been in a lot of loud bands. Although it is not readily apparent from the recordings the band put out, Choke was easily the loudest. In the last post on the band, I noted that there were some tracks missing from the Gauze/Total Reverence cassettes due to my copies being destroyed. Well, I have tracked down a DAT that includes some demos we sent to my brother prior to the recording session for the eponymous e.p. It contained rough mixes of the missing tracks. These all ended up on the e.p., but these 4-track versions give a better sense of what Choke was like as a live band. I have also added a straight to ghetto-blaster track that I like - a catchy little punk-ish diddy [update: Grant tells me it is called "Pine-Sol"]. To me, Choke wears its influences on its sleeve with these cuts- equal parts Stone Roses, Cocteau Twins, Big Black and Ritual Tension. But I am hardly an objective listener. Anyway, here they are (flac, ogg vorbis, MP3). Enjoy.

The players:
David Liso- guitar, vocals
Grant Garner - bass
Matt Sneddon - guitar
me - drum kit, hammond organ, headphone feedback.

Choke: Hard to Swallow-4-track Demos

Track list:
1) Browse (scraping nails mix)
2) Barcelona (jet set)
3) Alexander Orchid (Hammond Mix)
4) Pine-Sol

¡para!helion: >3 (never released material)

Album: >3
Style: high altitude meditations
Improvised and recorded live to two track summer of 1999
Players:
Dave- Trumpet, effects, percussion
Jeff - Electric Balilaika, effects
me- African Kettle Drums, Dumbek, Clay Djemba, 1940's wooden field snare, clanks, mic stand gooseneck, booms, crashes, & scrapes.
Chris & co. - Djemba, additional percussion

Of all the music I have posted here at Pen & Mallet, the two ¡para!helion releases are the ones that I personally listen to the most often. I have always chalked that up to the fact that ¡para!helion's music was all improvised. None of the overlearning under a critical ear that goes into creating and perfecting composed songs goes into the creation of improvised music, so, for me, it feels easier to listen to the songs as music, rather than as a product of my ego. In other words, it's easier to let go and hear the songs as songs without being critical of my own performance or wishing I had one more take to move the song closer to the ideal version that I carry around in my head.

Of course, ¡para!helion has been duking it out with Waltz Bop Shop for the most downloaded music at Pen & Mallet, so maybe I like them 'cuz they're good records. Hard to tell.

Anyway, today we have 6 never released songs taken from the Midaq Alley and 3 Miles from Mecca sessions. At the time we put those two releases together, these didn't make the cut primarily due to non-musical issues like less-than-ideal microphone placement, or minor equipment failures. After 10 years not hearing these, I don't find that those issues hurt these tracks much at all, so I thought I would share them.

Several of these tracks include additional players beyond the trio including ¡para!helion's original drummer, Chris (iirc) and a gang of percussionist he brought over for one or two of our night recording sessions. Track's one and two come from the very last ¡para!helion session, with Ghazna being the last song we ever recorded.

All files are available in lossless Flac, Ogg Vorbis as well as Mp3 from the internet archive.



Tracklist (player plays all six tracks):
1) Chabolo
2) Ghazna
3) Bactra
4) Haraiva
5) Lampaka
6) Nagarahara

Cranky: Our Cupp runneth over

For Waltz Bop Shop fans (our most popular attraction so far here at Pen & Mallet), today we have the current work of WBS's bass player- Cranky. This includes a great version of the WBS classic..."Please Yourself!"(from All my idears are played live today).

Album: Cranky - complete work so far
Style: electro-minimalism? Lo-fi High-brow?
Players: Uncle Dewdrop Pony (vocals, programming)

vast active living intelligent system

Cdbaby is a great company. They have done a lot to make it easier for artists to release their own material. As is apparent from their name, however, they are really about selling CD's. Their support for on-line, digital releases is pretty bare bones. Ever since we ran out of hard-copies of valis, it has bothered me that the only format available was mp3. I have decided to rectify that situation. As of today, valis is now available in a variety of lossless formats over at bandcamp.com...To entice you further, I have included some bonus material.

Ambient soundtracks for your portable cortical theatre. Enjoy.

Artist: psychic enemies network
Album: valis
Style: ambient
Release: 2000
Players: my brother & me - guitar, electronics, tapes, loops, percussion
Available in a variety of formats from http://psychicenemiesnetwork.bandcamp.com/ (set your own price)




This album is still, of course, available at CDbaby, on itunes, and through various other on-line sources.

aboombong: ambientrance dub-dozen

Artist: aboombong
Album: aboombong
Style: ambientrance dub soundscapes
Release: June, 2009
Players: all me* - electronics, tapes, percussion
Available in a variety of formats from http://aboombong.bandcamp.com/ (set your own price)



Tracklist:
1. a
2. ab
3. abo
4. aboo
5. aboom
6. aboomb
7. aboombo
8. aboombon
9. aboombong
10. 3 Days 'til Sunrise (aboombong mix)
11. gnobmooba
12. birds

*aboom contains samples from Waltz Bop Shop and gnobmooba contains samples from ¡para!helion. Narrative in 3 Days 'til Sunrise recorded off of public radio in the late 1990's.

Update: Now on imeem & Last.fm
Update: Wow! aboombong is featured in this week's independent music discoveries (issue-13) over at A Future in Noise. Thanks Marilyn (^_^)
Update: Now also available at the great Dogs Can Read Your Mind blog along with lots of other ambient/drone/experimental music. Check it out.

Serving up FLAC all day

As promised, lossless FLAC versions of recordings posted here at Pen & Mallet.

ABOOMBONG: aboombong
Waltz Bop Shop: All My Idears are Flawed in Sum Way + Quartet
Waltz Bop Shop: Name Dropping at Angela's and Melting
Choke: Choke (e.p.)
Choke: Hard to Swallow
Choke: (video) Live AIDS benefit Show
The Jonny Cats: Last- Ode to Sergio
Swayback: Outer Space Tonight
AOS: Rip It up! + live tracks
Psychic Enemies Network: Valis (with bonus tracks)

These links will, of course, also allow you to download in MP3 and Ogg Vorbis. Let me know if you have a request for a FLAC version of any of the other files already posted.

Outer Space Tonight: more from Swayback

This week we have more Americana from Swayback.

Style: cow punk, surf punk, garage, Americana
Album: Outer Space Tonight -unreleased demo E.P.
Recorded live to Minidisc in 2002.
Engineered by David Chavez.
Players:
Lucky- Bass,
Jon Reed -Guitar & Vocals;
me-drum kit.

Track list:

1)And then Aliens Invaded From Space
2)Ready to Fall Again
3)Step Through the Door
4)Clean My Bones
5)Last Ride

These are pretty high fidelity, so I went ahead and uploaded them to the internet archive in lossless Flac format (MP3 and Ogg Vorbis too, don't worry). If you are not familiar with Flac, you can find out more info here including free software that allows you to use the format.

For any recordings in previous posts that are of high enough quality, I will be posting Flac versions on the internet archive. If you have a request, let me know.