Nico Vassilakis "Visual Poetry In The Continental Review"

Monkeywrench "On Your Arrival"

Shake Your Leaves by Bloodloss

Here is a song recorded live by Bloodloss. This is a soundboard recording from a not especially large venue and as such the drums and vocals tend to be the loudest things, neither of which were the strongest points of the band. But here it is anyway. The people in this band were Renestair EJ, Mark Arm, Guy Maddison and Martin Bland.

The Ecstasy Of Frank Thring by Martin Bland's Randomized Control Trials

Here's a version of new piece created in the RCT series for a radio broadcast on local Seattle radio station KEXP. The featured musicians are Tom Price (guitar), Dave Holmes (electric sitar), Guy Maddison (bass), Ajax Storm-Wood (voice) and Martin Bland (drums and synthesizer). The theme was written by Tom and is basically a D minor scale with an emphasis on half-tones. It uses repetition to create a structure, much like yer standard-issue rock song. You'll notice that the exact same guitar, bass, sitar and drums phrases reappear a couple of times throughout the number but always in different combinations and contexts.

Lubricated Goat In The Raw

I've had a few folks inquire about other Lubricated Goat tunes so here is another from the Kardomah Cafe in Sydney. Stuart had a guitar synthesizer so that is why his guitar sounds like that.

Hi Squid/ The Rape Of Nanking by Laszlo Alexander

Another exhibit from The Museum Of Strange & Deadly Foods (MOSADF). This product is Hi Squid and is basically a couple of dried tentacles. The musical accompaniment is entitled The Rape Of Nanking by Laszlo Alexander. It was recorded in the late 40's or early '50's and come from a 10" lp called The Secret Music Of China. If you listen carefully, amid all the carnage you will hear an early use of the theremin.

Chicken In A Can/Blind Willie McTell

This is one of my favorites from the Museum Of Strange and Deadly Foods (MOSADF). Suspended cryogenic-style in brine and weighing in at 3lbs 2oz, may I present "One Whole Chicken In A Can". I've paired it here with a couple of Blind Willie McTell tunes. The first is "I'm Gonna Cross the River Of Jordan" and the next is Blind Willie's meditation on all things mortal "You Got To Die". Both are great songs and perhaps inside the can is a great chicken. Well, great tasting anyway.

Cry Cry Cry by the Kings Of Rock

Here's another Kings Of Rock number. This one was written by some old 60's punk band whose name I don't know. The excellent singing here is by Tim "Purple" Hayes who nailed this baby in one take.

Rock & Roll Guitar by the Kings Of Rock

The Kings Of Rock were a band that existed on and off for many years here in Seattle. The line up was Tom Price and Tim Hayes on guitars, Don Blackstone on bass and a revolving cast of drummers. I was designated drummer #7. This song is one that Tom heard on an old 50's teen flick featuring the actor Arch Hall Jr. You can read more about him in the re/search book on incredibly strange films which I think is called "Incredibly Strange Films".

Upcoming Show April 12th

I'll be presenting the Randomized Control Trials as a sound installation at the Fantagraphics Books/Georgetown Records store on April 12th as part of the Georgetown Art Attack. There'll be lots of other stuff going on in the area but I'll be providing musical accompaniment to a 1/2 price book sale that Fantagraphics is hosting . The poster for this show is by excellent Seattle artist Tim Silbaugh. The piece of music attached to this post is one that didn't make it onto the cd but I'll probably play on the 12th. Drop in if you're in the area.

It's Really Great To Not Be Here Tonight by Martin Bland's Randomised Control Trials

This is a version of the first piece that I created for the Randomized Control Trials project. It has a kitchen-sink quality that I think is quite nice- kind of frayed around the edges. One of the featured instruments on this tune is the trumpet as played excellently by Seattle jazz guy Jim Knodle.

L.I.E.S. by the Monkeywrench

Another Monkeywrench tune. This is our version of the Saints song L.I.E.S. This track only came out as a B-side of a 45 in Japan. Whilst in Japan with the Monkeywrench I managed to find this action figure on a discount table in the middle of a shopping arcade. It's Pepsiman! He apparently smells like the soft drink pepsi taken out of his packaging. The front says "The Fuct Of Pepsiman". On the back it describes how he can "pop up Pepsi-Cola with 'Schwaaa!' action and deliver them around everywhere". He is also into"sideways-riding-sports such as surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding etc". It comes with accessories such as a snowboard and a cast and crutch. Judging from how many were on the table and the reduced price (980 yen), I guess no one gave a shit about Pepsiman.

Charles Ives- Fourth Symphony, 2nd Movement

This distinguished-looking old bugger is Charles Ives. The attached mp3 is of the 2nd or "Allegro" movement from his fourth symphony. Allegro apparently means "cheerful" which I guess this is in a slightly off-the-meds kind of way. Certainly made me laugh out loud when I first heard it. If any music deserves to be played at full volume, this is it. He knocked this out after work (he sold insurance) in 1910 or there abouts.

The Great Temptations Of Beyond by Martin Bland's Randomised Control Trials

Here's another version of this piece. I got a million of 'em. Really.

Autumn In New York by Martin Bland's Randomised Control Trials

This is the standard written by Vernon Duke. It's a tune that I've always really liked ever since I heard a version by Dexter Gordon years ago.
My original idea was for a pretty straight run through of the tune but it never really seemed to work within the "randomized" concept so I decided to turn it into a "drone" piece. I isolated notes from the melody (which is basically a scale anyway) and looped them so when shuffled they would form constantly shifting chords, sometimes dissonant, sometimes consonant but always changing slowly.

Oamtanlt by Martin Bland's Randomised Control Trials

This one is a re-imagining of a certain rock concert from the point of view of a heavily dosed audience member. No Rolling Stones music was hurt in the making of this track, unlike some people in the crowd from the sounds of it.

Lurk The Blue Crawfish by Martin Bland's Randomised Control Trials

Here's another RCT track. This one features Oregon poet Jarold Ramsey's haiku about a crawfish that he caught for his kids which proceeded to eat all the other creatures in the tank. I gather they had to toss poor old Lurk back into the Genesee River.
I programmed a lot of silence into this one (12 seconds for each musical phrase) so as to try and create a series of miniatures within the larger framework of the piece. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Lunar Snakes by Martin Bland's Randomised Control Trials

Hey, here's a bunch more songs from the Martin Bland's Randomized Control Trials cd series. See an earlier post for a fairly dry description on of how this stuff is generated.
All of the following versions were created exclusively for this blog.
This one is called Lunar Snakes and features 3 ensembles plus soloists. The ensembles are

1-Guitar, Bass Drums
2-Sax, Trumpet, Trombone
3-Synth, Organ, Theremin

and the soloists are violin and sax. There are also some voices in there too.

Sugarman by the Monkeywrench

I'm also in an occasional band called Monkeywrench, sometimes the Monkeywrench and sometimes Monkey Wrench. I have no idea which is correct. This noisy little affair was written by a guy called Rodriguez, and a fine job he did too. This was recorded in Green Bay, Wisconsin at an all ages club. The good news was that there was a bar next door. The bad news was that they served a specialty drink called the Lunchbox.
The image accompanying this post is of a tie I have been known to wear whilst playing in Monkeywrench. Those yellow dots are pineapples. If you happen to see me around town wearing this tie then I'm probably on my way to a Monkeywrench show. By the way, we have a new album out called Gabriel's Horn.

Fruit On My Hat by Bloodloss

Here's a song from a band I was in called Bloodloss. The song is called Fruit On My Hat and despite the lyrics I should say that I don't really dislike Carmen Miranda. I don't actually know anything about her apart from having seen a photo of her when I was a kid where she was wearing a sombrero with bananas and pineapples on top. She was probably a top-notch entertainer in her field. This track was recorded for an unfinished lp in 1997 and is a rough mix ripped from a cassette but still sounds okay I think. It was our attempt at a samba or salsa or something.