VOTD 10/06/2025

 Nurse With Wound: Homotopy to Marie (United Dairies)

https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Homotopy.html

What does it mean? I don't know. 

I know this much: this was the first NWW that Steven Stapleton was satisfied with, the fifth NWW LP. Why did it take that many? 

John Fothergill is definitely out of the picture now. NWW is strictly Steven Stapleton's aural and visual imagery at this point. He does the cover art, he produces the sounds.

Like the front cover image, this is largely an austere statement. Most of side one is taken up by the sound of a cymbal, with female spoken voices occasionally and unpredictably entering. If a NWW album should be anything, it's unpredictable. He's definitely not afraid to be abrasive, as side two demonstrates. NWW was never an Industrial band, but these records are no less noisy.

Steven's audio landscapes seem to be clearly cinematic in nature. Aural landscapes. Is he dabbling in sampling on this record? My guess is that he's pulling some voices from extraneous sources, but I can't cite anything specific.

In the end, it breaks into what sounds like a small Balkan brass and reed band. Who'd have thought? 

Oh but wait....leave the needle in the groove...there's demonic laughing and more noise at the end. The CD version lists a fifth track, compared to the four on the LP. This must be the "Astral Dustbin Dirge". We'll come back to that.

This album does feel more accomplished, more self-assured than the previous. Knowing what I do about the NWW discography, Steven's work will hit even higher highs than this in the next few years.

VOTD 10/03/2025

 Safo Hene Djeni: Nea Ye Boe (Star Musique)

Purchased at Fungus Books and Records

More autobiography.

My band Bombici was asked by Manny Theiner to open for a west African band upstairs at Spirit House. Unusually, we played our set and had to rush off to another gig, but we got see the headliner do a warmup/sound check. They weren't playing seriously, but even so they locked into as tight a groove as one might imagine.

Colter Harper was playing guitar with Bombici that night. He's spent substantial time in Ghana in the past ten years on grants, teaching at University of Ghana and helping them set up a recording studio. While this band (whose name I don't recall, I'm sorry) wasn't from Ghana, Colter commented: "The bands there are incapable of being bad."

Imagine being in a culture where the music is so deep in your bones that it is expressed as tight, joyful, and a shared experience. That sure isn't the US. My old mentor and late colleague Annabelle Joseph taught Eurhythmics at Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon Universities. She told me how students such a South Americans had the rhythms inside themselves, that it's in the music they'd known for their entire lives. And she asked, what music do all Americans share in common? Rolling her eyes, she said: "Christmas music."

(Annabelle...I don't believe in an afterlife, but if there is one, I look forward to seeing you there. You were always one of the good ones. I miss you.)

I bought this record in the first days of Fungus Books and Records' opening. Michael had included several African records in the stacks. Being not too expensive, and the Colter connection to Ghana, this was my choice.

What's there to say? It's moderately low fidelity but very listenable. The sound is compressed but you can hear everything. The band rips. It's not as grungy as what Fela Kuti does; it comes off as sunnier than him.

When I feel down, I can go two ways when putting on music: something dark that is sympathetic to my mood, or something that I find uplifting. Generally I will go the former, but it's nice to know that this is here if I want to go the latter. Seek it out if you can.

VOTD 10/01/2025

 Nurse With Wound: Insect and Individual Silenced (United Dairies)

Okay, Another NWW listen before moving on to other things. 

This wasn't the first NWW record I bought, perhaps the second. It does make me wonder where my head was at when I was listening to it initially, and playing some of it in my early WRCT days. 

This is a noisy record, abrasive, even unpleasant at times.

Listening to the first side, what is clear compared to the first three NWW LPs is how important tape editing is to this statement. The changes are very abrupt, often happening quickly in succession. A female voice is is in the mix, singing sweetly in the background. Knowing what NWW would be like in the future, this seems to point to the future.

There's no instrumental virtuosity, as in the previous three LPs. Bashing on something metal, some basic drums. Feedback. Speaking. 

I think in a future posting I'll address Pierre Schaeffer vs Pierre Henry as composers. Let's just say, just because you're the first doesn't mean you're best.

Is this just Steven Stapleton at the helm, unlikes LPs 1-2-3? That's my understanding. There are no credits (at least in my copy) and both John Fothergill and definitely Heman Pathak are gone by this time. 

Steven was dissatisfied with this record and didn't make it available for many years after its initial UD release. I don't find it any more or less interesting than the previous three. The majority of side two, "Absent Old Queen Underfoot" is an absolutely bizarre conversation between jazz-brushes drumming and noisy feedback guitar or bass. Less edited than side one, but not unprocessed either. 

On discogs, there's a credit for Jim Thirwell (Foetus) being involved. I couldn't tell you who did what, but he'll be an important element within a record or two.

I'm not saying I hate it, but I think I used to be more excited by someone releasing a record that sounded like this than I am now. It is super-abrasive. If you see the name Nurse With Wound listed with "Industrial" bands, this could be one reason why. Listening to the early compilation tracks might make for an interesting comparison, such as "Dueling Banjos" on Hoisting the Back Flag (mentioned in an earlier blog post here). 

Side two ends with "Mutilés de Guerre", a far more compact work. It's looped yelling voices, processed, instruments run through a high-frequency filter, also not particularly pleasant. But it also gets to the point quickly. 

Should I be seeing a therapist if this was where my head was at one time?

In my defense: in my college radio days, I'd play just about anything regardless of content, unless it was considered NSFW by the FCC. The one piece I couldn't tolerate was Robert Ashley's "Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon", which includes a description of a rape. No wonder I couldn't take it. "Mutilés de Guerre" ends with a banjo and voice rendition of "Ode to Joy" while screeching strings underpin it. It's not about rape thankfully, but not easy to listen to either.

I think I need a palette-cleanser after this one. 

VOTD 09/24/2025

 Nurse With Wound: Psilotripitika record 3 (Merzbild Schwet) (United Dairies)

Third day, third NWW LP. I intend to continue though I'll break things up soon with other albums and commentary soon. I have an album of traditional Ghana music that's awaiting a spin and blog posting.

Merzbild Schwet was the second NWW album of 1980, which clearly demonstrates how determined they were at the time. To think of what was going on in England at the time: Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records, NWW  and United Dairies, Whitehouse and Come Org, one more challenging (or even unlistenable) than the next, each releasing more than their in-house band, it must have been an exciting time.

I've recounted this conversation before, but I was at the Electric Banana with my friend Richard Schnap. We were young, enthusiastic, and saying, didn't the 70s suck? Isn't this an exciting time? Won't the 80s be great?

In retrospect, while a troubled time, the 70s seem much more interesting to me now, and the 80s represent the Reagan era. But then nothing's simple and it's incorrect to judge one decade more harshly than the other. (Or is it? Thinking of the current decade.) And specifically, I was excited about the boom in independently produced and released music. Those labels above are examples, as well as The Residents' Ralph Records, Larry Och's (+) Metalanguage Records, Chris Cutler's Recommended Records.

On the other hand, the 1970s might be my favorite decade for films. That's just an aside.

Who is NWW by the time of this record? There's frustratingly little information provided, at least for me who is always interested in such things. We know Steven Stapleton would soldier on with the project, and John Fothergill was almost definitely still in the mix at this point. Was Heman Pathak still involved? No indication either way. And with a clearly female voice singing/reciting on side one, others provided sonic materials as well.

What's clear is NWW's connection to earlier art movements, or at least inspiration from them. The title itself, Merzbild Schwet, references Kurt Schwitters. The two side-long tracks, "Dadaˣ" and "Futurismo", make reference to early 20th century art movements. Both the front and back cover images are largely collaged. One of the figures on the back cover is of a Viennese Aktionist, again connecting to yet another art and performance school/movement.

It's an easy thing to feel nostalgia for an era before we lived. I wonder what it was like to be in Europe between the two "great" wars, creating your own art movements, writing manifestos. The Surrealist Manifesto, the Dada Manifesto, etc. It seems exciting. Hell, what was it like to be in the theater for the first performance of Stravinsky & Nijinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps? People were supposed to have torn seats off the floor afterwards in outrage. It seems sad we can't feel that level of outrage over a work of art except for political reasons. Or maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. 

"Dadaˣ" clearly plays on the listener's expectations, whatever those may be. The underscoring track is played at half speed, making it seem as though the record's playing at the wrong speed. There are pops and clicks that make it sound as though the record might have crud on the surface. It runs through a variety of ideas before, unexpectedly, everything stops and leads to some free jazz. That idea is then mixed and remixed. An aural representation of Dada? Maybe, maybe. 

Side two: "Futurismo". A reference to the Italian Futurists. Futurist paintings were explicitly pro-technology, and often displayed a single body in various forms of movement. Interesting that "Futurismo" would be the title of the most spare NWW track so far. It also seems more like the "aural landscape" that future NWW would be. A long backwards piano chord plays...a female says, "We have not spoken for days and days"...the piano returns, sometimes speed-manipulated. There's a long note on the clarinet. Ideas emerge, fade to the background. Sometimes it's sparse, sometimes densely but briefly packed.

How did Steven Stapleton feel about this one? It wouldn't be until the 5th LP, Homotopy to Marie, that he would say he was really satisfied with one of his albums. That it represented what he heard in his head.

This side sound like that first "mature" work. Less about being confrontational, more about listening.

 

VOTD 09/23/2025

 Nurse With Wound: Psilotripitika, record two (To the Quiet Men From a Tiny Girl) (United Dairies)

NWW day two, album two. Part of relistening to these albums is to consider them in the continuum of Steven Stapleton/NWW's work. Some things are starting to take shape on this album.

Like the first LP, I do not own an original copy of To the Quiet Men From a Tiny Girl. My copy is from the 1990 collection Psilotripitika, which includes the first three LPs plus a 12" EP of two compilation tracks.

Something that can be both exciting and frustration about NWW records is that there is no "typical" album. There are however generalities. The group's work (and to call it a group is a little deceptive in itself; it would wind up being Steven Stapleton and then a long list of collaborators) does fall very broadly under the category of musique concrète. Broadly put, recorded audio sources assembled, edited, shaped, manipulated and collected through recording techniques to create composition. 

While this record shares some of the primitive improvisational qualities of the first record, it's notably different in two ways: its spareness compared to the first, and the increased use of recording techniques. There's more editing, adjusting of mixing and audio manipulation than the first. It sounds less like a freak-out than an aural landscape. That is definably the direction future NWW records would take. (Generally.)

Another important element is the artwork. Stapleton would not only be the single common musical/audio element of every NWW album, but he does most of the graphics as well. Befitting an approach inspired by and related to Surrealism, the back cover and insert artwork is collaged. (The back cover of the first LP was a collage as well, something I failed to mention yesterday.) The back includes a famous image from the film Battleship Potemkin, the insert and record labels using medical illustrations. Gray's Anatomy perhaps? For those of a certain age and from Pittsburgh, what was the source of The Five's foot-cutting image?

The insert also has a variation on the Nurse With Wound list mentioned yesterday. Some names the same, many subtracted or added, and the text is far smaller.

While perhaps not terribly consequential, NWW once again pushes the album length. Side one over 26 minutes, side two over 27. I now that record pressing plants advise against this. They're surely  pushing at limitations. It's really closer to what would be CD length than LP. 

With this second album, did they consider themselves a "band"? With this third release (the second being Lemon Kittens' We Buy a Hammer for Daddy) was United Dairies a bona fide (if tiny) label? I suppose both of those things turned out to be true. In retrospect we know both things are true, with a further development in technique and sound to come. 

VOTD 09/22/2025

Nurse With Wound: Chance Meeting on Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella. (United Dirter)

For no particularly good reason, I thought I might do a deeper dive into my vinyl collection of NWW records. Just what the world wanted! I don't how long and diligently I'll continue with this. I am again trying to develop more routines in my retired life, and I should check back in here more often again. Retired from a day job and education but hardly from music in general, to be clear.

So there's this record. It's fair to call it more of a curiosity or historical piece than anything. It's the first NWW LP, and the first on Steven Stapleton/John Fothergill's label United Dairies.

I've always found United Dairies a great name for their record label. It's funny but also is an early reflection of their interest in Surrealism. UD was initial both Stapleton and Fothergill, but before long it was strictly Steven's label. There was a time when I'd collect anything on UD, which mostly turned out good. Mostly.

I most definitely do not have an original copy. As far back as the mid 80s a copy could have set you back well over $100, and copies on discogs.com start at $2000 currently. For a record that's been reissued many times over, and really isn't that great of an album.

So three weirdo record collectors (weirdos collecting weirdo records) were given some free studio time. Without any particular ability to play nor plan, this record is the result. My vinyl reissue copy, from 2001, includes notes from Steven about the record's origins. He found John's guitar with ring modulator to be disappointing ("...ring modulators always sounded so great on album credits."). There's more here, and clearly more intentionality than a primitive trio improvisation: other musicians were added (Nicky Rogers on "commercial guitar), tapes were edited and manipulated. Nonetheless, it's a pretty modest beginning of what would be (primarily) Steven's creative life.

This album's original inner sleeve, reproduced in this reissue, may be as well known as any of the sounds in the grooves. Steven, in his more recent notes, states that the three friends (I've failed to mention the third, Heman Pathak) were avid record collectors. What attracted their interest? 1. Long tracks; 2. lack of vocals; 3. psychedelic-inspired art. The image on the sleeve is the so-called Nurse With Wound List. Text at the top reads: "Categories strain, crack and sometimes break, under their burden - step out of the space provided." That's a bold credo, statement of intent from the start. Below that text is a long list of artists they've collected, with the name Nurse With Wound breaking through chasm-like in the enter. There are many familiar names in the list: Kraftwerk, Terry Riley, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Throbbing Gristle, The Residents, Steve Lacy, even Tangerine Dream and Frank Zappa. But other names include Out of Focus, Moving Gelatine Plates, Operation Rhino, Thrice Mice, Brainticket, Ovary Lodge, and many others of whom I have no knowledge. There are people who have tried to collect all of the artists listed, and more recently there are at least two compilations (one of French artists, one of German) of people on the NWW List.

In the more recent notes, Steven writes, "I would like to dedicate this record to John and Heman, wherever you are now; it was a great time and I think we made a beautiful album." 

Listening to it now, it really feels like more than enough by the end even if you're patient with it. Particularly the second side's "Black Capsules of Embroidered Cellophane" which clocks in at 28:21.

On, but there's more. This reissue has a second disc. One side is "Strain, Crack, Break", which is a mixed/overlapped/manipulated reading of the NWW List by David Tibet. Concluding with, "All of these bands are completely shit." The reverse side has the figure from the cover image etched into the vinyl. Spiffy!

Well, it's mostly onward and upward from this one, should I continue.

VOTD 09/11/2025

 Modern Jazz Quartet: Concorde (Prestige)

Some days I seek a record or CD for the purpose of writing about it here. It's one of the reasons for the blog, right?

Other days I seek the music for my mood, or a reason. I don't just listen for writing.

I wanted something lower-key today. I don't mourn the death of Charlie Kirk. I didn't wish him harm but I consider him one of the problems, not one of the solutions. Not that I even knew much about him, being over the age of 30. 

I don't especially mourn 9/11, though I remember the day. I was living in my old house on Beechwood Blvd, sleeping in before my day at CAPA High School. My wife was already on the job. She called to say, "Just put on the TV right now." I tuned in to watch the second plane fly into the second tower. More students than not showed up that day. I didn't teach any lesson. I told the students to go online, read up on what's happening, or just sit and talk.

It's not so much that I consider the Modern Jazz Quartet to be musical comfort food, but at the same time it is. Low-key yet with concentrated intensity. My father, a big fan of MJQ, has posed the question of why they aren't better remembered or respected. I don't have an answer, any more than I do to his question why some pieces enter into standard practice as opposed to others. Maybe it's the chamber music quality that makes this less remembered than the Coltrane Quartet. 

Milt Jackson is the obvious star in the group, but that's too easy considering he's the primary melodic voice on vibes. John Lewis on piano is much more the glue. Hold things together. In this respect he reminds me of Teddy Wilson in the Benny Goodman Quartet; he's the proverbial center of the storm. Everyone else circles around him. 

I saw the Modern Jazz Quartet, I guess in this configuration (Jackson, Heath, Lewis, Kay) in 1982. It was at Heinz Hall in downtown Pittsburgh as part of the Mellon Jazz Festival. It must have been June 17, because it was Stravinsky's 100th birthday. A cake was wheeled on stage. My companion for the night, Chuck Gorman, noticed that Milt was repeatedly looking at his watch.

Opening the concert was the Wynton Marsalis Quintet. Chuck said, give these guys a year and they'll be amazing. Surely enough, I saw them almost a year to the later a Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, and they were indeed great. My favorite player by far was pianist Kenny Kirkland. There was a loss.

And to follow up on that thread of thought, the day after MJQ at Heinz Hall, I saw Ornette Coleman & Prime Time at Carnegie Music Hall, with the Chico Freeman Quartet opening. Chico played freer than I associate with most of his records. Ornette was a free jazz funk assault: him, two guitars, two basses, two drummers. Far too amplified for the space. I saw my friend Sachiko afterwards (last time I saw her) and she remarked, "I didn't expect Ornette to play disco!"

I wish I could see her now to ask her about her current opinion. Disco it definitely was not.

MJQ plays though some standards and a few originals here. Probably like most of their records. Comfort food?