Saturday, June 6, 2009

Merzbow - Live at Kaleidoscope Records

September 5, 1990 Kaleidoscope Records (aka Auricular Records) San Francisco, CA

In 1990, Masami Akita and Reiko A. graced the United States with a tour of performances of their singularly unique noise. For many this was the first chance to see Merzbow live and the first chance to be engulfed in the absolute ocean of sound that is a Merzbow performance. There is no Merzbow recording ever produced that can even come close to what the live experience is. Listening back to the live performances on recordings can not even capture the pure sonic ether that Masami and Reiko were capable of producing in most any environment. During their stop in Nortehrn California, Merzbow performed on several radio stations, in a Santa Cruz warehouse space, and a multi night stint at the Armpit Gallery in San Francisco with Haters and Big City Orchestra (those shows will be forthcoming). This particular recording comes from Kaeleidoscope Records in San Francisco. Masami and Reiko performed approximately 30 mins as a preview to what could be expected at the upcoming local shows.

enjoy a little noise soup from Merzbow

Friday, June 5, 2009

Daevid Allen Live at Auricular Records

Daevid Allen: Spoken Word
Live at Auricular Records - Aug 1, 1991
San Francisco, CA

There is no one quite like Daevid Allen (Gong, Soft Machine, Magick Brother etc etc) and there is certainly nothing like spending an afternoon, or evening, with the man. He is one of those people of an indescribably personality - a king amongst pixies and a pixie amongst men. When Daevid came through San Francisco in 1991, I not only got to meet a life long hero of prog rock and possibilities, I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with him; at live shows, in the studio recording and of course in our record store, Auricular Records. I played chauffer to Daevid and Magick Brother for about 2 weeks and it is a time I will not soon forget. While he was in town I had to have him do an instore - unfortunately, we could not coordinate a performance of Magick Brother - although I snuck Mark Robson away from Daevid long enough to perform with Nux Vomica. Daevid showed up in the store with his friend Tom the Poet and armed with just a single microphone kept a store full of us entertained with his wit, glee, songs and stories for an entire afternoon. This recording is a small portion of the antics of the day caught on tape.

enjoy Daevid Allen live at Auricular Records