It's All Gone Weird

Pleased to announce the latest in my series of reissues, this time going back to 1996 and the first release by Urban Refuse Group , a.k.a. U.R.G. ! Urban Refuse Group was a free improv junk instrument noise collective that was open to anyone willing to build instruments out of discarded materials and objects (refuse). Personnel varied for each performance and recording with as few as 3 or 4 players to upwards of 30. The project was prominent in the Toronto scene with numerous live performances and radio appearances. It ran from 1996 to 2000 when it morphed into the band Six Heads . "U.R.G. 1 (Response)" was a 60-minute cassette album released in 1996 on my Disembraining Songs label. Each cassette was packaged in a resealable plastic bag and contained an info sheet about the release as well as various cassette network flyers and other bits of ephemera. Each package also included a unique piece of junk. For the digital reissue, I have cleaned up and remastered the original...

Saddened to hear of the recent deaths of two significant experimental musicians - experimental turntablist Philip Jeck and electronic producer Mira Calix - who both passed away this month. I'll provide some links for Jeck's work today and Calix's work soon. I'm providing a link to Philip Jecks' 1995 debut CD "Loopholes" here. Plenty more to listen to on his Bandcamp page . More info on Jeck can be found on his website . - W.A.Davison

If you are not familiar with the strange and beautiful music of Klimperei (Christoph Petchanatz), whose unusual sonorities stem from the extensive use of "toy instruments," then you should definitely check out this 63-track sampler of his music dating back to the 80s! https://klimperei.bandcamp.com/album/discover-the-music-of-klimperei-in-63-tracks - W.A.Davison

  More self-promotion (sort of). While I can certainly recommend anything from Thomas Carnacki (dear friend Greg Scharpen and an assorted crew of misfits), and will likely feature more T.C. releases here in future posts, today's post features a brand new Thomas Carnacki release that I had a hand in. "Pit-throated Kingfisher" is a single track release featuring an audio "exquisite corpse" which was composed by G.Scharpen (Thomas Carnacki), S.Higgins, and W.A.Davison ( The Recordists ) and originally presented live at the 2008 Whitney Biennial in New York. There's more to the story (much more!) but for now you can read the liner notes accompanying the release to get an idea of how this came together. I haven't heard this material in years and I must say (if I may be so bold) that it sounds pretty damn good! Check it out here -  https://thomascarnacki.bandcamp.com/album/pit-throated-kingfisher And don't forget, today is Bandcamp Friday! A perfect ...

Some shameless self-promotion here. I just reissued this extremely limited run cassette from the early 90s featuring tracks by my projects Songs of the New Erotics and the rarely heard Third-Eye Tractor . https://songsofthenewerotics.bandcamp.com/album/disembraining-songs-demo-feb-94 And if you think you might like to purchase a copy, this coming Friday, March 4th, is Bandcamp Friday . - W.A.Davison