Der Trompten Sauber
(Chocolate Monk - CHOC.268) CDR $8.00 (Out-of-stock)
Horrid gronk by these Tedium House faves, more twisted than a gut full of leeches and salt. Two long tracks by this quartet of French skull-benders slather fine confusion grease on pungent, garbled distortion, ill-advised sex music, electronic fumblings, red-hot plastic trombone poot. Numbing and enlightening.
La Maison De La Justice
(Éditions Vibrisse) LP $20.00
Together since 2006, Alexandre Kittel, Claude Spenlehauer, François Heyer, and Sébastien Borgo’s quartet can be described as gross improv, illiterate, savagery amongst civilization, collective strain, drool and spit, mental deficiency, foul breath from brass instruments, exploiting human idiocy, musical pornography, sound rubbish chute that respects not anything nor anyone. Silkscreened cover. Edition of 199 copies.
Micro_Penis
(Doubtfulsounds - DOUBT03) LP $18.00 (Out-of-stock)
An underworld heap exported from Mulhouse, France. Sébastien Borgo (Sun Plexus 2, l’Autopsie a révélé que la mort était due à l’autopsie, Ogrob, French Doctors), Alexandre Kittel, François Heyer (Ptaz) and Claude Spendelauer (Doutbfulsounds) seem to be going for a name drop in the same breath as “mental deficiency.” Having escaped from the mental hospital of Rouffach in southern Alsace, they scream, they growl, and the strait jacket is never far away. Comparable to a modern variation of Cromagnon’s “Ritual Feast of the Libido.” For lovers of horror movies, art brut, cruelty. Includes sticker, two postcards. Cover is black paper silkscreened on both sides. Edition of 300. TEDIUM HOUSE BEST OF 2009.
Schlim
(Doubtfulsounds - DOUBT14) LP $12.00
For the third and final installment in Micro_penis’s Doubtful Sounds trilogy, it was collectively agreed upon that no band member could be chemically restrained. For a psychotic, as we all know from experience, can only ever be himself when freed from treatment, thus allowing the full expression of his otherwise suppressed insanity. Another self-imposed stipulation was that during each session, everyone would use a different instrument, be it acoustic or electronic, regardless of mastery. Et voilà — a broad range of dissimilar pieces, a violent rupture in playing modes and tones, the direct result of the huge interpersonal tension that was present. Includes postcard. Edition of 300.
Süra Wald
(Chocolate Monk - choc.565) CDR $9.00
Hey, free improv fan, fancy a forest stroll with France’s finest music brut weirdos? Come hear their yelps, grunts, gurgles and horns. Marvel at the clatters, electronics, small percussion and more. It is all very considered and strangely soothing. A deep listen, recorded in the Blackforest on April 17 and 18, 2010, at exactly the same two places (near Aufen and at the Schwarzenbachtalsperre lake) where Bennink and Brötzmann recorded their Schwarzwaldfahrt album in May 1977. In loving memory of the late, great Thierry Monnier. In half-size DVD case with 12-page color booklet. Edition of 75
Tolvek
(Doubtfulsounds - DOUBT07) LP $18.00 (Out-of-stock)
With not one but two band members spending time in mental hospitals since the release of the first Micro_Penis LP, and two others embarking on year-long meditative retreats in a Zen temple in the south of Italy, recording sessions for Tolvek (Alsatian for “moron”) were therefore delayed. This LP documents moments when inner demons had the upper hand over the mental health of K., S., H., and O., transformed each time into an outlet, and exorcised. With medication and therapeutic workshops with artist Anne Zimmerman, K. and S. sculpted creatures from vegetable peelings and stuff found in the hospital garbage bins — hybrids of sexual obsession and vegetable shapes. Zimmerman proposed to develop some of their work with rubber. Each copy of the LP comes with one of their “sexual rubber beasts.” Edition of 300. TEDIUM HOUSE BEST OF 2011