Sun City Girls – “Sun City Girls” (1984)
First run pressing of 1000 copies on Placebo Records
Desert landscapes, weather, people, and culture are so unique. One of the quietest places on Earth, deserts tend to produce a lot of introspection. I assume this is why some of the weirdest and most creative art, particularly music, comes out of such regions.
I could never keep up with all the output from the Sun City Girls and the two brothers that constituted its core. But that’s ok. Their first two albums are so good, with both music and silly, clever lyrics.
I see that Landscape (the guy behind the Stereo Field and Noon) has a new product that's a handheld string resonator similar to an Ebow. On top of looking very sci-fi, you can vary the vibration via CV. Pretty compelling. https://www.landscape.fm/ferrous
I had a nice long convo with a neighbor yesterday, and one of the things we talked about was my music. The way I described it reminded him of the first electronic music soundtrack for a feature film, that of Forbidden Planet in 1956.
I never thought I would say this, but Andrew W.K.'s #NPR Tiny Desk Concert is actually very interesting. It is just him and an electric keyboard. Yes, he is not the most talented pianist in the world, but there are some very interesting piano compositions happening here. Some #ExperimentalMusic, Some even #ClassicalMusic, though when he starts sings his playing becomes much more simple. Still, I think you would be surprised, @classicalpiano. I was.
"Partch was profoundly idiosyncratic. To play [his] music, he built a series of string and percussion instruments tuned to his scale, and even re-tuned pump organs. Because his music is so specialized—requiring Partch’s own instruments to play it—his discography is small but complete."
The sound is pretty involved, so this week I'm talking about just the glitchy looper part. I will make a part 2 soon, to talk about combining the looper with radio noises.
For #BandcampFriday, may I suggest a listen and maybe cheap purchase of my new album? Alternatively, my entire discography can be had for a little over eight bucks. 🙂
As always, submit your own release or someone else's, it can be by #FediMusicians or not, hosted on #Bandcamp, #Faircamp, #JamCoop, #Mirlo or #SelfHosted, as long as it is by an #IndieArtist (but bonus points for supporting Bandcampers today, as it's the last one for a while).
Simply make a direct comment (with a link & description) to this post and it will appear at https://isitfairtrademusicfri.day automagically!
@axwax I have a recent release! This track is for clarinet, flute, and MIDI keyboard w/ Max/MSP. There are strange woodwind noises and multiphonics, ham radio samples & retro electric piano, among other things, and it sounds glitchy and trippy. It's on a compilation w/ 11 other composers, and that's great to check out as well!
Happy Friday, everyone. My first new album in a year is here. A Knife Into Flowers is six tracks of dissonant synths, surrealist adventures in distortion, transistor radio surfing and vaguely post-apocalyptic goodness.
To save you a little coinage, use a code for a free download.
Enter a code here: https://stevenraysound.bandcamp.com/yum
If the code you try has already been used, try the next one. Remember to let everyone know which code you used in the comments. If none of them work, let me know and I’ll generate more.