 Fifty years ago (as of June 12th), English free improvisation forefathers AMM recorded The Crypt. A monumental and intimidating slab of noise, it wasn't even released until 1981; it's THAT monstrous and weird. It was daunting then, at 88+ minutes spread over two LPs. Now available as an expanded 2 CD set with all the recordings from the session, it's even MORE intimidating at 109+ minutes! So, what does this monster of a recording sound like? Well, it's FAR more intense than AMMMusic 1966, the groundbreaking album that preceded it. The quintet of Lou Gare, Christopher Hobbs, Eddie Prévost, Cornelius Cardew, and Keith Rowe used fairly traditional instruments for this. Cello, piano, percussion, electric guitar, saxophone, violin, and....... electronics? That latter element means both pedals and preparations as well as shortwave radios, used both for random snatches of sound and for the static between stations. Listening to The Crypt, though........ who knows WHAT is making which sound? This is a mass of intense and enthralling noise made by masters of their art. It's industrial music before Industrial records. It's the UK equivalent to European/Canadian/US weirdos like The Sperm, Nihilist Spasm Band, and Intersystems. It's several years of musical insurrection both predicted and perfected, as jarringly out of time fifty years later as it must have been when it was recorded. Nothing else is like this, and you'll be hard pressed to find something this eerily prescient. It's not for everyone, but anyone here at Electronic Cottage owes it to themselves to check it out. It's essential.
16 Comments
Rafael González
6/11/2018 14:05:09
Thank you very much! I did not know this work ... I run to listen!
Adam J Naworal
6/11/2018 15:48:33
Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading!
Rafael González
6/11/2018 18:06:10
I loved it but it's oppresive too. It's not music for summer. Tomorrow is June 12 again!!! The most important thing is that they use short wave radio. This is very important to me
Chris Phinney
6/12/2018 09:10:29
Nice! If I am not mistaken & I may be Al Margolis rereleased some material on Pogus or was that Generation's Unlimited?
Hal
6/12/2018 09:19:43
Chris, POGUS is distributing some of the AMM: At The Roundhouse CDs that were issued on the Anomalous Records label - http://www.pogus.com/ICES01.html
Adam J Naworal
6/14/2018 14:38:05
Thanks for checking it out!
Chris Phinney
6/12/2018 09:38:17
Thanks Hal I have the release in my collection just was foggy on it as not where could view. Shall I say a release or two. 6/12/2018 10:43:19
AMM is one of those bands that I discovered only in the last decade. I love discovering new music and especially innovators like them, who worked without trying to appease a record label or audience. THAT kind of freedom is what I like so much about Home taping as well.
Hal McGee
6/12/2018 11:42:43
Me too. Only relatively recently, like maybe seven or eight years ago I kind of "discovered" AMM, really listened to them for the first time. Even at my age there's lots of stuff I haven't heard yet that is considered "classic". Recent examples of stuff I've listened to recently for the very first time: "Concerts" by Henry Cow, "Inventions For Electric Guitar" and "E2-E4" by Manuel Göttsching. And now that I've read the Mick Magic interview here at EC I realize that I need to listen to "Captain Lockheed And The Starfighters" by Robert Calvert. And based on Adam's article, I need to check out Intersystems, but that 3-disc box that's out is like $60, so that'll need to wait until next paycheck!
Adam J Naworal
6/14/2018 14:37:46
It took me a long time to discover a lotta the music I love. It happens! Thanks for reading my piece! 6/12/2018 16:22:07
Sounds pretty cool-- some nice textures. Interesting how much more material like this was created several decades later.
Adam J Naworal
6/14/2018 14:36:54
Thanks for checking my article out!
Neal D Retke
6/12/2018 17:12:04
AMM Rules O.K. ~! Thanks for the post
Adam J Naworal
6/14/2018 14:37:06
Thank you for reading it!
Lumen K
6/18/2018 13:35:28
Thanks for the informative, interesting, and well written review!
Adam J Naworal
6/18/2018 17:05:15
Thanks for reading it! Leave a Reply. |
Adam Naworal
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