Mike Patton - "The Man in the Lower Left Hand Corner of the Photograph." Mike Patton squeals, screams, chokes, hacks, heaves, and hisses through forty-five minutes of works for solo human larynx, pharynx, and mouth in Adult Themes for Voice. If you've never heard these recordings before and you plan on downloading the snippets, kickin' them over to your nice, white iPod, and listening to them on the train ride home, be forewarned. There may be a little blood on your little virginal headphones after this earfuck.

Boorh marh.
Boooorh maaarrrh.
Boooorrrrh maaaaarrrrh.
Sssa-ss-ss-ss-ss sssa!

L(h)-ootch.
Diwmh.
Doyts.
Sss.
Wowhl'.

Even more entertaining than hating the sounds is reading reviews from "fans" and detractors. Fans piss and moan because they wanted this album to be from "the guy who brought you Faith No More and Mr. Bungle!" Detractors hound Patton for ripping off Throbbing Gristle [because everything was ALWAYS so much better twenty-five years ago]. Oh, brother. Everyone just keep writing reviews so I can keep laughing, but shut up so I can keep on listening. No one actually cares about what you have to say about a recording, the same way no one cares what I have to say about a recording. Besides, Adult Themes was recorded with a mic and probably some pedals, and it was mixed in hotels with a four-track cassette deck in 1996.
And for your continued aural [dis]pleasure:

+ Mike Patton - "Red Mouth Black Orgasm."
+ Mike Patton - "Porno Holocaust."

Ah, makes you wonder what he's going to lend to Medúlla.

Rahzel - "4 Elements". Don't call it a comb-over; he's been here for years. Rahzel, the "Godfather of Noyse" is bringing his skillz back to the ring in a new comp. No, not the Greatest Hits but Rahzel's Greatest Knockouts. Greatest hits comps are too often seen as a last-ditch effort to sweep up the remains of a once-great career and hopefully make enough money to pay the lawyer's fees and keep the condo in Malibu one more year. Occasionally, though, there'll come a collection that has showcases some severe talent, some smart editing, and a nice metaphorical ribbon with which to wrap it all up.

Rahzel is probably best known as a member of the [cutting edge?] live hip-hop band, The Roots. He's had cameo appearances on a slough of artists' records—from rap to rock to electronica—and can be seen endorsing Twix [who wouldn't?]. All this for the undisputed beatbox champion of the world? Why, yes! Hearken to "4 Elements." Rahzel is a virtuoso of vocal percussion, with nuanced textures, terraced dynamics, and layering of his own melody over his own beats… Oh, you don't believe me? Perhaps you've been dead for the past four years. You're not a mp3 swapper until you've heard Rahzel live, performing

the beat
and the chorus
AT THE SAME TIME.
[Download "If Your Mother Only Knew" here]

You still don't think he doin' dat shit? Y'all think there's some other shit goin' on? Well, prepare to insert your limited-edition Jordans in your gold-plated mouth. Rahzel, among other beatboxers, is featured heavily on Björk's forthcoming Medúlla. And I don't care if you're tired of hearing about Björk. I could do a whole umbrella mp3 weblog about her and her collaborators alone. It's not for nothing that the music critic for the New Yorker called me an "expert Björk fan." I bet he'd be interested to learn that I'm engaged indefinitely to sing with all of Seattle Opera's productions, beginning with Lohengrin, which opens next week [drop me a line, Alex. I can give you the scoop before the poop drops!].

This week, I'll be doing another sort of Medúlla spin-off when I'll be taking a look at mouth-music makers. Tongue-twisters, beatboxers, and throat singers. And don't think for a second that I'm going to forget about Michael Winslow!

Björk - "Who Is It? [Live in Rome]". I'm like you; I really want this to be a Björk remake of the Michael Jackson song. What it is instead is one of the two extant recordings of a myth that belongs to the lost-song lore of Björk . There's even an entire fan web page devoted to this song and what is known about its history. Leave it to me, however, to give you the real deal, the dish, the down-low dung.

"Who Is It?" began as a tune that Björk wrote during the formative days of Vespertine. While attending a Bogdan Raczynski, she literally bumped into Rephlex' UK-based, US-raised, Japan-schooled Polish drill and bass genius-terrible. A few months later, the two caught up with each other in New York and worked on Björk 's "Who Is It?" together, along with a couple other tracks. The results were rumored to be quite extraordinary and intense. It was a musical match made in Valhalla. When word first got out that the two had recorded together, '"Who Is It?" went by the name "Embrace Fortress" and apparently was a duet between Björk and Boggy, layered over his beats. All of this began a flurry of debate and misnamed mp3s when Vespertine first leaked onto P2P networks. As it turned out, the fruits of their efforts were so miraculous—so frenetic and joyous—that the tracks didn't fit in with the mood of Björk's forthcoming album, a meditation on solitude and the paradise of introversion. "Who Is It?" was given a rest.

Björk picked up a little later and recorded a version that brought in her trusty Icelandic String Octet. Somehow it didn't all fit, and Bodgan's beats were dropped. Suddenly the song was missing a big part of its meat. By the time the Vespertine Tour rolled around, "Who Is It?" had undergone its fifth treatment, this time slowed down a bit and set to beats programmed by Matmos's David Drew and their friend, electronic thug Jay Lesser. The song was only performed twice—once in Parma and once in Rome [the version heard here]. Rome was far superior: the Inuit soloist was more secure, Björk remembered the words and sang in-tune, and a glorious orchestral part with tympani and horns was added.

When fans first caught hold of the two mp3s, some remarked in Björk's official fan 4UM that it sounded a bit like world music. One even said it was Peter Gabriel-esque. Naturally, when a song begins and lives its life with such fire and then gets comments like that, the fire has to be quelled for a bit. Björk shelved the song right away, much to the chagrin of most fans, who agreed that it was one of the most exciting tunes and lyrics that she'd ever written.

The good news is that the tracklist for her next album, Medúlla, was released on Wednesday. And what's track #6? "Who Is It? (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)." Who's to say what sort of cacophonous ambience it's taken on in this version. I'm fairly confident that this will be Björk's best work to date—a pastiche of musique concrete, vocal acrobatics, beatboxing, and really nerdy humour—a party record for the eccentric.

Björk will be singing at the Opening Ceremonies for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens on August 11th. She, like the thousand-something other opening-ceremony guests, will be draped in the creations of designer Sophia Kokosalaki and will reportedly sing what may be the first single from the Medúlla, "Oceania."

Oh, Elektra Marketing. The largest TV audience in the world watches and hears your iconic musician set ablaze one of the most important international and historical events of the past 100 years. Her album drops nineteen days later. Brilliant.

his embrace: a fortress
praises me
and places
a skeleton of trust
right beneath me
bone by bone
rock by rock

and if you ask yourself
patiently
who is it?

who is it
that never lets your down?
who is it
that gave you back your crown?
and the ornaments are
they're going around.
now they are handing him over.

we all have been to the still place
we all have learned
a lightness
i carry my pain on right
but i carry my joy on my left.

and if you ask yourself
patiently
who is it?

EXPLOSION LTTR
PRACTICE MORE FAILURE
JULY 17- AUGUST 5, 2004 >
NEW YORK, NEW YORK>br? ART IN GENERAL - 79 Walker St.
www.lttr.org www.artingeneral.org

Come celebrate the release of LTTR Issue 3: PRACTICE MORE FAILURE!

With LTTR's third issue, themed "Practice More Failure," editors K8 Hardy, Emily Roysdon, and Ginger Brooks Takahashi seek to enthuse process and practice as opposed to the masterpiece. An annual collectively-made art journal, LTTR brings together a community of queer and feminist artists, writers, and cultural producers.

JULY 17 RELEASE, 7-10PM
ART IN GENERAL - 79 Walker St.
with:
Lesbians on Ecstasy, Libber, Virginia Puff-Paint, Portrait Studio by Cass Bird, DJs Lez Celeb and the Chairman.

The Lesbians on Ectasy are a live dance outfit from Montreal, Quebec. They steal liberally from the lesbian back catalogue, referencing artists like K. D. Lang and the Indigo Girls, to create booty shaking dance hits that maintain the politically infused edge of many early sapphic songwriters.

Libber is a new performance project by Wynne Greenwood of Tracy and the Plastics. Libber brings percussion-based songs and video in a marching band style to the stage.

Virginia Puff Paint [Jeremy Laing and Will Munro], porn superstar of the glittery craft underworld, tickles multiple lacy orifices with detacheable foam-stuffed fringed spandex cocks in a heavily embelished and much anticipated debut release. Catch this insatiable vision of hand-stitched poly-sexuality, dripping sequined entrails from padded stomach cavities, begging to be plowed by a rhinestoned stiletto. Peer through the glory hole

Raw Sex, Pure Energy - "Stop the War". Neneh Cherry got her start as a backup singer in 1979, with the New York pseudo-ska-punk band the Nails. After that, she did more band hopping than an Los Angeles stripper and was involved in more spin-offs than Mary Tyler Moore.

Let's look at the run-down:


1981: After making contact with Britain's the Pop Group, touring with cohorts the Slits [who toured with Neneh's dad in '78], and doing a song with Ari Up for New Age Stepper's first album—Action Battlefield, she has a brief stint as a cleaning girl in New York. Word arrives from ex-Pop Group members Bruce Smith and Gareth Sager; they are looking for a lead singer for their newly formed band, Rip Rig & Panic.

1982: Neneh sings lead for an RR&P spin-off band—Raw Sex, Pure Energy. Their EP, Stop the War included the track heard here, a protest against the invasion of the Falkland Islands.

1984: RR&P splinters and forms Float Up, another one-song wonder.

1985: God Mother and Country, "Foot on the Rock." Phbt.

1986: The The, "Slow Train to Dawn," from Infected.

1988: A few smaller projects eventually birth Raw Like Sushi, her solo debut album.

I think you can take it from here.

I really oughtn't be trite and say, "Hey, listen to this song. It is extremely pertinent to our present political and global climate," but—

Hey, listen to this song. It is extremely pertinent to our present political and global climate.

Flowers - "Confessions". This is no way to return to mp3 blogging. I have no information on the band, except that they may possibly have been from Scotland. This tune is from a 7" that also includes a song titled "Life After Dark." It was released on the Pop Aural label in 1979. And besides that this slightly punky romp is sexy as hell, I know nothing else.

He said he really liked me / and did I take the pill? / I sprayed myself with Charlie / and got ready for the kill.

Your mission, oh wiseblooded music afficionados, is to tell me more.