This compilation project, which began 15 years ago, has finally reached its tenth album!
The compilation started with Tokyo musicians duo of Shibata & Asuna, who each used their own Casiotone to create a one-minute song. They used to tour together a lot and both of them always used Casiotones. While on tour, they often met musicians who used the Casiotone in the same weird way as they did, and this compilation started as spontaneously. Yes, at first it was all just our friends. As it continued to tour, its Casiotone circle of friends spread around the world. Yes, even now, the compilation is actually made up of musicians ASUNA has met directly on tour. And it is made up of musicians who resonated with the concept of this compilation. (Of the nearly 200 participants in the series, only “Kot Kot” has yet to meet in person.) And of course I just love and fan their music, and the significance of this compilation is that it highlights their musicality even more so when the equipment is limited to the Casiotone product. I’m grateful that these relationships between musicians have lasted for ten albums. It is thanks to the dedicated listeners who have continued to listen to this series. （And in the format of a 3inch CD!)
アメリカ／リッチモンドのシンガー・ソング・ライターであり、盟友のMatthew E. WhiteによるレーベルSpacebomb Recordsからアルバムをリリースしている。おおらかで機知に富むソング・ライティングはソロだけでなく、Skyway ManやRaf Rundellの作品でも共同作曲を務めるなど優れた評価を獲得している。過去には日本の敦賀に在住しSweet Dreams Pressと共同でZineを制作していたことも。
2. Richard Youngs リチャード・ヤングス
イギリス／グラスゴーの言わずと知れたアンダーグラウンド界の伝説。数多くの楽器／非楽器を操り、秘教的で陶酔感のあるミステリアスなアルバムを自身のNo Fans Recordsや世界中のレーベルから数多くリリース。かと思えば、全編アコースティック・ギターとボーカルで構成された歌ものやFranz FerdinandのメンバーらとのディスコバンドAMOR、Oneohtrix Point Neverのリミキサーも務めるなど、八面六臂の活躍でこれまでの共演者も数えきれないほどの遍歴を持つ音楽家。
3. Dump ダンプ
Yo La TengoのJames McNewによる宅録ソロ・ユニット。ヨ・ラ・テンゴのアルバムでも時折聞かせてくれる繊細で優しいボーカル曲や、ホームレコーディングならではのローファイで親密な実験的楽曲も聴かせてくれる。近年Dumpとしての再評価も著しくMorr Musicから過去のアルバムがリイシューされ、日本でも坂本慎太郎のレーベルzelone records / presspop musicから12inch作品もリリースしている。
ドイツ／フランクフルトのCharlotte SimonとTobias Pielによるデュオ。ジャーマン・ニューウェーブやエレクトロ・パンクの歴史を受け継ぎながらもエレポップ・オペラ的なパフォーマンスも行いつつ劇場での音楽監督を務める側面もあるなど、ひとつの形態に留まらないアーティスト・コレクティブ。カセットテープ・レーベルのMMODEMMも運営している。今回はカシオトーン二台による「A mechanical robot and a dog」というコンセプトの楽曲を収録。
シンガポールの哀愁を帯びた男女混成ボーカルが特徴的なシューゲイザー／ドリーム・ポップ・バンド。Middle Class Cigarsからアルバムをリリースし注目を集め、日本国内版の発売と同時にアジア各国へのツアーも行っている。メンバーのBo ZhangはSobsのサポートメンバーでもある。今回のカシオコンピでは静謐なトーンのニューエイジ／アンビエントな楽曲を披露。
8. Family Basik ファミリー・ベイシック
加藤遊（Red Car Trio）と加藤りま（ex. Strrows）による兄弟バンドとして、これまでにWhite Paddy Mountainから二枚の優れたインディー・ポップ・アルバムをリリース。近年はセルフ・リミックスのEPをBandcampで発表するなど電子音楽やインストのトラックメーカーとしても才能を発揮している。
イギリス／リーズで80年代から活動する伝説的な実験音楽・即興演奏家であり、脅迫的なビートと複雑な電子音によってサイケデリックな音渦を作り出す作風が特徴的。ソロ名義はもちろんAstral Social Clubとしても世界中のアンダーグラウンドレーベルから作品を多数リリース。現在でも活動するヨークシャーのノイズ・ドローン・バンドVibracathedral Orchestraの結成メンバーとしても知られる。
イギリス／ヨークシャー地方で古くから活動するフィールド・レコーディングをメインとするサウンド・アーティスト。コンタクトマイク、ハイドロフォン、電磁コイル、超音波探知機など、様々なマイクを自作しており、数多くのアーティストにマイク提供していることでも知られる。今回のカシオ音源はその特殊マイクを使用しながらも、1990年に録音した「Génériques #8 (Ice-cream sundaes) – Music for imaginary adverts」という想像上の広告音楽を提供してくれた。
15. Non (Non Band) ノン
1980年に東京ロッカーズ以降のパンク・ニューウェーブ・シーンに登場し、ベース・ボーカルのNON、バイオリンの山岸騏之介、ドラムの玉垣満のトリオとして、82年にTelegraph RecordsよりアルバムをリリースしていたNON BAND。近年再評価著しく、ドイツのTAL（ex. To Rococo RotのStefan Schneiderによるレーベル）よりアルバムのリイシューも行われた。さらに昨年、なんと40年ぶりのセカンドアルバムもリリース。今回の音源は80年代中期に録音していたカシオトーンの音素材に新たにボーカル？を付け加えて完成させたというNONのソロ楽曲を収録。
16. Bertin ベルタン
オランダ／ナイメーヘンを拠点とする画家、デザイナー、コミック・アーティストのBertin van Vlietによる音楽ユニット。ビジュアル作品にも共通するように、カラフルでキュートな世界観によるラヴァーズ・ロックを展開。ほかにも、zoals Breytenbach, Visitors, Breakers, Sprokkelkennis of (none)などの音楽名義でも活動している。彼のコミックでは同郷の電子音楽家のFrans de Waardが主人公となっているスペース・オペラ漫画「Frans Radar」も刊行。今回のカシオ曲は彼のコミックのサントラとも言えるような内容の楽曲を収録。
米シカゴを拠点とするCasiotone For The Painfully Alone名義での活動で知られ、リリース作品での印象的なドローイング・ワークでもファンを魅了し、これまでのカシオトーン・コンピレーションの全ジャケットのカヴァー・ドローイングを手がけるこのシリーズには欠かせない作家。現在は新しい音楽名義のAdvance Baseとして活動。また、Julie ByrneやGia Margaret、Wednesdayを輩出しDear Noraの復活作などを手がけたレーベルとして注目を浴びるOrindal Recordsも主宰。
The feller opening up the night, opening things up, opening proceedings.
I have never seen Pete Um as headline act, finishing off the night, the big draw everyone’s come to see. This is not to say that this has never happened, but I’ve never witnessed it, and I am curious as to the last time that such a thing took place in the general Cambridge area. Indeed, his twitter biography reads simply, “Experimental support act.” Is the act experimental, or the supporting? It’s enjoyably ambiguous.
In the 12 years or so that I have been involved in putting gigs on in Cambridge there can be no doubt that Pete Um is the act that I have both put on the most and seen the most. He is also the greatest musical secret held within this city.
The terrible consequence of his repeated appearances at events I have programmed, is that I feel compelled every time to invent a fresh new description for an artist who is damn tricky to define in the first place. It seemed like a fun challenge initially, but it’s gone too far now. I’m getting drained. Residing in a curious nook, probably occupied by no others, he both fits into, and sits apart from, everything else going on out there, sonically speaking. A specialist in all styles and yet – as the self-styled leading non-musician of Cambridge – none.
Let us assume that you, the reader, are entirely unfamiliar with the man’s work and we need to take everything back to first principles. Pete Um is a problematic hoarder of charity shop vinyl, obscure electronics, and superseded technologies of the distant near past. Through assiduous industry he wrestles these unreliable beasts into snippets and fragments before stitching them together into a tonal collage, repeated and sent into fluctuation. The songs appear out of nowhere, and disappear just as soon as you think you’ve got your head around them. Over these nano-bangers he crams in dense observations, everyday reveries, and chance encounter non-sequiturs, writing from a panoply of perspectives.
I earlier noted the downright difficulty in committing an accurate representation of Pete Um to text – the infinite “dancing about architecture” conundrum ramped up by a few orders of magnitude. This problem is confounded by the always tricky combination of humour and music. Pete is a funny guy. Droll as fuck. Both the man and the stage personality, which (of course) overlap something chronic. This is absolutely critical to his work. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to Pete Um without there being a legitimately laugh out loud moment. But don’t for one second think that he’s a comedy artist. He is, however, certainly an absurdist, appreciative of the risible nature of the world and his own place within it. Willing to poke fun in all directions, particularly inwards. Feasting on his own insecurities. It’s funny, but it’s not quite a joke. The man means it, man, but he’s aware of the ridiculousness of it all.
You didn’t ask for my opinion, but if you did I would insist that you cannot consider yourself a true connoisseur of the Cambridge music “scene” if you are yet to witness Pete Um singing over minidiscs. To some extent, that’s all there is to a live show, but this description doesn’t really seem to do it justice. Relying on archaic devices adds an element of peril, and there’s an unexpectedly animated performance for a man sitting behind a small table. It’s all very much laid out bare for the audience, yet the viewer is left puzzling as to what is the mystery lying behind it all. How did these sounds even come to being in the first place, what can one do to understand it, and how come it’s all so unreasonably immediate?
He is, however, not for everyone. Opportunities to perform to a bigger crowd in Cambridge almost exclusively result in public responses ranging from bemusement to indifference. From an invited guest set supporting Radiohead’s Thom Yorke at the Corn Exchange (“interminably dull”, Varsity) to a heaving Portland Arms awaiting Sleaford Mods, a bumper audience just can’t get to grips with this master of the small-scale. Maybe it’s all too particular for bulk consumption. Maybe most people don’t want to put the work into mentally unravelling these densely packed audio nuggets.
A sketchy chronology from before he was president until now, the last days of his presidency:
I had no idea who he was until he was a potential candidate.
He seemed like an awful person and it seemed unlikely he would succeed in his attempt.
His awfulness became ever more apparent as the media focused more and more upon him.
An old fella in The Green Dragon (my Cambridge local) said he thought he might make a good president and a middle aged female member of his family shook her head firmly and the patriarch seemed a bit taken aback.
I did a crap song which made a poor job of exploring the (im)possibility that Trump might win on a populist ticket.
I checked my phone in the early morning in November 2016 and he had indeed become president and particularly in the wake of the referendum vote, I felt profoundly unsettled and genuinely felt a jolt of fear for my children’s lives.
I heard one middle class professional telling another in The Haymakers that Trump would have no real individual power because he would be surrounded by “advisors” etc and I felt enraged.
All of the shit that happened from then until the present day happened.
At some point in the mid 2000s (?) Simon Loynes aka The Doozer organised what I recall as An Evening Of Psychedelic Drone Music and kindly asked me to stress the fuck out for two weeks trying to get my dronular chops together or come up with something half-decent or even quarter-decent but played at half speed. I spent about a week getting this thing together & then luckily realised I had been making this kind of thing for years anyway and just needed to sift for appropriate bits. Having said that this did get an unusual degree of workin’ on and I still like it. I can’t really remember how I made it & aren’t able to tell by hearing it now but that kind of shows how much it’s been fussed with, I think it started in Logic and maybe had an overdub or two but lots of processing. It’s only now that I have uploaded this that I realise that it isn’t 7 minutes long or whatever.
Have tried to log in here several times in the past couple of years but it didn’t seem to be possible and I had assumed I needed to pay someone to keep this thing going but testing testing
Artist: Pete Um
Title: AS YOU ARE
Keywords: experimental electronic gnostic rock Cambridge
The weird side of music seems like a small but interesting niche. A part of music makers that most people will never find out about and others seem to swim in as if it’s their natural habitat. It’s a strange thing, an odd scene of poetic clowns, tormented artists who live life with their hearts on their sleeves and probably have silly hats on. Sometimes it’s as if it’s inhabitants are in some kind of contest of who is the weirdest? Will it be the girl who sings about frozen fish? Will it be the man who sings about golden noses? Will it be the woman who raps in the out of tune ways? The man who reads out graffiti while he walks around with a dictaphone? The freak that whistles on other people’s noses? Or perhaps…
Static Grist 