Saâda Bonaire

Shut the Door

The Facts

Imouha

favorite place

Dark Entries digs deeper in to the archives of Severed Heads, one of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the Australian post-punk independent music scene. They began in Sydney in 1979, incorporating elements of ‘industrial’ noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. In 1986 the band released the 12” single “Petrol” on Nettwerk Records. We’ve decided to shed light on the evolution of “Petrol” with this EP showcasing four earlier incarnations of what became an instant synth pop classic. 

“Petrol”, originally titled “Lamborghini”, was written by Garry Bradbury and Tom Ellard in 1981. The first version of the song featured vocals by Finoa Graham and music by Tom Ellard.  “Lamborghini” was featured on a compilation of Experimental Australian bands titled “Entrave Et Étouffement, From Australia...” released by L'Invitation Au Suicide in April 1982. DJs in Chicago discovered the import compilation and “Lamborghini” became a proto-House secret weapon, traded on mix tapes. In July 1982, the band was invited to record several songs on Metro TV in Sydney to demonstrate the video synthesizer, a new piece of equipment played by Stephen Jones. The video synthesizer was installed into Metro's control room above the main studio to process the performance in real time on two cameras while recording to video. Tom Ellard and Garry Bradbury were using analog synths and tape recorders along with the screaming guitar work of Simon Knuckey, while Garry took over vocal duties. In 1984 Tom took another stab at the song, re-recording and singing “Petrol” for the compilation “Beyond The Southern Cross”, a double compilation album of Electronic and Post-Punk bands from Australia and New Zealand. Finally in 1985, the band went into the Terse Tapes studio with producer Robert Racic to record “Petrol” for a 7” single release on Volition Records. Featured here is the B-side of the 7”, a cut-up dub “version” remixed by Racic and packed full of intensity. 

All songs are remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in a jacket featuring brightly colored, distorted, VHS graphics output by Stephen Jones' video synthesizer created by Tom Ellard video piece “Kato Gets The Girl” in 1985, designed by Eloise Leigh. Each copy includes a postcard with notes and original hand-written lyrics by Garry Bradbury. More than 30 years later Severed Heads are still paving the way for powerful imaginative challenging music far and wide.

Lamborghini (Petrol 1982)

Music From Saharan Cellphones Vol. 1

http://sahelsounds.com/?p=263

Group Anmattaf (aka Baye) - Tinariwen

Field of Reeds

Organ Eternal

Obaa Sima

Daa Nyinaa

Self Discovery for Social Survival

Surf or Not

Following 2019’s release of Azymuth’s Demos (1973-75), two more home-recorded demo tracks by the Brazilian psychedelic jazz-funk masters have surfaced from a tape in drummer Ivan ‘Mamao Conti’s private archive. These five-decade old recordings by the young band show the maturity, musicianship and distinctive style that saw Azymuth become one of the most important groups in Brazilian history. 

Featuring an instrumental take on iconic pop song writing team Roberto Carlos and Erasmo Carlos’ 1969 Jovem Guarda hit “As Curvas da Estrada de Santos”, and spacey psych-folk oddity “Ze e Parana” on the b-side, the new 7” release via Far Out Recordings shines yet more light on this critical period for Azymuth.  

As is the case with many of Brazil’s most well-known artists, Roberto Carlos had been backed by Bertrami, Malheiros and Conti either on stage, in the studio, or with compositions (in Bertami’s case) since the late sixties. Conti notes that “As Curvas da Estrada de Santos” was a big hit in Brazil when it came out in ’69 and had already been covered by Elis Regina a year later. 

But where Elis’ version and indeed Roberto Carlos’ original were grand pop-rock ballads, Azymuth’s take is a moody, melodic jazz excursion, featuring Bertami’s incredible Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes and grand piano juggling, Ivan ‘Mamao’ Conti’s distinctively tough drums, and unusually, Alex Malheiros plays a double bass instead of an electric one.

As the title suggests, “Ze e Parana” is guitarist Joao Americo (Parana) playing alongside Bertami’s Rhodes comping, synth embellishments and dreamy wordless vocals. Aside from being credited as the composer and guitarist on “Linha do Horizonte” a track from Azymuth’s debut album which would become the theme tune for a famous novella, Parana has to this day, remained relatively unknown. 

Both tracks were recorded in Jose Roberto Bertrami’s house in Rio de Janiero at some point between 1973-75. These tracks were not recorded in a professional studio, meaning the sound quality differs from other Azymuth releases. At Far Out we take great pride and extreme care in ensuring our releases and reissues are produced to the best possible sound quality. In this case the original source material – the cassette tapes – had not aged well and were considerably damaged. The sound has been restored to the best possible condition but there is still some noticeable tape hiss and slight distortion on ‘Ze e Parana’. For this reason, we strongly advise listening to preview clips before buying this release.

Azymuth - Zé E Paraná

Group Anmattaf (aka Baye) - Tinariwen

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