Hapi Wiz - Au Grand Air

Hapi Wiz - Au Grand Air

Les Potagers Natures, 2001

After buying it at a yard sale overseas, I couldn't wait to get back home and spin this 10" oddity, mostly due to it having white labels and one song a side. Due to this, I assumed it'd be drone or noise of some sort; but after finally spinning it I was surprised to see that Hapi Wiz have stepped in opposition towards opposition itself and made a single of which genre I can't even fully explain. It sounds like prime Sun City Girls mixed with Captain Beefheart, however, there is a certain energy and aesthetic present in Hapi Wiz not present in SCG or Beefheart, and that something is beyond what I can physically reciprocate, all I can do is recommend you listen to it. The guitars and the drums give the listener an inkling of impossible deja vu.

There seems to be no information on Hapi Wiz, despite their Les Potagers Natures page. True recluses!

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Les Potagers Natures

The Black Vial - Noise Frequency PWM

The Black Vial - Noise Frequency PWM

De Stijl Records, 1990.

The Black Vial was a free-form ensemble from Germany, active from the late 1980's to early-mid 1990's. From what is clear, the main-man of The Black Vial was Liebfried Loch, the only member continuously credited through out all releases. Loch himself had been making collages, drones and other pieces since the late 1970's, although The Black Vial was the only major manifestation of his work.

The album borders between drone, outsider folk and general experimental moods and sounds. Despite many conventional instruments being used (guitars, piano, organ) they are used in angular manners as to create long, droning sounds. 

De Stijl did release more Black Vial, with 2002's 'The Jaguar And The Yellow Colours.' In 1995, Hidden Records released 'Frozen Morning.' 1990 also saw, along this, a split EP with The Circus Of Doom, released on Swamp Room Records. I am yet to hear any of these releases, although I'd imagine they bare stylistic symmetry with Noise Frequency PWM, due to Loch's pervasive involvement. 

Recommended listening for fans of The Sperm, F/i, Ulaan Kohl and the De Stijl catalog.

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