44 Thumbs, A-Z: #13

Thumbnails from Nirvan Mullick's riveting 2002 short, The Box Man...



More on the filmmaker here.

Best, as ever,

Tom

New from Karl Schmidt Verlag!

Hello Again,

Things are finally back in a reasonable semblance of order after the melancholy travails of January and this recent weekend's tumultuous, much-freakin'-needed birthday party for Claudia. The box sets will all be away soon, the smaller orders from late December/early January will winging their way to various destinations as well, and I may even find time to update the increasingly forlorn KSV MySpace profile. Keep in mind that sloths tango with metrical precision.

First things first, however. In December, I promised composer/improvisor Panagiotis A. Stathis a January release date for his Karl Schmidt Verlag debut, Selected Works 2004-2009. It's an absolutely stunning collection, one that befits the rarefied aesthetics of the creator of the much lamented Eat My Art Out blog.

So...

KSV 053 Panagiotis A. Stathis - Selected Works 2004-2009



Composed, performed, mixed and produced by Panagiotis A. Stahtis

01 Gallop'd did thee Strobe & did so w/Majesty (5:00)
02 Bethany's Hypnagogue Surrender (9:07)
03 Jailbait (3:15)
04 Squidmouth (4:07)
05 Wildflowers (7:51)
06 View from the Gazebo (5:50)
07 Pond Life (3:14)
08 With Acrobatic Ascension (6:00)
09 This Balloon Makes Fear (6:42)
10 Hundred Dollar Waldorf Astoria Red Cake (3:51)
11 Peak Point (0:20)
12 Breaking Pathic Pounds (5:33)
13 Wipe It on the Cheek (9:00)

Sleeve design by Karl.

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€8.49 throughout Europa, €10 elsewhere. Shipping included. PayPal to: tlasila [at] gmail [dot] com.

Hope you'll all enjoy it!

Until next time (which won't be long - we have a sled of upcoming releases in queue!),

Tom

A Controller's Acrobatically Glum Gunk: Collage...

Naturally Occurring Black Metal λόγος: my new tome, arrayed 10x8.



First orders ship on Tuesday...

Many thanks,

Tom

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #12

Thumbnails from Sid Davis Productions' mordant 1968 driver-safety oddment The Bottle and the Throttle...



Remember, blood alcohol isn't haggis!

Cheers,

TS

Bob Herbert on Howard Zinn...

Still wiped out after the CP's uproarious birthday bash (we've been paralyzed all day, but the döner takeaway and choice selection of Byrds tracks are slowly restoring basic functions). Photos from the party will be posted here on Sunday.

In the meantime, check out Bob Herbert's just-published homage to the late Howard Zinn. It's a moving eulogy...

TS

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #11

Thumbnails from Tex Avery's sterling 1942 animated short Blitz Wolf.



Our local lupine malcontents serve Thai cuisine...

Until,

TS

TS: Naturally Occurring Black Metal λόγος OUT NOW!

Golden Reprobates,

My new book is now available, and we'd be honored if you'd stash one away for your junkie great-granddaughter's moss-slathered trousseau.



Eighty pages, full-color gloss, original photography and text... more I dare not reveal.

Limited edition, each made to order.

(Purchasers of the recent KSV qNadsat box get a copy for free, so if you did, don't. Unless you want one for a friend!)

€45 to tlasila [at] gmail [dot] com.

Go!

Best Wishes,

TS

Always in Twos (Sometimes Threes)...

RIP JDS...

(Kudos BB.)

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #10

Thumbnails from Amos Poe and Ivan Kral's distractingly flawed but nonetheless important portrait of transition, 1976's Blank Generation...



Don't dwell on the past,

TS

RIP Howard Zinn...

We bid farewell to the People's History of the United States author and one of the genuinely great American minds of the last century...



Requiescat in pace...

TS

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #9

Thumbnails from the documentary compilation Berlin Super 80: Music and Film Underground West Berlin 1978-1984. Its many directors need not be listed here, as my video utility seeks an algorithmic, rather than a narcissistic, unity...



Best Wishes,

TS

KSV Box: Production Central vs. Contracted Purloin...

Here's where we stand with What's a qNadsat Word for Tank Jazz - still putting it all together as midnight falls. Scan left, and you'll see stacks of folded releases (KSV 001 through 025, to be exact), a sheath of sleeves, and colored dividers (to protect the components of our various multi-disc albums); peer toward the right, and you'll notice spindles filled with freshly minted copies of our other releases, additional sleeves, rucksacks, postcard-sized stickers (jutting obliquely below the covers for To Which Clotted Horrors Do You Fail to Refer?), and elements of the A0 posters that will be included with each order.



The photobook may not be back from the printer in time for a Wednesday launch, but Thursday is definitely possible. (Friday is a lock, of course. We'll keep you posted either way.)

Soon soon soon!

TS

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #8

Thumbnails from Koji Yamamura's endlessly engaging 1996 animated short Bavel no hon...



More on Mr. Yamamura here.

Cheers,

Tom

KSV Box: Detectible Gunfights, Nor Thorn...

Everything's back from the printer, save the book (Naturally Occurring Black Metal λόγος), which should be ready before I trudge off to the post tomorrow afternoon. If not, I'll have everything away by Friday, but from this vantage, the morrow's still looking solid...

TS

KSV Box: Evidencing Sulfur's Proofs...

Hello Again,

Folding album sleeves while the CP watches a documentary on German "hobby whores." Life, in all of its desperate occlusions, still fucking wails.

Dropped off the last load of printing for the qNadsat 50-disc set earlier this evening, so a Wednesday mail assault looks quite probable. Burning discs for a late box order simultaneously with the aforementioned spindling; it might have to go out next week, Herr O, but as each set takes a few days to prep we'd merely be on schedule, as opposed to wracked and wearied. Cool?

The next batch of releases will include my long-delayed photobook as well. Very limited edition of ten copies, four of which are already spoken for. Box purchasers are receiving one for free...

Hope everyone is holding on tight to a loved one. It's the only bloody thing that matters, etc.



(Above, the work in progress.)

Tom

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #7

Thumbnails from the late Hermine Freed's groundbreaking 1974 video essay Art Herstory...



More about the director and her renowned work here.

Yours Faithfully,

TS

KSV: Reattached Nisei Mist...

Hello Again,

Over the largest of the hurdles re shipping What's a qNadsat Word for Tank Jazz? The sets should be in the post no later than Wednesday afternoon. All other orders ought to be on their way by Friday afternoon. It's entirely possible that our flight decks will at last be cleared!

(Only two boxes left, by the way. Weigh your options, take the leap.)

Coming as soon as the extant orders are en route: Panagiotis A. Stathis - Selected Works 2004-2009; Peach of Immortality with Patrick Miller (Minimal Man) - Live, Hardart Gallery, Washington, DC, 1984 (your minds will be completely fucking obliterated by this one); The Complete Tora Tora Tora Recordings (everything from my 1996 "post-noise" festival, a 14-disc set including performances by an almost-reformed Electric Eels, Simeon Coxe (Silver Apples), Harry Pussy, Flying Luttenbachers, an infamously uproarious set from Frosty, TLASILA, many others, and of course, a document of Silly Art Fick #25 with full sets from Child Abuse, Jan van Hasselt, Family Battle Snake, Steve Warwick, and excerpts from my DJ set.

Many thanks again for the kind words of condolence offered after the death of my father...

Soon,

Tom

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #6

Thumbnails from Ronald Nameth's 1966 film Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable with the Velvet Underground...



Not much to add. Still, it's always good to have Nameth's short stashed away in the archive. You never know when someone will begin burbling about Interpol...

TS

Pity a Mica Pyrite...

Frank Rich never fails. Read his latest here...

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #5

Thumbnails from MGM's 11-minute, 1967 promo oddity All Eyes on Sharon Tate.

No director is credited, but Ms. Tate's dance sequence with David Hemmings was apparently filmed by Albert Maysles.



She was insanely beautiful, and her beauty somewhat obscured her craft. A perusal of The Fearless Vampire Killers serves to recalibrate. She had the gift.

Grim ironies will forever intrude...

Best to All,

TS

Emcee Mouthing Visit...

Terrific gig last night. Child Abuse reached wholly abstract vistas, then puked black bile in strict 11/4 time. Jan van Hasselt found the connection but abjured the circuit to ponder the parameters of his search. Family Battle Snake defrosted orchestral timbres whilst stacking thumbs in a gutted Kaoss Pad. Steve Warwick kick-started his Numbra 350 on Gary Numan's acrylic electrode neck-studs, then peeled out Silver Chalice lobby cards... I DJ'd until 6:00.

The CP and I made our escape while being shadowed by a bowl-licking Adorno scholar wearing spangly hausfrau gear. (Pix will reveal all.) Now, a late lunch with the artists. Too exhausted to move, but too elated to avoid the bruising...

TS

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #4

Thumbnails from Neill Blomkamp's 2005 sketch Alive in Joburg. Mr. Blomkamp's fortunes have rather improved of late...



For more on the director, go here.

As always,

TS

KSV: Caesarean Typed "Sinus"...

Hello Again,

Back, and already getting the What's a qNadsat Word for Tank Jazz? boxes and other new releases prepared for shipment. Probably won't have everything away until Tuesday or Wednesday, but considering the unfortunate dislocations previously detailed in these pages, it's a warped cycle, or nothing at all. Bonuses will be included all 'round!

Here's a sample version of the A0 (i.e., huge) poster that will be included in each 50-disc set:



Fiends, if you've already purchased the box, imagine your name there!

Until tomorrow,

TS

SAF#25!!!

Silly Art Fick #25: Silke Arp Bricht, Hannover, Friday, January 10, 2010, from 9:00PM. Performing: Child Abuse (NYC), Jan van Hasselt (Bremen), Family Battle Snake (Berlin), and Steve Warwick (from Birds of Delay, GB). DJ: Tom Smith (Hannover). Booze: plentiful. Thrills: yours to engender or squander!



(Poster by the great Tobias Prinz. Click above for a much larger version of the image.)

Die Dance-Party Kommen Sie!

Bis Morgen,

Tom

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #3

Thumbnails from Jonas Odell's superb 2006 animated short Aldrig som första gången!



More on Mr. Odell here.

Cheers,

TS

Anemia Hog...

Hello All,

I've returned to Hannover after an emotionally draining week in the States. So happy to be home...

It may take me a few more days to get back on track, but once I'm 100%, expect an even greater level of productivity and quality.

Now, however, I'm too exhausted to collapse.

Sincere thanks to everyone who sent words of condolence, support and encouragement...

Best,

Tom

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #2

Thumbnails from Claude Matthews' early 1980s University of Texas video project, 13th Floor Elevators: Psychedelic Reprise. Rare as hell and as stifling as an Austin mental ward in late August, this typically stiff student documentary assiduously eludes entertainment virtues. Of course, concerns about technique and image quality, especially in this context, are trifling. The video remains a very interesting document from the ground floor of Roky Damage Central...



I haven't any additional information about the student documentarian or his classmates, but here's a link to the university's College of Communication.

Cheers,

TS

44 Thumbs, A-Z: #1

Thumbnails from Kurt Kren's 1965 short 10b/65: Silber-Aktion Brus...



More on Kren here.

TS

44 Thumbs, A-Z: Prologue

Hello Again,

I've love creating thumbnails of scenes from the films I acquire (or reacquire) for my collection. It's such a random process, with one's preferred utility's algorithms often producing seemingly senseless duplications, unusual color patterns within or juxtaposed between parallel iterations, and other deformities of interest. And, as I also enjoying threading the normal TLASILA Blog entries with serial narratives, I now embark on another harried tangent in an effort to further muddy the big picture. Forty-four thumbnails, chosen randomly (albeit primarily from avant-garde shorts and obscure documentary features), for your edification. No cropping or Photoshop tweaking - enjoying each tapestry in its dim, unalloyed nascence is for me the most interesting aspect of the process...

Best,

Tom

Trawling Again...

Part One:

Last day dredging the depths of the archive. How about: the complete Sightings/Tom Smith 2003 Brooklyn sessions? This isn't your improv granddad's brutal, face-ripping nostalgia, kiddo - this is FUCKED. Guys, remember two takes of a song called "The Clash Are Out of Control"? Tongue lodged deeply in cheek, natch, but HOLY GOD!! I shall die happy after hearing this again...

Part Two:

More from the final day (for this visit, at least) in the archive: the second, unreleased Xex album, Xex: Change! Waw gave me a copy of it ages ago. Although I can't really share it with any of you, titillation has its upside. Fucking amazing music.

---

TS

TLASILA Remix Box: The Bossiest Muslin...

Hello,

What with Dad's passing, the Haitian earthquake, etc., I'm not inclined to feel or even acknowledge great rushes of happiness. A bright moment in an otherwise grim afternoon: receiving a remix (tardy, yes, but agreed-upon prior to the official cut-off) from The Teknoist!

Superb, superb, superb...

Nature is neutral, and pain seems insurmountable. In these circumstances, a fleeting moment of sublimity alleviates dread...

TS

TLASILA: Original 1990 Demos...

From the archive:



The original quartet of TLASILA demos, recorded between May and July of 1990. Excerpts from each will appear on the forthcoming 20-year retrospective box on Menlo Park...



The first TLASILA demo, recorded direct to the crud-slathered tape above in May of 1990. Two looped compositions, "Jad" and "Neil," clocking in at 11:35. Quite primitive compared to later works, but even Shiva needed to take a few baby steps.



The second To Live and Shave in L.A. demo, a 10:21 edit composition titled "Lay Reverse," recorded mid-June 1990. Somewhat reminiscent of later, overtly disruptive albums like "Where a Horse Has Been Standing," but with a heady pinch of inchoate despair...



Choked with dust, hauled from the depths of the archive, the first of two July 1990 demos offered fleeting glimpses of future apostasies. Edit constructions dominated: "U-Waft" and "Live For," clocking in at 13:51.



TLASILA demo #4: edit/loop structures, 16:23 of sweetness destined to someday go triple mendelevium. I recorded these, as can be seen above, between 12-15 July 1990. Three tracks: "Toast To," "Prod. Bed," and "Nothing/U-Waft Loop I." Honing the interstitial attack, although a full flowering wouldn't occur until mid-'92...

It all began with "Jad" and "Neil"...

Cheers,

Tom

'E' Making of Salisbury: Acids Recoil from the Overlay...

Peach of Immortality, recorded live at the television studios of George Mason University, Arlington, Virginia, July 1985. Directed by Malcolm Riveria. Live sound by Don Fleming and Jad Fair. (Their feed isn't heard on this video, however.)

Peach of Immortality:

Jared Louche (né Hendrickson) - guitar
Rogelio Maxwell - cello
Tom Smith - tape



The complete performance ran 30 minutes. I was tripping sooooooooo hard...

TS

Watching Rohmer's Paint Dry at Charlotte Douglas...

Hello Droogs,

In the States for the first time in fifteen months. Feels very fucking weird...

As for the journey, the usual oblique angles - delays, annoyances, and a profound sense of disconnection during the Transatlantic leg. I'll get used to it.

Leaving in two hours for JAX, and then another two-hour car ride (with TLASILA alumnus Patrick Spurlock) back to the ancestral manse.

Visiting Dad's grave tomorrow.

More Later,

Tom

Off to the States...

This is just such a sad and miserable day. I'll be leaving Claudia and our home here in Hannover for a week in Georgia. I need to say goodbye to my father, console my mother, commiserate with my sister, and allow the enormity of the loss to sink in. It's been a very rough week...

I'd hoped to send all outstanding KSV orders today, but with a last day of teaching before departure, bags to pack, etc., I was unable to wrest the time.

Each of you will be receiving bonus material with your orders to make up for the pause in the KSV mailing schedule.

More updates from the road, and the States, later.

Sincerely,

Tom

Coping...

Still disconnected and numb, but cracking the odd contorted smile. I'll be leaving for the States on Tuesday morning...

Burning the box sets now - everything should be in the mail before my departure on the 12th. I'll post images and sound files over the weekend.

(The activity keeps me reasonably sane.)

Sleep Well,

Tom

Inconsolable...

Friends,

My father died in his sleep early this morning. I suppose he had tired of the pain, and was ready to move to the next phase...

I am numb.

TS

AdFreak's Top 30: #1...

Sheathing monitory rout...

ADVERTISER Pfizer
SPOT "Poison"
AGENCY Langland, Windsor
COUNTRY United Kingdom

Got something in your throat? We won't spoil this commercial for you, in case you haven't seen it. Let's just say it's utterly distressing—a worthy winner as the freakiest commercial of 2009.

Try Dieseling Struts,

TS

Tendrils of Inevitability...

Update: another, much dreaded call from hospice. Dad has but two weeks. The floor drops away and the dull roar deafens, but amidst the sadness, a life must be honored, and the drunken vicissitudes of chance examined, mocked, and marveled over... This is going to be rough.

Tom

AdFreak's Top 30: #2...

Deft quoting Onyx obsolescence...

ADVERTISER Gwent Police Department
SPOT "Texting and Driving"
DIRECTOR Peter Watkins-Hughes
COUNTRY United Kingdom

This video from a small police department in Wales went viral all over the world, thanks to its depiction of the bloody consequences of texting and driving. Impressively gruesome.

Impel Mousy Regressive,

TS

A Veneered Nuke's Wryness...

(Amended 5 Jan 10)

As promised, pix from Silvester (aka NYE):





























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I'll add captions after work (today, on the 5th).

Cheers,

TS

Long Knives Pierce the Vale of Woe...

Received news a few hours ago that my father's health is rapidly deteriorating... I'll be flying back to the States to bid him farewell, and, of equal importance and urgency, to lend my mother and sister assistance and support in this very painful, stressful time. It's unthinkable, really. I thought for certain he'd be the first obstinate drover in human history to live ten thousand years, but fate, and a foul assortment of aliments, dismantled such notions.

Dad's illness was the central theme, and allegorical fulcrum, of The Cortège. I wrote it for him...

He has a son who loves him without question, with limitless affection and immense gratitude.

--

I'll be here through the 11th, so I'll do my best to have all outstanding KSV orders out the door and into each customer's outstretched arms before my departure...

Best,

TS

AdFreak's Top 30: #3...

Fortuneteller Whilst Pulpy...

ADVERTISER World Wildlife Fund
SPOT "Tsunami"
AGENCY DDB, São Paulo
COUNTRY Brazil

The most controversial campaign of the year, it exploited images of 9/11 to make a point about the environment. ("The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it.") This is the video version of the infamous print ad.

Retrospective Per Tit,

TS

We Survived...

Good riddance to the 2000s! Hail the unknown decade sprawling before us!

Madness all evening long, well into the wee hours. We were lashed, thoroughly sloshed, pummeled by an intense, sixty-minute fireworks fusillade, and then beaten once and for all by private party ambiance - what began with pleasant hosts bearing icy flagons of beer and Tom Waits live rarities devolved into dull, glazed lineaments: drunks staring down dodgy Winamp playlists (dire Duran Duran, Pink fucking "Wall" Floyd) and proffering cigarettes laced with aluminum dust and industrial solvents used in the mining and silk-making industries. We escaped around 4:00, marching through relatively deep snows until we reached HQ. Then snogging and dazed grappling and oblivion...

Today was necessarily quiet. We watched Drew Barrymore's Whip It and spoke in soft, measured tones. Nothing too harsh or taxing required after two weeks of near-continuous merriment.

This evening we dropped by Silke Arp Bricht for their annual New Year's Day concert, but we were too worn out to linger more than a few hours. And now we're back...

Last year was the best of my entire life, without a doubt, but I'm extraordinarily happy to bid a brusque farewell to the decade of Bush (and its ancillary horrors).

This year also marks the 20th and final year of TLASILA! So many releases lined up: Refusal, The Grief That Shrieked to Multiply, The Cortège, Épuration, et al. We won't be touring again, but we hope the valedictory collections will help fill in gaps and dry your wells of tears.

Photos from last night will be added tomorrow. Time for bed!

Best, as ever,

TS

AdFreak's Top 30: #4...

Ace steppers, gherkin knit...

ADVERTISER Leicester Teenage Pregnancy Partnership
SPOT "Teenage Kicks"
AGENCY The Rocket Science Group, London v
COUNTRY United Kingdom

What appears to be a schoolyard fight turns out to be a lot worse in this hard-hitting British PSA. Presumably not based on actual events.

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Concocted rook puns, reveling,

TS