Color Him Coma
(Paradigm Discs - PD27) 2xCD $18.50
The guest musicians on this CD set are many and varied, but it’s all put together by Gus Coma, Lepke B’s dwarfish cousin, who renounced show-biz to work as a Heavy Goods Vehicle driver. The kind of strange and experimental that makes a mutant proud to be defective. Expect gigantic tape loop symphonies, sundry plunderphonics, lo-fi Sparks and the voice of JFK, a William Burroughs interview (on one track), and a worn out teach-yourself-English tape. You're probably saying to yourself, "You had me at 'dwarfish'," but read on: The first disc reissues an obscure C60 (It's War Boys 1983), half of which is formed around several mixes of an experimental track, constructed from a room-sized 24-track loop (a different version appeared on The Just Measurers' Flagellation LP (It's War Boys 1983)), the other half of which is a tape collage of mostly unused (and some remixed) excerpts from what became the title track of the Milk From Cheltenham's Triptych of Poisoners LP (It's War Boys 1983 and Alga Marghen 2005); it's a live mixdown of seventeen cassette recordings of locked record grooves, stray radio and an infernal matchbox. The second disc is an alternative version of the tape on disc one; it follows a similar blueprint but also contains some very different music, primitive disco drum programming, and a somewhat more sophisticated sound quality. Two bonus tracks are included, originally intended as working material for the unfinished second Milk From Cheltenham LP. TEDIUM HOUSE BEST OF 2011