Educated Cuts

Balearic Assassins of Love @ The Roomz

Hurston Krebs

Outsider musicians can be the product of damaged DNA, lack of fruit, alien abduction, drug fry, demonic possession, or simply sheer barking madness. To pin down an exact definition of Outsider Music is like trying to turn a piece of charcoal into a twig. If you define it as music that is outside the mainstream music industry, then that could include anything from punk to polka, wiffle to wallpaper or psyche-morgenmuffels to timorous beastie.

If you define it as music that is recorded not for popular consumption, then that too is not exactly correct, since Outsider musicians often dream (perhaps delusionally) of mainstream success. If Outsider music is defined in relation to Outsider Art, then it has to be put in the context of music that is created by people who are mentally imbalanced (for that is what Outsider Art was originally meant to define: the artwork made by asylum patients).

Milty F Gulbicki, whose musical repertoire was recorded by the activities director at the Texas Nursing Home where he was a resident, is surely a classic example of this definition. His cassette only release, ‘Crayons Sure Taste Good To Me’, is a classic of the Outsider Music genre and would have surely reached a wider audience were it not for the fact that Milty destroyed all the existing copies by tearing-up the spools and made a ‘birds nest’ out of them, in which he lived until his untimely death in 1974 from a bizarre stork mating ritual.

But not all Outsider musicians are asylum patients. Some seem more like novelty acts, but at the same time it is also wrong to define Outsider musicians as simply novelty acts because Outsider musicians are not necessarily "in" on the joke, so to speak. Before violinist Hopeton Jayhawk had his breakdown he spoke of his music as, ‘Wandering across so many applique meadows and quilted shores, under skies crisp with rhinestone shooting stars. Feeding lambs and dinosaurs to serpents and horses. Christian fish, Buddhist cats and real ducks braced for a deluge of modish Jesus worship and hippie fundamentalism. Jagged bands of mountains and cold skies, that purely American assemblage of bottlecaps, broken glass, soft polyester filled animal forms and my violin. That is certainly not a novelty.’

The only undeniable unifying aspect of Outsider music is its genuine expression of feelings, ideas, emotions, etc., that can't be effectively expressed otherwise.

There have been many outsider musicians, both prominent and obscure who have been profiled in the past, but none as obscure and eccentric as the recently re-discovered, Hurston Krebs. Long thought to have disappeared into the vapour of history, his strange life story is slowly beginning to unravel once more.  The only thing Krebs, a self-taught artist, had in common with other outsider musicians was an utter lack of conventional tunefulness and an overabundance of earnestness and passion, inventiveness and originality.

 

Hurston Krebs 1974

Saracen Records have just released a 12” EP of Krebs’ only known recorded output. The ‘Streaky, Spotted, Speckled and Spattered’ EP which, if truth be told, doesn’t offer much distinction between the "serious" avant-garde and the merely insane and talentless, but it is still worth buying.

‘Roly- Poly Looseness’ kicks off the EP with Krebs equating the bleakness of his home town Tuscaloosa, Alabama with the virility of beavers; the constriction of his jeans with a certain manifest destiny in his heart and a certain snobbishness with the folklore scene of Ebenezer Cemetery. All underpinned with Hurston’s grim Teutonic utterances. The music is assured, disturbed, and inaccessible.

 ‘Labyrinthine Woven Concerns’ follows with all the Byronic dandyism of the Romantic period for the first 30 seconds until Krebs begins to play and sing. He touches on the strictest rules of the Victorian bourgeoisie, concerning how many rings and what sort of shirt studs could be worn by a gentleman at what hour of the day, and what colour his gloves should be. Clearly this all mattered to Krebs.  His encroaching singing ‘style’ a counterpoint to the sound effects of a gurgling brook. By the end of the song Krebs sounds like he is drowning in that very gurgling brook.

The final song on the EP, ‘Fools and Puppets’ is Krebs’ homage to the blackmailers of Paris. The great epoch of haute couture power: of women waiting in a kind of despairing anticipation to find out what hating joke would be played on them this season. The song has what sounds like an accordion being rolled through a mangle whilst Krebs screams the word ‘Denim’ over and over again.

The only information on the record is a quote from an old friend of Krebs - himself a bearded loon known only as ‘Jonathan’, who would frequent shopping malls wearing the horsehair plumes of Huns, brilliantly dyed hide breeches of Franks and Visigoths and a brightly dyed medicine pouch inlaid with porcupine quills full of LSD.

‘’He (Krebs) was a stoic man to say the least, terse and contrite. His live set consisted of him creating these sweeping vistas of notes on a guitar with no discernible melody or key while a female compatriot traveling with him played a Theremin and wept into a jam jar.’’

The woman in question was thought to be Grace Ricketts, Krebs’s then wife. Jonathan continues,

 ‘Later in his life Krebs took to busking, playing his folky stuff on the melodian and singing unmellifluously like a raven’s caw. So one day he's busking and it's getting late-ish in the afternoon and a woman has been watching him for quite a few minutes. He decides to pack up and finishes his song. She continues to stand in front of him. He thinks she looks a little familiar but he can't quite place her. He asks "Er - do I know you?"

She says "Yes, I used to be married to you.''

Those seeking an introduction to the music of “non-musicians” (by the accepted standards music theory & mainstream taste) would be wise to pick up this EP as it offers a peek into the Outsider Music spectrum and the inner workings of Hurston Krebs amateur and very intriguing mind. Approach with a very open mind.

Hurston Krebs - The Streaky, Spotted, Speckled and Spattered EP out now on Saracen Records.

Crazy Covers Session: Brighton

 

We all love a cover version, especially if it's given a totally new spin, so I was really honoured to be invited to help Steve KIW kick-off his Crazy Covers Session in Brighton at the weekend. My BAOL partner and I managed to bypass the curfew by an hour or so, so we must have been doing something right.

 

 

My tunes in no particular order -

 

 

 

'Slave To The Rhythm' – The Shortwave Set (Grace Jones)

 

 

 

'Pegasus' – Temple Music (The Hollies)

 

 

 

'Locomotive Breath' – Atomic Forest (Jethro Tull)

 

 

'Vampire Blues' – Wooden Shjips (Neil Young)

 

 

'Summer (The First Time)' – Millie Jackson (Bobby Goldsboro)

 

 

'It’s All Over Now Baby Blue' – Them (Bob Dylan) 

 

 

 

'Hey Joe' – Johnny Hallyday (Jimi Hendrix)

 

 

'In The Midnight Hour' – Maloko (Wilson Pickett)

 

 

'On the Road Again' – Rockets (Canned Heat)

 

 

 

'Theme One' – Schizo Fun Addict (Van Der Graaf Generator)

 

 

 

'Lost In Music' – The Fall (Sister Sledge) Cog Sinister 12”

 

 

 

'Norwegian Wood' – Cornershop (The Beatles)

 'When I Was Born For The 7^th Time' LP

 

 

 

Dancin’ In The Streets – Grateful Dead (Martha and the Vandellas)

Arista 12”

 

 

 

'Song 2w'o – Zinger Meats Spry (Blur) Red Egyptian 7”

 

 

 

I’m A Believer – Robert Wyatt (The Monkees) Virgin 7”

 

 

 

'Wichita Lineman' – Johnny Harris (Glen Campbell)

 'Moments' WB LP

 

 

 

'Don’t Be Cruel' – Billy Swan (Elvis Presley)

Monument 7”

 

 

 

'From The Morning' – Beautify Junkyards (Nick Drake)

Fruits De Mer 7”

 

 

 

'Into The Groove' – Ciccone Youth (Madonna)

Blast First 12”

 

 

 

Tubular Bells – Billy Green and The Love Machine

(Mike Oldfield)

Dynamite Soul 7”

 

 

 

'Sweet Jane' – Cowboy Junkies (Lou Reed)

Cooking Vinyl 12”

 

 

 

 'Mrs Robinson '– The Lemonheads

(Simon and Garfunkel)

 

 

 

 'Gently Johnny' – Woodbine and Ivy Band

 (Paul Giovanni Wickerman OST)

Static Caravan 7”

 

 

 

Trois Gymnopedies – Gary Numan  (Erik Satie)

Beggars Banquet 7”

 

Love Will Tear Us Apart – The Swans (Joy Division) 12”

The Williams Fairey Band – What Time Is Love (KLF) 'Fuck The Millennium' Blast First 12”

Ziggy Stardust - Bauhaus  (David Bowie) Beggars Banquet 12”

Hair – James Last (Hair OST) Polydor LP

Blues For Brother George Jackson – Raw Deal (Archie Shepp) Straight Ahead 12”

Oh Dear What Can The Matter Be – Terry Callier (Trad.Nursery Rhyme) 'The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier' LP

Heroes – Nico (David Bowie) 'Drama of Exile', Aurra LP

Get Back – Deirdre Wilson Tabac (The Beatles) Jazzman 7”

Please Don’t Touch – Motorheadgirl School (Johnny Kid and The Pirates) Bronze Records 7”

Love Will Tear Us Apart – June Tabor & Oysterband (Joy Division) Topic Records 7”

The Hurdy Gurdy Man – Butthole Surfers (Donovan) Rough Trade 12”

There’s A Ghost In My House – The Fall (R Dean Taylor) Beggars Banquet 7”

No Regrets – Half Man Half Biscuit & Margi Clarke  (Edith Piaf) Probe Plus

Submerged Forest Bank Holiday All-Dayer

FUN YOUR EAR PRAGUE 2

 

'The Balearic Assassins Of Love – a hirsute raggle-taggle collective of vinyl junkies who worship at the altar of sunrise and sunset like Kicker-shod party druids. Forever on an eternal quest to slay the dragon of segregation and the pigeon of hole they gather frequently and mix together musical forms as diverse as hypno Latvian Acid Skiffle and mystic Tibetan yacht rock to create that ecl*ctic, highly danceable, don't care ‘last day of the holiday’ feel. With DJ monikers such as Sherman, King Sunny Ade P and Keep It Wheel, they share a commonality with the Beastie Boys - had they been born on Spike Island and never rapped - with a freestyle expression that seamlessly binds sporadic vinyl inspiration through technical flair and copious amounts of alcohol. Equally at home playing downtempo sunset and woodsmoke campervan sessions to happy times hands-in-the-air hay-bale raves, the BAOL straddle all genres like a well-heeled Achillea colossus in smiley T-shirt and Day-Glo poncho. Formed sometime in the last century the BAOL have played a huge amount of parties never repeating a set or compromising on venue; a beach front Acid drenched Scout hut, an ex-communist Prague nuclear bunker, the Lord Mayor 's Carnival, Primavera, strobe flecked Brighton basements, 10 hour sets on Hastings pier, Numerous North London clubs and Bars, sunset/sunrise sets in beautiful Sussex fields and Fawlty Towersesque hotel cellar bars, always with a smile and a laugh and a joke. Some people believe music is a matter of life and death, the Balearic Assassins of Love can assure you it is much, much more important than that. Expect the unexpected avaibable for bookings and ‘Ave IT!

A Life In The Day

 

An elderly record shop buyer was ready to retire. He told his employer of his plans to leave the vinyl purchasing business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family, embroiling within capes and playing plenty of deck quoits. He would miss the pay cheque, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The record shop owner was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could buy just one more collection of very rare vinyl as a personal favour. The record buyer said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work anymore. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and bought inferior records. Instead of rare Sun Ra ‘Horo’ pieces he bought Steps; instead of Mellow Candle’s Swaddling songs he bought Leo Sayer; instead of Jason Crest’s Turquoise Tandem Cycle he bought, The Best of Jim Reeves; instead of The Madman Running Through the Fields by Dantalian’s Chariot he bought Mrs Mills; instead of Fire’s Father’s Name Is Dad he bought Now That’s What I Call Music 16, and instead of Rainbow’s Ffolly Sallies Forth he bought Chris de Burgh ‘A Retrospective.’ It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career. When the record buyer finished his work he placed all the pieces in a flight case and the employer came to inspect the vinyl.

His boss handed the flight case back to the record buyer, and said, ‘My Gift to you’. The record buyer was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own collection, he would have done it all so differently. So it is with us.

We build our record collections a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the construction. A bit of mediocre Nu-Jazz here, a Charity shop Funky House 12” there; A bargin bin badly pressed bruk comp here and a dull ambient noodle there. Then with a shock we realise we have to live with the collection we have built. If we could do it over we’d do it differently. But we cannot go back. You are the buyer. Each day you nail a tune, score a piece of vinyl, or erect new shelves for more pieces. ‘A Record Collection is a do-it-yourself project someone has said: ‘Your selections and the choices you make today, build the collection you’ll live with tomorrow.

 

Let’s be careful out there!