Le Flange Du Mal – Carrion, My Wayward Son
Samples: http://dessapress.com/incoming/
Political Art-Punk
Scattered across the planet just as they hit full stride, this is the smoldering crater where Le Flange du Mal once had us dancing, exhorting riot, reviving possibilities of an armed music, from bent circuits, in doubled vocals, with Korg PolySix, horn, bells, and rugless-drums constantly crawling off stage. As drunken-master slam dancers exhausted themselves, the band clinched us in full blown melodies, earnest and unforgettable, too close for us to punch back.
Get ready to bawl when you hear this lost, caustic album from a dark, danceable, no-guitar, high speed synth and horn band at the turn of the millennium. Tears came easily enough back then: endless war; Dick Cheney in the nuclear throne; church, military, and global finance all in fascist lock-step at the rise of our present monoculture. Paranoia had never been more justified. Freaks, idealists, and artists possessed of wit and political conscience found no quarter, no succor. And in that time of total surveillance, a classic of the age went virtually unnoticed.
Le Flange du Mal drew upon radical traditions, including Crass and Discharge both in style and lyric, barreling straight for the bizarre heart of the beast: Bush’s “Animal-Human Hybrids”, Chrysler bailouts, and visions of an annihilating Weather War. Though unreleased, this album now bobs to the surface, corpse-bright, brined by time and bloated with fermenting possibilities of the here and now.
Artwork By – Theresa Currie
Drums, Concert Bells, Tapes, Metal Rods, Tambourine, Backing Vocals – Chris Cones
Mastered By – Jake Rodriguez
Mixed By – Le Flange Du Mal, Stephen Beacham
Organ, Synthesizer, Acoustic Guitar, Tapes, Electronic Tambora, Backing Vocals – Jason Stamberger
Recorded By – Jason Stamberger, Liz Allbee
Vocals, Synthesizer – Chris Rolls
Vocals, Trumpet, Synthesizer, Tapes, Syrian Reed Flute – Liz Allbee
Written By – Annie Anxiety Bandez (tracks: 7), Chris Cones (tracks: 1-6), Chris Rolls (tracks: 1-6), Crass (tracks: 7), Jason Stamberger (tracks: 1-6), Liz Allbee (tracks: 1-6)
Reviews:
Political art-punk quartet with a small arsenal of instruments including horns, synths, organs, bells, tambura, and more. Apparently this band was active a decade or so ago and this is kind of a lost album, but it’s being released now and coincidentally, the original lineup of the band is playing shows again. Regardless of when this album was recorded, it sounds pretty current; some of it could be Scissor Now! with more instruments. What’s really remarkable is that this group avoids sounding messy or too weird for weirdness’s sake; all of the different instruments and intricate vocal arrangements make perfect sense, nothing sounds random or cluttered. In some weird way it’s even kind of poppy, not really “noise-rock” at all, although it’s still of interest to fans of music that gets branded with that term. The album’s most hypnotic, danceable cut turns out to be a Crass cover (“Shaved Women”). “Iacocca” appears to have some line about “burning Detroit”, if I’m hearing correctly.
The Answer Is In The Beat
Carrion, My Wayward Son ... (RSPT046, LP) wird gemeinsam von Chmafu Nocords und Rescipiscent Records offeriert, in San Francisco eine Plattform für so Obskures wie Bran(...)Pos, Fat Worm Of Error und Ritualistic School Of Errors, aber auch für Ava Mendoza und insbesondere für Liz Allbee, mit deren "Quarry Tones" (RSPT001) das Label 2005 anfing, dem ich mit "Theseus Vs." (RSPT035) auch die erste Bekanntschaft mit der Trompeterin aus Berlin, Vermont, verdanke. Da sie inzwischen in Berlin an der Spree lebt, wo sie mit Burkhard Beins als Mensch Mensch Mensch, mit Chris Heenan als Pivot, mit Michael Vorfeld als The Zoo und überhaupt in der Improszene aktiv ist, erscheint ihre zweite Scheibe mit LE FLANGE DU MAL als ein wilder Rückgriff über 15 Jahre auf die paranoid und apokalyptisch verzerrte Zeit anno George W. Ihre Partner, Chris Cones an Drums, Chris Rolls an Vocals & Synthesizers und Jason Stamberger an Organs & Synthesizers, waren als Earwicker ebenfalls schon RSPTistisch verbandelt, der Anschluss an das Grazer Label erfolgte mit 'The Indigenious Evaporator' auf der "DAMN! - Freistil Samplerin #3", mit Allbee als femininem Link. Dieser Rumpelpunk-Song mit Trompete und Chor macht auch hier den Auftakt und lässt die Anarchie der Los Angeles Free Music Society und die lustvolle Giftigkeit der Postpunk-Gören von Slits und Kleenex anklingen. Das finale 'Shaved Women' ist dazu die direkte Referenz an Crass und Annie Anxiety. Allbee singt selber frisch von der Leber weg, mal mit Rrriot-Girl-Sopran, mal mit Comic-Verzerrungen, mal als 'Threnody for S.A.', mal über einen 'Weather War'. Im Wechsel mit Rolls besingt sie mit einer K-CarLitanei den einstigen Crysler-CEO 'Iacocca', der ja nicht zuletzt ein hohes C der Führungsqualitäten in Zeiten der Krise hinterlassen hat: Curiosity, Creative, Communicate, Character, Courage, Charisma, Competent, Common Sense (alles Qualitäten, die er bei Bush nicht erkennen konnte). Hymnisch pusht und rumpelt 'Caravan To Montauk' dahin, Max Frisch kommt in diesem wohl zum »Montauk Project« gesponnenen Garn nicht vor. '...Landmines' besticht mit hoppeligem Beat, Keyboardsound und Glockenspiel, wenn man doch nur den Text verstehen könnte. Beim gekrähten Crass-Song ist das nicht schwer: Shaved women collaborators / Shaved women are they traitors? / Dead bodies all around / In all your decadence people die! Angestimmt als Powwow mit Screaming babies, Screaming babies, Screaming babies-Mantra, mit dem sarkastischen Spirit, für den Politics und Pop, Agitation und militantes Dancing bestens vereinbar waren. Schon gut. Wenn Musik auch nur an der Oberfläche der Verhältnisse jucken könnte, wäre es schon viel. Aber es muss wohl genügen, wenn sie derart erfrischend und mitreißend mit Defiziten an Menschenwert und Menschenwürde umspringt, dass das Wünschenswerte dem Machbaren eine Nase dreht.
Bad Alchemy
La fiamma del suono anarchico, quella che in passato ha riscaldato i nostri cuori attraverso le sembianze di Mother Of Invention, Gong, Caroliner, Deviants, Crass, Dog Faced Hermans e Chumbawamba, è un po’ come la pianta del cocco, affida agli oceani le sue noci e si fa trasportare fino a piantare le proprie radici in terre lontane.
È così che oggi la vediamo rispuntare in California pronta a lenire la nostra sete di viandanti, enigmaticamente camuffata dietro la sigla Le Flange Du Mal.
Ma basta posare la puntina e far partire il disco per scoprire l’inghippo, seppure una rantolomania alla Germs o, vista l’assenza pressoché totale di chitarre, un synth-punk in stile Screamers giochino sporco per ingarbugliare le acque.
Chi non è ancora convinto non deve far altro che scorrere la lista dei brani, troverà così la Shaved Women, firmata Crass / Annie Anxiety, che inaugurò su 7 pollici la discografia del grippo guidato da Steve Ignorant, Eve Libertine e Joy De Vivre.
Migrante lei stessa, la fiamma del suono anarchico non può che stare dalla parte dei migranti.
Vita eterna allo spirito errante di Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Баку́нин!
Sands-zine
An obscure combo from San Francisco. Members are Chris Cones (drums, concert bells, tapes, metal rods, tambourine, backing vocals), Jason Stamberger (organ, synthesizer, acoustic guitar,
tapes, electronic tambora, backing vocals), Chris Rolls (vocals, synthesizer) and Liz Allbee (vocals, trumpet, synthesizer, tapes, Syrian reed flute). Only the name of Cones did ring a bell. He did a nice cover of Popol Vuh’s ‘Hüter der Schwelle’ as Skullcaster. But with La Flange du Mal, we are in totally different territories. Punk-inspired up-tempo is what they offer. One track is originally from Crass (‘Shaved Women’), with lyrics by Annie Anxiety Bandez. All other six songs are by the band members. Recordings date from several years ago, if I’m not mistaken, but there is not much information included. Their music is evidently related to bands like Ne Zhdali and Dog Faced Hermans. Jumpy, noisy pop music, almost danceable, flavoured with bit weirdness and experiment, plus political lyrics. They keep it very unpolished, but everything is well put together and sounds very fresh and convincing.
Vital Weekly
The price includes worldwide shipping!!!
Vinyl comes with a download code for the mp3 version which includes LOTS of extras.