1st Person to Cover Y.Bhekhirst Also Wins Chiptune

Funny thing is, YB is not actually that hard on the ears...it's strange, but he has an interesting voice and the sound quality is surprisingly good.

It's just so confusing. Apparently sometime in the 80s/90s he would walk into record stores, hand the owner this record and walk out. If you (seriously) liked this, Jandek might interest you, he's even more hard to listen to, downright painful. It makes you cringe..

Crazy thing is that just like a month ago, someone figured out where he is after 20 some years!! I hadn't looked at voxish.org in a while, but yup, seems like someone tracked him down.

Last edited by BeatScribe (Nov 26, 2014 7:59 pm)

I can't guarantee you won't regret checking out Jandek lol! Jandek remained an elusive strange character for years too until he finally came out and played some shows. He has more albums than most legacy bands, of course, how hard is it to make an album when you just bang an out of tune guitar and yell over it.

The mystery about this guy has always been interesting to me. A while back the outsider music forum had people like camping outside his house in Hyde Park (the address on the public copyright records) trying to find him. I wonder why this guy will think when he finds out all these random folks in another country love his obscure album. He must be pretty old (he sound old in the 1994 recordings already), we can only hope it'd make him happy. This is the kind of thing that needs a kickstarted documentary. I'd love to find out what happens with the letter they sent to him in Peru.

I am also curious if that's supposed to be a Meatloaf cover on the album....

Last edited by BeatScribe (Nov 26, 2014 8:27 pm)

Free music ( as in free jazz) is awesome. Y bhekhirst is especially awesome, thanks for the link. Bookmarked.

Sun city girls should definitely be included in this thread. Their album torch of the mystic is really bad ass

. I never expected to see a Jandek reference on this site, sweet.  his album blue corpse is worth exploring-the vocal only albums are as well. I got to record with him once, on Halloween appropriately. 'Twas rad

This thread just got really interesting! I've never met anyone else who knows who he IS let alone has played with him!? What was that like I must know! His accompanied stuff is more conventional right? There aRe occasional moments in his music that capture something unique but it's hard for me to get Into the rest of it..

Last edited by BeatScribe (Nov 27, 2014 1:58 pm)

Ha, it was pretty interesting. I was asked to play guitar for a live show originally. The process was very hush hush through like four parties- so I wasn't surprised when it didn't pan out. However, after his show he ended up having beers-which he is a connoisseur apparently-and agreed to record the following day at the home studio where the drummer that accompanied him for the show records.
The next day  I got a cryptic call and was asked to record some bass clarinet with a new impromptu ensemble, the session was cancelled like two times during the day- also shades of some James bond style communication. I couldn't find a bass clarinet in time and ended up playing saxophone. He didn't say much, just kind of smiled a lot. I get the sense he is very protective of his mystique. We played 4 "pieces" about 15 mins each-total improv. he was on a fret less bass, there was a drummer, two heavily effected guitars, and me skronking and droning on sax. He said there would be no vocals and we wouldn't be credited. What eves, he really seemed to enjoy the process. I had to play a big party that evening so I left pretty much right after we finished. I think he and his uber attractive hipster youngish lady friend/ road manager explored the honkey tonks afterwards. Very lovely calm people really.

His catalog is massive, I dunno I've always thought a lot sounded like sonic youth if they were acoustic. I do know that his weird guitar tunings are intentional. And yeah his voice and style worked really well live, very subdued but heavy and deep. I liked it more than the records. It was hilarious to see the frat bros, who were there to see the other acts, scratching their heads.

Threads like these are the reason I hang around here. I wish there was an outsider/batshitinsane music forum as active, passionate and driven to produce new art, as CM.O. Some netlabel should organize a compo based on this thread.