BILLY MACKENZIES VOCAL EXPERIMENTS

Mentioning Ken Hyder's global collaborations yesterday reminded me of the lesser known fact about Billy Mackenzie when he too dabbled in musical cross-fertilisation in the mid 80's.

I have an album by Holger Hiller on which Billy guests. Holger was in German post punk band Palais Schaumburg. However, this recording session was completely different to what either had done previously, resulting in some very avant garde, experimental, unconventional slices of contemporary composition. It took me a few plays to familiarise myself with the content, but once acquainted with the material, it is a real treat.

I've had this LP since 1986 and it's called "Oben Im Eck".

As well as Billy, there is Holger Hiller & Moritz Von Oswald, from Germany, and Izu Mi Kobayashi & Kaori Kano, from Japan.

The track below from the album is called "Whippets" and has Billy vocalising like you've never heard before, sounding something like a ninja battling it out with Godzilla!!

The images here haven't got anything to do with the LP recording, I just thought the photos of The Associates playing in Japan in 1985 fitted the "global" theme.

Actually, there is a wee connection, Moritz Von Oswald who played on Whippets, was the drummer for The Associates in Japan.

Previously he too was in Palais Schaumburg, but now Moritz is more known for running the brilliant Techno/Dub label - Basic Channel, in Berlin.