Amirkhanian, Charles / Lexical Music
Album: Lexical Music   Collection:General
Artist:Amirkhanian, Charles   Added:May 2017
Label:Other Minds  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2017-05-25 Pull Date: 2017-07-27 Charts: Classical/Experimental
Week Ending: Jul 23 Jul 16 Jul 9 Jul 2 Jun 25 May 28
Airplays: 2 2 1 1 1 1

Recent Airplay
1. Jul 22, 2017: Narnia
Muchrooms
4. Jul 13, 2017: Neural facilitation
Seatbelt Seatbelt
2. Jul 20, 2017: Neural facilitation
Muchrooms
5. Jul 08, 2017: Music Casserole
She She And She
3. Jul 15, 2017: Narnia
Muchrooms
6. Jun 29, 2017: Neural facilitation
Mahogany Ballpark

Album Review
BravoMarco
Reviewed 2017-05-11
Charles Amirkhanian
Lexical Music
(Released by: Other Minds Records)
Reviewed by BravoMarco

This is great, truly experimental in every sense of the word. A unique & bizarre re-issue from 1980. Re-mastered by friend of KZSU Andrew Weathers, this is a slice of Bay Area history. From the liner:
"When Charles Amirkhanian’s Lexical Music was released on pioneering Bay Area record label 1750 Arch Records in 1980, it was heralded as a masterpiece of the then-nascent text-sound poetry scene. The New York Times called Amirkhanian “expert at the sort of things his imitators do not do half so well as he.” Lexical Music is a sort of high water mark for American text-sound poetry, an album with many imitators but few equals. It sounds like nothing before or since. The style developed in electronic music studios across Europe, primarily in Scandinavia, but was slow to develop similarly in the United States. The Bay Area proved to be fertile ground for the movement, due in part to Amirkhanian’s work and support through his position as Music Director at Berkeley’s KPFA-FM Radio”

Like: Steve Reich
Very good. Loving 4
No FCC’s (unless repetition offends)

1) Mugic (1973) (5.33) Steady banging of the pots & then effected voice. This is slow paced, lots of heavy breathing & long drawn out sounds. It’s like a frogs chorus during mating season. A veritable burping frenzy.
2) Seatbelt Seatbelt (1973) (14.55) if the word “seatbelt” makes you uneasy, you’ll want to stay away from this one. On repeat – no music. Until 5.45 – Then we have a few more words put through ringer. “Bone Bone Quack Quack” The words themselves are the instruments. From 12 minutes onwards the “Quack” is insane…Brilliant, just quacking mad.
3) Dutiful Ducks 1977 (2.08) Spoken word / poetry. The words “Dutiful Ducks” become a hypnotic force – especially when combined with the hand clapping. (long fade)
4) Muchrooms 1974 (5.03) Keeping with the spoken word – “Bad Bad & Too Bad” spliced together with a stinging industrial sound.
5) Mahogany Ballpark 1976 (9.40) Words combined with field recordings.
6) She She and She 1974 (8.28) As the previous track, just without the background sound. The second half gets going nicely when the words are looped & manipulated.

Track Listing
1. Mugic   4. Dutiful Ducks
2. Seatbelt Seatbelt   5. Muchrooms
3. Quack   6. Mahogany Ballpark
  7. She She And She