False Sacrament

False Sacrament was an early 90s band- part of the Very Small Records roster which included other weirdos such as Schlong and Plaid Retina. They managed to sound completely different from any other band of the era by combining element of Black Sabbath, Thrash metal, jazz and early 90s punk without coming off as a pastiche...and they had a fucking fantastic female lead vocalist who could do an alien high trill while also exuding naive punk snottiness.

False Sacrament were mostly ignored in their day and disbanded after only releasing a couple singles, compilation tracks and a split 10" with Schlong. Another sad story, another lost treasure. Unfortunelately, their records were recorded a bit odd. This is most notable with the EQing and mixing of the drums- they are flat with a focus on the toms which were made to sound like popping bongos.

False Sacrament - Rings Of Saturn
False Sacrament - That One
False Sacrament - Second Hand Anxiety

Mother Country Death Rattle

Mother Country Death Rattle was a group that existed around the early to mid-nineties in Chicago...an overlooked gem from the no-wave scene. Their only existing recording is from the CIA Via UFO To Mercury compilation. I don't know anything about them aside from seeing them once (perhaps their last show?) in 1998 at 6Odum in Chicago. Under blaring fluorescent lights, the group comprised of Shriner-uniformed horn players in cartoonish plush monster masks assembled like a geriatric VFW band. If I remember right, there was a player dressed entirely like a plush cob of corn...maybe a carrot. Their sound was a wheezing funeral march. One of the best shows I ever saw.

Mother Country Death Rattle - Tarantula Spasm Stomp

Giriama Wedding

I originally found this track on a CD entitled Secret Society Music Of Cameroon. I had raced out to buy the CD after an instructor played me this track in class- I was in awe of the reed horn used...a completely strange and alien sound...just the timbre of it and the odd scale. But I was a bit broke at the time and I returned the CD next day after making a shitty cassette dub and forgetting to write down the track listing and information.

Perhaps my memory is foggy of the CD I purchased- but I only found this track again recently on Soulseek under the Nonesuch Explorer Series of Witchcraft And Ritual Music Of East Africa...a completely different region than Cameroon (on the other side of Africa). If the tracklisting is correct, this recording is from the Giriama region of Kenya and it is a song played for a wedding ceremony. The rhythm is provided by a kayamba, a rattle-type instrument made of reeds and filled with seeds and pebbles. The horn? Anyone know?

Kayamba Dance Giriama Wedding (mp3)

Pictured above are Giriama dancers in mid jump...found on ye' ol' interwebs.