Monday, July 13, 2009

AotW: Leslie Winer - Witch

NEWLY UPDATED WITH LINKS TO mp3s - I HOPE...

The world can be divided into two groups: the tiny few people who think this is one of the great records of the 90s, and the vast majority, who haven’t heard it. I got a cassette copy of this from my brother, who’d copied it from a friend – I think most people have discovered it by similarly circuitous means.


I can tell you very little about Leslie Winer, though there are bits and pieces on the internet. She was apparently a successful model in the 80s. This is, as far as I know, the only thing she recorded. It came out in 1991, I think – several years before the trip-hop its sound presages. Jah Wobble plays bass.


Whatever, this record deserves to be better known… doesn’t it?

He Was
Flove
N1Ear
Boy Who Used 2 Whistle
John Says
5
1nce Upon A Time
Skin
Dream 1

46 comments:

barbryn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shoey said...

Anything that has Wobbly playing on it has my approval. Don't know this & am very much looking forward to a listen.

Shoey said...

Like the new blue linkys & purple comments. Does clash a little with the trad beige background & poo coloured lettering. Someone wake up our interior designer (& if we could shorten the page length to lighten the memory load the overworked & outdated shoephone would be very grateful).

Blimpy said...

Why have all the links gone blue??!!

It wasn't me!!! Steen?

Blimpy said...

they're not meant to be blue!!!

(i have reduced the page length for you Shoey)

Blimpy said...

i going sleepy now, and when i wake up, things betetr be back to normal, i blame the weather, bill gates, and margaret thatcher.

Shoey said...

Cheers Blimpy (My moneys on Thatcher, the bitch).

goneforeign said...

Doesn't play, try converting to MP3's

Shoey said...

Hope the much appreciated page truncating doesn't cause premature drop off - always unpleasant when that happens. Perhaps our esteemed essayists (you know who you are) could post lengthy text as an initial comment, rather than in the main body of the post?

Shoephone has cooled down considerably & can now be held by hand as God/ Steve Jobs intended.

goneforeign said...

OK, and another comment in a similar vein.
There's a selection of music making the rounds courtesy the US postal service and the makers of flash drives and Shoey at this end, here's some of it:
RR Social May 2007
RR North Social Sep07
RR BookLaunch Social Apr 08
RR Non-Social CD Swaps 2007
Spill Podcasts
Festive Spill #3s
Festive Spill #2s
Run JAMC.mp3
Folder.jpg
Here's an example of what's inside several of those folders:
15 Southern Man.wma
12 People.wma
03 Beggin'.wma
14 Guess I'm Dumb.wma
07 Wilmot.wma
18 The End Of The World.wma
02 Ani-Kuni.wma
17 At Last I Am Free.wma
13 Daybreaker (Four Tet Remix).wma
16 Held Down.wma
05 Give My Everything.wma
01 Bird's Lament.wma
04 Total Destruction Of Your Mind.wma
08 Planet Caravan.wma
06 Exuma Obeah Man.wma
19 Can't Explain (Ulrich Schnauss Remix).wma
09 Da Art Of Storytellin' (Pt1).wma
10 Ta Douleur.wma
11 69 Police.wma

My Mac doesn't recognise .wma so I can't open or play any of these, anyone have any suggestions re. how to convert 'em?
In the meantime can I suggest that all musical posts be in the MP3 format.
I've copied the entire folder just in case someone has the solution.

Shoey said...

Glad you got DsD's memory stick GF. A quick google search for free WMA conversion software should do the trick. EJD found one that worked for him in a thread a couple of months back. If still having problems, can convert & resend this end. Can't help on the blank titles though - but have enjoyed playing detective & tracking them down.

Luke-sensei said...

no joy for this Mac user either....I tried to get around it, Amadeus looks like it could work, but it said I had to register and buy it....

Luke-sensei said...

no joy for this Mac user either....I tried to get around it, Amadeus looks like it could work, but it said I had to register and buy it....

nilpferd said...

For file conversion I use Switch, which may have been Ejay's suggestion, it should be available as freeware, you can google it. It converts all the music file types, mp4, mp3, wma etc. to a format of your choice.

What's with the blue links? I blame mobile phone masts, they were behind the Thatcher thing the whole time.

nilpferd said...

I just empeethreed and dropboxed the album. There was a problem with track No. 6 ("5") though, it seems to contain no information. Can you upload it again?

nilpferd said...

I like it.. reminds me a lot of Kruder and Dorfmeister, especially Flove- G-stone was doing this sort of dub-electronic thing around the same time, I think. Some of the vocals also remind me of Carmen Lundy's work for Kip Hanrahan.

barbryn said...

The post should now have links to mp3s, so please try again, anyone who couldn't play it before - it's worth it.

I think the strange text formatting came about coz I'd posted this from a Word.doc - I've now fixed that too.

I am master of my computer this morning.

B-Mac said...

WHY IS IT ALL STILL BLUE!!!!!

barbryn said...

I made the titles into hypertext links while composing the post. Has that got anything to do with it.

Blue's nice...

B-Mac said...

you're right - copying and pasting from word has given The 'Spill the blues.

i will fix it!!

Blimpy said...

Bingo!

I have chased the blues away!

B-EvilPC said...

I did the linking here in Blogspot though - Word shouldn't have come into it?

ejaydee said...

I have no idea what went on here, as the links are their usual colour now, hihi.

Blimey said...

it wasnt the linking =- it was the orginal post, it copied over a load of gufty html from word

Abahachi said...

I too enjoyed this, and agree with nilpferd's Kruder & Dorfmeister comparison; it also reminded me a lot of One Dove, always a good thing, though I do prefer Dot Allison's vocals.

ejaydee said...

Yep Switch is good, but I hadn't realised I only had a test version (only available for a couple of weeks), so do all your converting in one go.

barbryn said...

@nilpfred - didn't know Kruder & Dorfmeister, but have just been having a listen on Spotify - good stuff, though for me this album is as much about the lyrics as the atmospherics.

Somebody nominated a Kip Hanrahan track a few weeks ago - can't remember the song or topic, but do remember having a search to see if it was Leslie Winer on vocals - so certainly agree with that comparison.

nilpferd said...

@barbryn- you might be thinking about my AOTW post of Kip Hanrahan's Tenderness a few weeks back.
And the last person to call me Nilpfred got a free a swamp weed shower ;-)

EJay- Switch tells me from time to time that I'm not getting the full functionality unless I pay for an upgrade, but it doesn't seem to be limited otherwise.

nilpferd said...

WTF is a free a swamp weed shower? Call me anything you want.
*Hippo disappears into mud bath*

steenbeck said...

Nlipderf, I think they serve swamp week cocktails at the restaurant where I work. Garnished with mosquitos all around the rim of the glass. Delicious.

Just going to have a listen now. Very intriguing. I like the dubbiness, so far.

steenbeck said...

d'oh, swamp WEED. WEED!! (am I attracting a lot of stoner kids to the site?)

Shoey said...

It must be Nilp's enrollment in the cult of Fall - he's now posting in a Mark E stylee.

nilpferd said...

SWAMP is my brand.
This the home of the hippo.
Where are the obligatory COCKTAILS?
Hey, there, FUCKFACE!

give me one of those
give me one of those

-fucking- SWAMP WEED -a- cocktails.

SWAMP!
WEED!
COCKTAIL!

you won't find anything more ridiculous..

THE COCKTAIL!
THE COCKTAIL!

swamp
weed -a-
cocktail

TRY ONE

nilpferd said...

*snaps out of it*
Whew.. where am I?

Yeucch- who left this half dead squirrel lying around?

This swamp is going to the dogs..

steenbeck said...

I think we have a new theme song.

It's those late night hippos you have to watch for at the bar.

shane whose been lock out of the party again said...

Hey Barbryn

This is a great post.
If anyone is interested someone called madamlevy posted videos to all the tracks about a year ago.. now this wouldn’t normally be such a treat.. slightly obsessed fan goes movie making nuts, I hear you cry….. but… but…

They also posted ‘Battle Porn’ and ’Crewel Work’ (shoey check em out ye might like) from the UN-Released follow up LP ‘3 bags full’
I was pretty impressed (not tough I know)
I don’t know who is responsible or if Leslie Winer knows –or indeed if it’s self done.

But it made me as happy as a hippo in a weed cocktail.

I’ll be back with links if I can find them again.

saneshane said...

I’ll be back with links if I can find them again.


’Crewel Work’ from spider it says: (got me facts wrong!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIT47ERO7Do

battle porn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDL3VLWJgHM
from 3 bags full


do these work?

barbryn said...

Holy Cow, Saneshane! YouTube gold dust!

I've been Googling around trying to find out more about either of these albums, but no joy. But it appears Leslie Winer and Madame Levy are one and the same. Found this:

"Leslie Winer is Madame Levy, blogging from France at La Vache Qui Lit. She is the godmother of trip hop or something, an old associate of William Burroughs and Gregory Corso, a one time high fashion model, the mother of four or five girls and a no nonsense genius."

Her blog, though, seems to need authentication (http://lavachequilit.typepad.com). All very intriguing.

nlipferd - apologies, I must have had you confused with Sandford... No, I missed your Kip Hanrahan AOTW - will try and catch up sometime.

barbryn said...

@shane, and anyone else who's interested. Found another great track here:
http://www.mevio.com/music/?artist_id=14042

Luke-sensei said...

another thumbs up from me too. Not sure what it reminds me of, but I definitely dig it and there's no way I would have heard it otherwise, which ticks all the boxes for a great AOTW in my book! cheers

goneforeign said...

Shoey & Ejay: Thanks for the 'Switch' tip, it works! But I think I'll pass on the un-named cuts, there's way too many and all the named conversions and MP3's will keep me happy for quite a while, thanks again.

Chris said...

Oh hell, I'm more of a fuddy-duddy than I thought. I've been listening to the first few tracks, all the way through, and the overwhelming feeling I had was 'When is this going to start?'
I understand the value of repetition, and the use of sound and depth manipulation is quite mesmerising, but I felt like I needed the right medication. However, I then realised that the bass in 'Boy Who Used 2 Whistle' was actually making me feel a little nauseous. So I've stopped.

ejaydee said...

Yep, I dig it, I might have taken one song out, or had a singing one, but overall I like the music.

nilpferd said...

Got rid of my Mark. E. Smith cultism by listening to 24hrs solid of John Coltrane.. now where was I..
I have an idea for AOTW next week, if no-one who hasn't had a go yet pops up..

saneshane said...

just listened to 'Box' good find.

I think I stumbled on the blog the other day and did wonder about if it was the same person.

hadn't thought about her for ages.. good work for an AOTW.

DarceysDad said...

Sorry, I'm very, VERY late to this particular party, but ...

I should hate this, but I don't. In fact I'm really rather taken with it.

Thanks, barbryn, a major pleasant surprise.