Viscera Hot And Cold
Viscera Hot And Cold
(originally released on cassette in 1985, C31)
Hot And Cold
was
the fourth full-length cassette release by the duo of Hal McGee and Debbie
Jaffe. It was a compilation of Viscera songs that
had appeared on various international compilations. They were all recorded
between April 1984 to May 1985.
"Nation" appeared on Beyond Step One, a
compilation by Sound Of Pig Music, of Flushing, New York. Sound Of Pig
was one of the quintessential hometaper labels of the underground scene
in the 1980s, operated by our dear friend Al Margolis. Some of the other
artists on the the tape were Walls Of Genius, Het Zweet, Unovidual, Muslimgauze,
F/i, ABC Mutes, Psychodrama and X Ray Pop. "Nation" was a song
I composed about how all of our best friends lived far from us, in other
parts of the U.S. or in foreign lands; that our true nation was composed
of these unique individuals who created such personal, weird and idiosyncratic
music.
"Stupid Bright Day" by Viscera was one of 27 tracks
on the Objekt No. 2 International Compilation, put out by the Ladd-Frith
label of Eureka, California. Brian Ladd and Julie Frith were two of our
closest and dearest friends at the time. They recorded lots of great punk-
and industrial-inflected rock under the name Psyclones. Their Ladd-Frith
label was one of the great indie labels of the early 80s. Some of the
other artists were Vox Populi!, Smersh, If Bwana, Twa Digs Under Paris,
Problemist, Walls Of Genius, Psyclones, Asmus Tietchens, F/i, Human Flesh,
Schlafengarten, Architects Office, Blackhouse, Pacific 231, Minimal Man.
"Unjustly Accused" was a satirical song I wrote
after reading an interview with William Bennett of Whitehouse in Unsound
magazine. It appeared on a two tape compilation that accompanied the
Zamizdat Trade Journal #2, of Boulder, Colorado. ZTJ was published
by Joel Haertling and members of the group Architects Office. Other recording
artists on the tape included Etant Donnes, Human Flesh, Gerechtigkeits
Liga, K2, L'Eponge Synthetique, Smegma, Psyclones/ Schlafengarten, Architects
Office, Merz, DDAA, Fetus In Fetu, Pacific 231, Neo Zelanda, Stan Brakhage,
Camera Obscura, Haters.
Deb's song "IDBM" was on Alain Neffe's Bloody
But Chic compilation. Other people on the tape included Psyclones,
Der Akteur, F/i, Architects Office, DDAA, Merzbow, Magthea, Human Flesh,
Nisus Anal Furgler, Gerechtigkeits Liga, The Starkman and 15 others. Neffe's
Insane Music (Trazegnies, Belgium) was one of the first great underground
tape labels, and he was one of the grandfathers of the hometaper movement.
He was putting out tapes in the mid 1970s into the 80s under various names
and in various groups such as Pseudo Code, Human Flesh, Bene Gesserit,
Cortex, M.A.L., Japanese Genius and others. In the 1980s he released lots
of great essential compilations featuring early recordings by artists
who have gone on to some popularity and notoriety, such as Bourbonese
Qualk, Merzbow, Legendary Pink Dots, Colin Potter, Front Line Assembly,
etc.
"Silent Friend" originally appeared on the Pas
De Deux compilation LP record, released by Auxiliio De Cientos, Spain.
Other artists included Algebra Suicide, Psyclones and Bene Gesserit. "Silent
Friend" also appeared on RRRecords' 3XLP record box set compilation
God Bless America (Lowell, Massachusetts).
Unfortunately, we did not list in the liner notes of Hot
And Cold which compilation each song appeared on; and I just can't
remember all of them. Perhaps in time I will re-discover this information.
The title track "Hot And Cold" is a freaky song
based on a story about another bad LSD trip. I took a hit of acid before
going to see William S. Burroughs and John Giorno give a spoken word performance
at the Vogue Theater in Indianapolis. When the drug kicked in my face
felt like it was burning up. I had to run to the bathroom to splash cold
water on my face. I got back to my seat and my face started feeling like
it was freezing. I ran back to the bathroom to dowse my face in hot water.
This went on all evening. All the while, as I was tripping out, my mind
kept ticking off the numerals 0, 1 and 2. I kept thinking that these were
the primary numbers around which all existence revolved, or some such
nonsense...
Released on the Cause And Effect label.
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"Hot And Cold Part One" 13:04
Side One of the tape: Stupid Bright Day / Wasted And Wanted / Nation / Vertigo / No Meaning
Listen in streaming audio 192 kbps mp3 for broadband internet connection
Download a 17.9 MB 192 kbps mp3
------------------------------------------
"Hot And Cold Part Two" 17:33 -- 24.1 MB mp3
Side Two of the tape: Silent Friend / IDBM / Plague Buckets / Unjustly Accused / Hot And Cold
Listen in streaming audio 192 kbps mp3 for broadband internet connection
Download a 17.9 MB 192 kbps mp3