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LP
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FTR 280LP
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"Although me, you and the guy-next-door all tend to think of Alvaro (The Chilean with the Singing Nose) as an avant-garde artist by one measure or another, it is also true that he has a cunning way with pop melodicism and delivery. This has never been clearer than one the Live In Brussels LP. Recorded in October 2015 at Les Ateliers Claus, Alvaro is at peak form here. Playing piano (and a little nose flute), he sings through a great program of faves ('Valaparaiso,' 'Mum's Milk,' 'She's So Pretty,' etc.) like the Bizzaro World cabaret star he has been since Drinkin My Own Sperm (FTR 174LP) was released back in '77. Playing in front of roomful of blasted Belgian artists (you can easily hear Dennis Tyfus singing and choking along to the proceedings) Alvaro sounds relaxed, assured and brilliant. For all of its inherent strangeness, this is music you could play for your mom without scaring the curlers out of her wig. The tunes are humane and funny and beautiful. His between-songs raps are revelatory. Just pour yourself a cocktail, sit back in a comfortable chair, and be prepared to have a beautiful goddamn day." --Byron Coley, 2017 Silk-screened covers; Edition of 200 (numbered).
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LP
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FTR 227LP
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"First vinyl reissue of the second LP released by Alavaro Pena originally released in 1979 following the runaway success of his debut album, Drinkin My Own Sperm (FTR 174LP, 1977). Although recorded in Germany, Alvaro again employed his regular drummer, Antonio Narvaez, with a few assists on the second side from Hilde Schneider, Alvaro's then-wife. The first side was recorded by a German engineer, Olaf Dung, who carried his rig around with him in his briefcase. How this exactly worked is unclear, but the music is great and includes some of Alvaro's most classically catchy tunes. Lili Dwight is a long-time fan of 'Honey,' which she often sings aloud at apiary gatherings. Ted Lee does the same when crashing La Leche League outings to the strains of 'Mums Milk Not Powder.' And so on. Alvaro's second album is just the sort of thing you'll be happy to use for a personal soundtrack, regardless of your politics or trajectory. Apparently, however, Alvaro and Mr. Dung had a falling out before the album's second side was completed, which meant there are some ad hoc compositions added to finish out the record. Primary among these are 'Brown Loaf,' something of a baking tutorial conducted whilst Drinkin My Own Sperm plays on a nearby radio, and 'Washindishes,' which is one of the few tracks to ever document extended nose flute improvisations." -- Byron Coley, 2016. "Alvaro rides again." -- Sounds, London, 1980. "A fabulous collection of musicals and unmusicals, includes a recipe." -- Time Out, London, 1980. Another classic piece of the mysterious puzzle that is Alvaro. Miss it at your own extreme personal peril. Edition of 400.
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LP
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FTR 174LP
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"Beautiful reissue of the 1977 debut solo LP by Alvaro -- the Chilean with the Singing Nose. Alvaro Peña-Rojas was an advertising exec who ended up living in a squat in London when he chucked his professional career to fulfill his dream of being a musician. Rooming with he-who-would-become Joe Strummer, Alvaro was a founding member of the squat's pub-rock band, The 101ers. After the Pistols opened for The 101ers at the Nashville Rooms, Strummer felt like he was destined to become a punk, and founded The Clash. Alvaro took his own trio into the studio (along with singer Cathy Williams, then in Red Balune with her boyfriend, Geoff Leigh) and used his savings to record Drinkin My Own Sperm, which he then had pressed up on his own Squeaky Shoes label. The music is a mad mélange -- like Andean lounge music in parts, like berserk early Eno in others, and filled with the strange joy of Alvaro's keyboard inventions throughout. The album's title-track -- which Alvaro has long claimed was an ode to his lonely existence in London -- strikes us more like the move of a canny marketer. Because of its title, the record was banned on the BBC and often noted in contemporary mainstream journals as yet another sign of the disgrace that was punk. Of course, we leave the ultimate decision to you, but one has to wonder. This new release has both the lyric insert that accompanied the second pressing back in '78, as well as an historical booklet penned by Brian Turner (of WFMU) and Byron Coley. 800 copies were pressed." --Byron Coley, 2015
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