Forte Four, Le
Bikini Tennis Shoes
The origins of Le Forte Four are those of the Los Angeles Free Music Society itself. Chip Chapman joined forces with
Rick Potts (and shortly thereafter Tom and Joe Potts), taking up the LAFMS name in 1974. Ultimately baptizing themselves
Le Forte Four, they began threading imagined lines between John Cage and The Residents, Cecil Taylor and Henry Cow -
generating sounds completely unlike any of these and anything since.
The inaugural release on the eponymous LAFMS imprint with only 200 copies pressed originally, Bikini Tennis Shoes is a
staggering piece of anti-music that remains as refreshingly ground-clearing today as it was when it first appeared in
1975. Its 40 minutes (parceled out across nearly as many tracks) chart forays into free improvisation, Buchla misuse,
filtered noise, begrudging and damaged melodic sorties (from the Star-Spangled Banner to Stravinskys "The Rite of
Spring") and healthy doses of basement pablum. Le Forte Four emerged out of the lethargic American 70s as a locus where,
in their own words, "gamelans and ragas merged with serial and chance compositions finally melting together with
instructional records and Beatles bootlegs." A wildly eclectic rummaging of postwar culture and 20th century sound, Le
Forte Fours Bikini Tennis Shoes preempts punks outsider ethos and DIY autodidactism.
Limited edition of 500 numbered copies on clear vinyl.
Price
Genre
Format
LP - 1 disk
Release
30-03-2017
Label
Item-nr
501305
EAN
0855985006741
Availability
Not in stock
Tracks
Title
Artist
1
KA-BELLA-CHA-CHA
2
SOME PROBLEM WITH THE CORD OR SOMETHING
3
KA-BELLA-BINSKY-BUNGO (EXCERPT)
4
GOOD WORKER
5
AYE MA MA (IM AMOK)
6
MEANWHILE BACK AT THE TULIP BOAT, STINKY AND GUS MAKE WARPLANES
7
YOUR LIVING CONSTITUTION (DIES)
8
BEFORE DOCKING IN SPACE
9
CANDY WRAPPER BLUES
10
A LITTLE SLOPPY STILL
11
BIKINI TENNIS SHOES (ONE PAIR)
12
JOES NOSE SOLO
13
SONG OF THE ELECTRIC DRILL
14
I CANT EVEN THINK
15
ON THE DAWNING OF A GIANT FACE
16
JOES DEAD/BOZOS MARRIAGE/TWINKLE
17
WHAT DO YOU DO, RADIATOR?
18
THE GROCERY STORE IS MY HEAVEN
19
FADE IT OUT
20
THE POPE SPEAKS
21
CRANK UP THE KIDS
22
BONGO MADNESS
23
KA-BELLA REPRISE (AN EXCERPT IN 5 MOVEMENTS)
24
STEVEN, STEVEN
25
SONNET
26
BALLAD DE FORTE FOUR
27
ITS RAINING BONGOS
28
THEY ARE ASLEEP
29
MUSIC HALL BOOTLEG (EXCERPT)
30
PAINTING THE ROSES RED
31
ENOUGH FUN
32
THAT FEEDBACK AGAIN
