Tales from the Attic
Volume LVIII
Revolutions of a 33 and 45 kind….
Another rogue thought lost missive gathering gems we were listening to earlier this year…..included here….
Joseph quimby jr, les big byrd, Tiny blue dragon, noah, autobahn, nightingales, aj and the hackney empire, alberteen, toromi, beaulieu porch, short skirts, zohara, Vicky and the vengents, the fall, cuushe, roger o’donnell and Julia kent, cause of accident, lights that change, sauna youth, monotony, the prams, elvis depressedly, chimney crow, petunia liebling macpumpkin, ostrich von nipple, the equestrian vortex, blacklung, brian Jonestown massacre and soko, the residents, table scraps, junkboy, snow in mexico, new candys, betrayers, die wilde jagd, the implicit order, spectral light, aidan baker, a sun amissa, flowers must die, duke st workshop, noblesse oblige, admirals of induced hysteria, tourmaline hum, jack dangers and wolfgang flur, black aquarius, telstar sound drone, spids nogenhat, rubik, silvia kastel, delia Derbyshire, Pauline oliveiros, daphne oram, Suzanne ciani, Sharon gal, john barry, jane weaver, orphan fairytale, they might be giants, pleasure beach, automat, exile pots
Being the hapless souls we are, we’ve somehow managed to detach ourselves from relevant emails and notifications no doubt abundant and free flowing in all manner of happenings, activities and references of admiration gleaned by various scribes in the rock fraternity for the Spectral Light, we ignore them anyway – but keep that to yourselves we wouldn’t want press folks up and down the nations alleyways and avenues thinking their highfalutin hyperbole was going to waste not least as some of it really does border works of great fantasy. I digress, and so back to Spectral Light members of whom I’m sure have recently been involved with the hare and the moon – apologies to all but our typing speeds cannot keep up with the speed at which our headspace concocts reviews – mentions are coming – of that you can be rest assured. This is ‘feathers and godbones’ culled from their ‘secrets to the sea’ set for the eclectic reverb worship imprint, a beautifully coalesced discordant dream mirage much recalling those rarefied outings by glissando in so much its drizzled and haloed in an at oddsnoise / serene duelling to centre space face off which through the fracturing late 80’s styled NZ styled growling riff fracturing ghostly sirens emerge from the crumbling chaos purring sweetly soothed hymnal lullabies. https://soundcloud.com/the_spectral_light/feathers-and-godbones
And talking of Glissando – loosely we should add – a quick tour around the Gizeh records site – a label who I must admit we’ve neglected of late – so apologies to all concerned. That said we did eye something of an essential free to download offering featuring a collaboration between Aidan Baker and A-Sun Amissa recorded recently in one take, entitled ‘scarpe sensee’ – a most beguiled 20 minute meditative drone monolith that affords you the chance to just let go and drift away, must admit to being a tad adoring of its transcendental remoteness, there’s certainly something about the sonic choreographing of the ebb and flow of nature’s changing moods about its persona whether that be the graceful leviathan like opines, the underlying lonesome melancholia or its stilled statuesque majesty shimmered in Tibetan mantras all cloaked in reverential portent and graced deep in innate spiritualism. http://drowning.cc/drone-doom-downloads/aidan-baker-a-sun-amissa-scarpe-sensee/
Staying with Aidan Baker, imminent on the listening to do list is the latest release courtesy of the little crackd rabbit imprint in conjunction with calostro recordings who’ll be taking care of a limited vinyl pressing by hypnodrone ensemble entitled ‘the shape of space’. This marks the second adventure pairing together Baker with thisquietarmy’s Eric Quach whose three drummer line up now crystalized with the addition of a bass player and sees them venturing ever deeper in kraut grooved cosmic drone voids as the accompanying live rendition captured from their appearance at 2014’s incubate festival bears testament here found turning in a head melting slab of mesmeric motorik magma.
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/104395601″>Aidan Baker / Thisquietarmy: Hypnodrone Ensemble</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/user25909537″>Schokofeh Kamiz</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
As to the new material here’s a sneak peak in the shape of ‘elliptical’ – a big bearded cosmic tour de force of dream machine dinked swirling pulsars and critical mass acceleration which by its imploding finale ought to leave you ga-ga, that said listen closely and behind the mind wiring wall of sound some nifty 70’s kosmiche funkiness comes rippling through the channels. https://soundcloud.com/little-red-rabbit-records/hypnodrone-ensemble-elliptical-excerpt
Can’t remember exactly how we tripped over this, I’m suspecting via some trawl through band camp, more Swedish groove I’m afraid though this time emanating from the outer fringes of Scandinavia’s prided pure porcelain pop universe. From psyched out cosmic drone groovers flowers must die a limited seven inch looms large with the words essential tattooed in florescent on its hide which while we are more than a tad taken by the lead cut ‘psykjunta’ for providing what can be best described as a loop grooving 60’s lysergic pill it’s the flip cut ‘parsonligt sound’ that provides the set with its main event. It’s here that matters get weird, unhinged and a tad wasted, a freakish psychotropic jam that in truth appears to strangely inhabit the insanely crooked outer edges of a bad tripping Gong landscape and incorporates into its bonged out melee all manner of abstract jazz dialects and the kind of head tripping warping lunacy and out there sonic noodling you’d rightly expect to fly out of Jap core psych territories. https://flowersmustdie.bandcamp.com/album/psykjunta-p-rsonligt-s-und
This ‘un ought to be up the street of those of you admiring of the likes of Duke St Workshop and those strangely becoming Radiophonic tuned hauntologist grooves that appear these days retelling alternate histories and uncovering secret parallel worlds whilst re-scripting futures past. The back story goes something like this – a splinter network of BERG (British Experimental Rocket Group) form to carry on the work of Quatermass following his death, this secret work surrounds the creation and manipulation of electronic sounds for experimental and communication purposes, some thirty years later these aural forensic findings are leaked upon an unsuspecting sleep walking nation by kind permission of the team – the committee for sonic research or for ease TCFSR. To date two such volumes have been released from the archives – the latest ‘Berg 2’ is a free to download curio which ordinarily we’d be minded to point you in the direction of the teaser sound cloud link at https://soundcloud.com/tcfsr/berg-fog-trigger but prefer and more over are rather minded that you’d appreciate the chilling ‘Maryhill 8-71.4’ wherein sinister happenings and bleak robotised futures are envisaged and engage with a more spectral monochrome nightmarish rewrite of the future world foretold by Tubeway Army’s ‘replicas’ whilst simultaneously delving into the macabre note book of wizards tell lies. Those of course preferring matters a tad lighter and dinked playfully in environs more aligned with ISAN’s ‘digitalis’ or Plone will do well to seek out ‘ascension island call sign’. http://tcfsr.bandcamp.com/album/berg-2
Now as much as I love them, on the face of things I’d have warned against what might be considered a foolhardy exercise, cover versions are a tricky business especially if you’re chosen target happens to be a track considered by many as one of the sacred cows of English psychedelia. So with that in mind we neared with guarded caution, that said Noblesse Oblige have been around long enough and in that time amassed a fair amount of kudos to suggest such an idea was not a mere fanciful folly. Much like Primal Scream’s re-trimming of ‘some velvet morning’, fresh from their appearance on that spiffing Solyst 12 inch for RSD15, Noblesse Oblige’s rephrasing of ‘Arnold Layne’ keeps the spirit and integrity of the original intact withValerie and Sebastian adorning it with a chicly trimmed motorik Moroder mirror ball whereupon the lysergic eccentricity of the Floyd version is channelled upon a smoking psychotropic cosmic vapour trail replete with an uber cooled club floor rewire that finds itself relocated into territories once upon a time occupied by the mighty Cerrone. Bliss eh? https://soundcloud.com/noblesse-oblige/arnold-layne
Blame Noblesse Oblige but quite frankly couldn’t resist the opportunity to post these two lost nuggets – both nearly 40 years and still sounding outer-worldly – especially Ms Summer…..immaculate….
Back momentarily with the committee for sonic research imprint, I say briefly because in truth it has taken me longer to scribble up the review than the duration of the track itself. Anyhow we eyed this and frankly it took our fancy it’s by the excellently named admirals of induced hysteria and a track called ‘our playground is far more dangerous than yours’ from a Nano EP- and yes I own up in saying it was the title alone that drew us – so shallow that we are. A blink and it’s over 67 second 8 bit powered pastoral waltz if you may that had us much minded of old school 4-treck if that is my failing and fading memory serves me well this coming furiously trimmed in quick steps beats and a decidedly mellowing sunny radiance. http://tcfsr.bandcamp.com/album/our-playground-is-far-more-dangerous-than-yours
Promise this’ll be the last we’ll mention of the committee for sonic research, but truthfully we just couldn’t let this one pass without a mention. From the album ‘thousand yard stare’ this is tourmaline hum and ‘memory shore’ – glacial perfection, beautifully bruised and frankly just jaw dropping in so much as the way in which it utilises space, atmosphere and effect, the way it softly tugs on the heart strings, its ethereal grace and poised elegance, deserves to be listened to in a quiet place in order for its aching celestial charms to escape and wander. If you need references then imagine a studio marriage between Yellow6 and Antonymes – even then you are only half way home. https://soundcloud.com/tcfsr/th-memory-shore
We mentioned this to a fair amount of fanfare some weeks ago, a much welcomed return to the fray of Wolfgang Flur – his first outing in over a decade and found here paired up with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto fame. Flur surely in need of no introduction played a key part in Kraftwerk’s golden era, rumours are abound that he’s currently working on a new album, his first since 1996. As said mentioned previously when if I recall rightly we had the merest of excerpts to go by whereupon retro futuristic comparisons where loosely made alluding to Dadaist diodes chattering to a minimalist fusion of ‘computer love’ and ‘tour de France’ personas. Of course that was just part of the picture, finished copies revealing its full impact tell of something missed, of course there’s a distinctive Krafterk-ian purr throughout that’s owed in main to the use of a vintage EMS 3000 Vocoder, yet amid the minimalist signatures and the distinct Cabaret Voltaire subtronic pulsars there’s a seductive chill toned romance and sophisticated noir trimmed smokiness coalescing in cool rapture oozing from these shadow lined grooves. The single, a 7 inch, is strictly limited to just 750 copies all on clear wax via electronic sound music club. There’s also a kickstarter campaign for the club (label / magazine) with details on how you can get the single by going here www.electronicsound.co.uk – mind you last time we heard it was still stuck in the pressing plant backlog following vinyl operations being switched to pressing up all those super Springsteen re-issues for Record Store Day – which incidentally of the six ordered in by our local record emporium scarcely an enquiring thumb print has touchedeven one of them.
We also suggest you take a look at the blog spot over on electronicsound – hugely irreverent at times – some lovely Kraftwerk vintage on thereincluding some comedic tomfoolery featuring Florian Schneider and this little curio – a homage of sorts to the much flexi disc…….now I bet someone somewhere – a major no less – are hatching a flexi record store day just about now…..
http://www.electronicsound.co.uk/in-praise-of-flexi-discs/
Another musical interlude I’m afraid, this jazzed and funky slab of new age horror-ploitation found the Prince of Darkness getting down, wild and groovy with the hippy in crowd…..classic soundtrack by Mike Vickers that drags Dracula from legend into the cold light of modernism – the best of the set ‘Dracula returns – Dracula bites Laura’…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8HiATpMLk&index=8&list=PLiv2iZhii_Dr-FNFpASzcZ-p0qN2Qmy5H
‘Black Aquarius’ – BBC Radio 4 – documentary – 60 minutes.
An archive on 4 special as Matthew Sweet discusses and explores folklore, pop culture, church and society as the hippy dream of the 60’s dies at the fall of the decade and in its place with the arrival of the 70’s the ushering in of the age of the Aquarius considered a time of renascence enlightenment. But others were drawn to its darker side, fuelled by hallucinogens, astrology, literature and the Occult where various notorious figures and groups played an integral part in everyday life and fashionable in affluent parts of London and beyond for here where the worlds of Crowley, the Golden Dawn and the Process while for the average working man popular culturefed on Wheatley, Hammer Horror and the old arts of witchcraft and Satanism (did you know that the outlawing of witchcraft still existed a mere generation before and was only taken off the statute books in 1951), here the Devil spread his influence through TV and film with the rise of Brit Horror in the shape of ‘the blood on Satan’s Claw’ and even children’s viewing held little resistance ‘the children of the stones’ with even Dr Who portraying the performing of a would be black mass in ‘the Daemons’ with a particularly demonic Richard Delgado taking his cue as the Master and if like me you were previous ignorant of the fact – the incantation spoken by Delgado was in fact ‘Mary had a little lamb’ read backwards.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qvr63
‘telestar sound drone – Jaegerklause, Berlin Jan 2014’ – free download – Danish cosmic psyche – free to download.
Maybe it’s just me, but each and every time we’ve seen fit to dive into this there’s been a sense of realities dissolving and the surroundings falling out of focus. This is the new wigged out and fried four track offering from Bad Afro head expanding dudes telstar sound drone, a quartet variously made up of members of baby woodrose, spids nogenhat and bite the bullet. A free to download set issued forth to plug the gap whilst the group put the finishing touches to their second – as yet untitled – full length due to hit the coolest stores sometime later in the year. These four cuts capture the drone ones in the flesh performing at the jaegerklause in January 2014, a truly head tripping experience of psychofied krautian star gazer grooves, vapour trailing wooziness and mind warping proportions. Best of the quartet being the zapped out ‘golden needles’ as it melts and terraforms amid interlocking and overlapping swirls of shimmering cosmic blues dissipates much like a warp factored Black Angels recalibrated and sent deep into the psych spell out there oblivions of Acid Mothers inner eye. Additional ear candy treats see a truly freaked re-tweaking of Red Crayola’s ‘hurricane fighter plane’ which to these ears sounds like a seriously fried pact forged by Suicide and Hawkwind – the danders in other words. https://telstarsounddrone.bandcamp.com/album/jaegerklause-berlin-jan-2014
‘Bad Afro happenings….’
Currently in the middle of a sabbatical whilst head honcho Lars sets about writing a book about the legendary Spids Nogenhat, Bad Afro celebrate 20 years of psych beat grooviness next year with rumours abound that before the year is out there’ll be full lengths from telstar sound drone, baby woodrose and nacrosatanicos – the latter of whom you can hear here – this is their full length debut for master mind a few years back – we suggest you partake of the parting ‘halluzinationsrausch’ – a killer slab doom draped no wave bad acid toking psychotropia – https://soundcloud.com/mastermindrec/sets/narcosatanicos-s-t-lp – the label have also recently tweaked their legendary cool dude logo to now sport a mighty fine pipe. http://badafro.dk/
‘rubik – shadows of apple blossoms’ (domestic) – from the forthcoming full length ‘tone poem’
Out very soon via domestic, a new full length from Rubik – better known to family, friends and passing acquaintances as Londoner Shawn Lee – entitled ‘tone poem’ from which sneaked ahead of the release date as a teaser showcase track comes ‘shadows of apple blossoms’. A most beautifully elegiac sortie delicately wrapped in a neo classical braiding and giving the impression of a wireless dial tuning in and out of frequency it’s this that gives it something of a slightly disorientating appeal that suggests a photo shopped collage of whispery fragmented musical memories sumptuously interweaved upon a softly treading key canter spliced with adoring sepia flurries. https://soundcloud.com/domestic/rubik-shadows-of-apple-blossoms/s-SuBdL
‘estrogenio mix – Silvia Kastel – sound cloud chill toner mix set via Ultramarine records – free to download’
Tripped across this by sheer accident given it followed the previously mentioned track (Rubik) on the sound cloud track listing, an all femme mix tape collated and compiled by Silvia Kastel head honcho over at ultramarine recordsall summarily frosted tipped and applied with oodles of cool cosmic chic and sent across the ethereal environs to seduce stereophonic systems and demur your listening space in all manner of psychotropic wooziness and purring chill wave, the set – just shyly exiting within the hour – features a stellar gathering of female talent and pioneers in their chosen disciplines – Delia Derbyshire, Suzanne Ciani, Pauline Oliveiros and Daphne Oram mix it up with Andrea Parker, Grimes, Zola Jesus, Orphan Fairytale and more. Quite something else. https://soundcloud.com/ultramarine-records/estrogenio-mix-by-silvia-kastel
‘Silvia Kastel – voice studies – cassette release through my dance the skull records’
Silvia Kastel has a cassette release in her own right as part of the ‘voice studies’ series curated by the London based tape label my dance the skull from which we’ve been totally taken by ‘body’. Purely conceived utilising just the voice and no other instruments, indeed we too had to double take thinking that what we were hearing was a didgeridoo. We here have always been admiring of throat harmonies with Beta Lactam Ring’s Soriah swiftly calling to mind, it’s a style much requiring of a fair amount of discipline and technique in manipulating the voice here done perfectly by Ms Kastel whose use of tonalities in so much as shifting seamlessly from dark to light is, it has to be said, quite a listening spectacle not least because she manages to concentrate the would be listeners ear to something that translates as being possessed of a mesmeric and meditative ethnic earthbeat charm. https://soundcloud.com/my-dance-the-skull/silvia-kaster-vs-20-a2-body
‘Sharon Gal – voice studies – cassette release through my dance the skull records’
Staying with my dance the skull records a wee while longer, well we couldn’t leave without mentioning this, part of the same series that featured the aforementioned Silvia Kastel, this is release #19 in the labels voice studies series, ‘this side’ by Sharon Gal is quite extraordinary. That said may we suggest you turn the volume down a little for fear of having your neighbours imagining all manner of tortured brutality for Ms Gal utilises extreme levels of throat harmony, primal and atonal she crafts something both chilling and disturbing (many will be creeped out by the horrorphonic gargling groans a la ‘the grudge’) bordering primordial that at times chuckles and coos almost childlike and which by the use of cheek clicks, monastic chantsand animalistic growls manages to create her own strange subterranic sound world. https://soundcloud.com/my-dance-the-skull/sharon-gal-voice-studies-19-this-side
‘musical interlude….8 – John Barry’s Theme from Vendetta’
Arguably, well there’s no argument about it, ‘the persuaders’ theme was the finest score to ever adorn a TV show, however several years earlier John Barry penned it’s antecedent skeletal frame in this slice of chic revenge dark noir – ‘Vendetta’ – which aired on TV screens in the mid 60’s – incidentally later covered by the Fantomas.
‘orphan fairytale – little red robin hood’
In truth the name caught our eye, beyond that we have little information other than to impart that she hails from Belgium – however we’ve been hearing good things and were most intrigued by her appearance on that aforementioned killer ‘estrogenio’ mix set by Silvia Kastel (see elsewhere). ‘little red robin hood’ – now this I could listen to forever – just adore the syncopating rhythms and the floating textures best described I suppose as imagining some idyllic sea shore located in some far flung cosmic hideaway at the very edges of our known galaxy basking in the glow of twin stars and becalmed by the shanty shimmer of alien tropical paradises. That said equal merit goes to the extended party mix ‘happy birthday / private party people……’ which for the best part of the set freefalls into the same kind of minimalist sonic interfaces as those found lurking amid the Bureau B old guard – Moebius, qluster et al, particularly enamoured by the Plone-esque moments that arrive late to the celebrations around the 19 minute mark. Somewhere else – latest musical posting ‘life is but a dream’ is just pure wyrd ear Cornelius – wonderfully skewed, skittish, sometimes deranged quite often psychotropic – Bearsuit records admirers will adore in an instant. https://soundcloud.com/orphan-fairytale
‘Jane Weaver – Mission Desire’ from the album the silver globe through bird / finders keepers’
Before you all start rattling on that this is oh so yesterday – or last year if we are talking specifics, I’ll just say in my defence that yes, we occasionally (okay often) miss things, the amount of music that comes through and our oft want for going off track following never ending musical paper trails is both a blessing and a curse, to keep up with the stuff we think we should be hearing (along with the stuff we ought to be listening to) would warrant an extension of the 24 hour clock to say – a 96 hour day and the truth is the more we cover the more we get, not, I’ll hasten to add something we complain about, but of course there are always going to be casualties unless of course we opted to be like some blog sites we could name (insert money here for spoilers) whose idea of a review is to basically do a brief synopsis of the press release which let’s face it having read some in the past my only conclusion is that some press houses are either listening to a different record, wishing they were listening to another record or else have missed a trick in being a fantasy story writer or worse still a political party manifesto writer. I could however cobble together a 3D photocopier and extract multiple versions of myself, but seriously that would not be a good thing for me or society at large.
And so to Jane Weaver whose end of year lists bothering ‘the silver globe’ is being given a second lease of life as an expanded issue incorporating sister set ‘the amber light’ all packaged on the usual formats including a limited issue silver wax variant – copies of which we’ll try to nab in the not too distant future for review. For now a track from the original set which, simply put, we are infatuated by, the amorphous ‘mission desire’ – quite frankly what is there not to adore about this star gazed gem stone, oozed in desire this waltzing lunar rapture steals in traced as a softly dream weaved psychotropic mirage that imagines a more earthbound ‘Ivo’ by the Cocteau Twins loosened of its celestial mooring and seductively wrapped in the gaseous cosmic vapour trails of Stereolab’s ‘Cobras’ shimmering orbitals.
‘they might be giants – glean – through Lojinx.
Title track from the latest they might be giants set, nice to see they’ve lost none of their quirkiness nor their persistent want for moving forward, backwards and sideways in an attempt to put you on a musical slip mat. Digging deep into their back history they’ve even revamped an old idea from their formative days whereupon people could call an answer machine and have the bands future sounds piped back at them over the telephonic exchange, this novel idea now rebranded as dial a song reveals the creative depth of the band, posting a new track every Tuesday throughout the year, a kind of pic n’ mix sonic bag where one minute you might get scat jazz (as on the improbably catchy ‘let me tell you about my operation’) the next pure bubble grooved pop (the twinkly ear gear grower ‘all the lazy boyfriends’) while this week’s particular selection sumptuously blends a strangely vintage old school beach promenade meets music hall waltz out of the marriage of mellotrons and chamberlins with a video of a cute puppy and a hanging garland of dog biscuits – don’t ask.
‘glean’
‘all the lazy boyfriends’
‘let me tell you about my operation’
‘pleasure beach – go’
Must admit to being mildly smitten by this, the latest cut from Belfast quintet pleasure beach, entitled ‘go’ this jet streaming sortie swoons, glides and arcs with a softly warmed honey glazed intensity that hints of lazy eyed reclines aboard the whispery dream popped vapour trails of some passing star configuration whilst tapping out love noted spiritual opinesinto the cosmic oceans, quite a demurring cutie all told much like a star gazing Earlies if you are looking for reference points. https://soundcloud.com/pleasurebeachband/gogo
‘Vicky and the Vengents – you used to be my baby (burger / wiener records).
Imminent through the much respected Wiener / Burger sound houses shortly will be the latest three track honey from self-proclaimed Southern Californian ‘maltshop punk’ combo Vicky and the Vengents, damn fine it is to especially if your stylus swoons to sounds much rooted in a 50’s golden age. And while we here were more than taken by the stricken strum-a-hula tail feather shake down ‘why’ with its Suzi Q-fied purr it’s the opening nugget ‘forever’ that provides the sets key note moment, a glorious slab of bubble grooved garage retro all glam tagged in 60’s girl pop and oozed in teen ache. Alas no sound links just yet but we are working on it.
‘The Fall – Arkive vinyl re-issues’
Arkive are set to re-issue four mid 80’s Fall classics on vinyl in mid-June, well I say four, one appears on wax for the first time (‘Yarbles revisited’) while ‘escape route to the Fall’ was previously only available on the extended cassette version of 1984’s ‘the wonderful and frightening world of the Fall’ and that excellent expanded 4 CD box set issued for a limited time in 2010. Add to the set ‘the wonderful and frightening world of the Fall’ and 1985’s ‘this nation’s saving grace’. Arguably this period provided the Fall’s most commercially accessible period and as such saw them bothering normal pop people – how quaint and daring of them, we’ve always been found coming out in mild fainting attacks each and every time ‘what you need’ reared into ear view.
‘Cuushe – shadow (free to download via flau)’
More Flau loveliness albeit in conjunction with cascine records this time from the delectable Cuushe whose chill tipped amorphous ghost pop we’ve had occasion to mention in previous musings. ’shadow’ comes softly teased from a new 10 inch EP entitled ‘night lines’ – a gorgeously flutter by slice of ice sculptured and demurring down tempo sophisticated soulpop which still sounds to these ears as though its shimmered in the kind of apparition like seduction that would suggest its DNA had been sourced from an equal measure of several parts Grimes and smile down upon us and ought by rights to appeal to those among you much attuned to the ethereal happenings emerging from the hidden shoal imprint. https://soundcloud.com/flaurecords/cuushe-shadow
‘Roger O’Donnell with Julia Kent – love and other tragedies (99x/100)’
An absolutely stunning study of modern classicism, beautifully expressed, touching, elegant and utterly captivating. Something we will be re-visiting more fully in future musings, this is the collaborative work pairing together the Cure’s Roger O’Donnell and Julia Kent, three years in the making, it’s a lushly toned pastoral bouquet sweetly marrying cellos and piano into a divine 9 part suite consisting of three stories – ‘tristan and isolde’, Orpheus and eurydice’ and Scheherezade’s ‘le triomphe de l’amour sur la haine’ – for now we’ve been adoring of ‘Marke’ from the Tristam and Isolde tale, a beautifully poised conversational piece each of the constituent players afforded their unique space beautifully genuflecting to the others advance whilst courted in a sweetly engaged romantic chemistry that’s delicately teased in a sun shimmered lilt of spring hued florals. Arresting in a word. Alas no sound links just yet.
‘cause of accident – sick of this shit/
Just to prove we have our finger on the pulse of the disenfranchised of this broken nation, here’s a timely spot of agit anarcho aggro from cause of accident whose blistering finger jabbing pogo riddled manifesto from the forgotten backwaters of society ‘sick of this shit’ smarts of a hugely enjoyable rowdy romp, not least because aside not so much having those aforementioned fingers of earlier on the would be political pulse the blighter insists its point with strange hold forthrightness. With proceeds of sales going to the helping and aiding of the sterling work done by the trussell trust, this unruly conscience pricking slab of sub three minute seething goes back to punk type reigning in elements of the toy dolls and peter and the test tube babies and with it providing the kind of passion, anger, intolerance and frustration seemingly lacking in this spot the difference election campaign.
‘lights that change – voices (ear to ear).
New slice of immaculate pop from Wales’ dream poppers lights that change, frankly this will leave you jaw dropped and tear stained in the wake of its parting fade. Out via ear to ear shortly – the very same people who brought you that quite tasty ‘revolution – the shoegaze revival’ compilation (which if I recall rightly too much sadness here – they never did send the links for – though it wouldn’t surprise me to find they have and that it’s currently buried beneath a ton of email communications). This is the adorable ‘voices’ a masterclass in emotional ache delicately threaded in the kind of atmospheric grandeur once upon a time the by word of 4AD, this darkly seductive and bruised beauty comes shimmered in the heavenly afterglow of this mortal coil all the time burning with a forlorn intensity and a consuming and tenderly statuesque last stand framing that’s carved in frosted amber. Emotionally destroying. https://soundcloud.com/eartoearrecords/lights-that-change-voices/s-NJWrb
‘sauna youth / monotony – split (upset the rhythm)
Mentioned this particular release way back in the dark dim past – March as it happens – if you don’t believe us – see here, read and weep – https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/monotony-sauna-youth/ – mind you at the time we only got to hear the monotony twin set featured on this frenetic split pairing and not the Sauna Youth side of the equation, until now that is. ‘transmitters’ is a re-imagining of the studio skulduggery pouring out of a ’79 back to the future recording party gathering together a shock wave / art pop / new wave sortie of folk among the number magazine, wire, spizz energi and the buzzcocks tuning out of communications as they jettisoned boosters embarking on a ray gunned strum gouged cosmic trip into the void with this acutely sharp and potent toxic head kick. Still can’t include sound links I’m afraid – guess you’ll have to purchase the blighter then.
Update….
In typically time honoured fashion – no sooner do we publish reviews saying no sound links and then along come sound links, admittedly we did have to root for these blighters, but well worth the effort –anyhow one from monotony and one (well the one) from sauna youth – we are now in search of another sauna youth related video / release featuring Lindsay paired up in an all femme trio with another band whose name escapes – or was I just dreaming this. I will not rest until I’ve nailed the email……
https://soundcloud.com/upset-the-rhythm/monotony-luxury-flats
https://soundcloud.com/upset-the-rhythm/sauna-youth-transmitters
‘the prams – sic, sad world EP (discos de kurlian)’
Just between you and me, we caught this by sheer accident finding it popping up on the sound player cued up as the track following the cut we were meant to be adoring and swooning to (which incidentally we did and were).this tasty slab of scuzzed out bubblegum pop (‘mess’) comes culled from a 100 only wax EP put out by the Barcelona based discos de kurlian imprint and is by the Prams who from what we can make out, may or may not feature Matthew and Victoria variously of secret beach and franny and zooey fame. Anyhow enough of that and back to the sounds, this babe hits all the buttons at once, quite frantically in fact all said, a kind of surf streaked fuzzy art bomb rippled and shimmied in 60’s femme harmonies and drilled with an impishly attractive lo-fi crookedness that had us here thinking it be the dot joining missing jigsaw piece between the Shaggs and Helen Love. https://soundcloud.com/discosdekirlian/the-prams-mess
‘Elvis Depressedly – wastes of time (run for cover).
Before the Prams invaded our ear space and turned our listening world momentarily on its head, the track we were actually plugged into was the latest from the depressing but not so depressing at all Elvis Depressedly. A duo – Mat and Delaney – who under their collective arm sport a new album ‘new alhambra’ which is due for release early June. Of course we were initially attracted to the name, rightly expecting all manner of agit animated noise niking of new single ‘wastes of times’ but instead pleasantly taken by the wistfully casual matter of fact resigned to whatever comes upbeat downbeat happily glum what the f*** broken lo-fi pop that briefly filtered our listening world for all of 89 seconds, which despite or perhaps in spite of its short stay alerted us to enough of an introduction as to suggest that admirers of the Bordellos and (loosely) Hefner ought to beating a crooked path up to their fragile and frail door. https://soundcloud.com/runforcoverrecords/09-wastes-of-time/s-ICxbq?in=runforcoverrecords/sets/elvis-depressedly-new-alhambra/s-YLne2
‘chimney crow – teddybear and his bullet (electric phantom).
First of three featured releases from the electric phantom stable. Welcome to the Chimney Crow’s world of disturbia with the decidedly edgy unease cast adrift by the chilling ‘teddybear and the bullet’ – pure creep out minimalist electro that reveals a weird ear soul overtly familiar with the sparsely opaque soundtracks that used to adorn the basement horror flicks of the 80’s slash / gore art house set of which most found their way elevated to cult status following the infamous video nasty censorship. ‘teddy bear….’ comes draped in the kind of bleakly flat lining apocalyptic foretelling that imagines some lost Carpenter score salvaged and recalibrated anew by a classic era Suicide here found subliminally messaging paranoia by way of an ice chilled psychotropic mantra.
‘petunia-liebling macpumpkin – frozen fish (feat. Art Barnes) (electric phantom).
Those of you familiar with our oft want to stray the borders of pop into more surreal territories might recall us mentioning Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin a fair old while back – which for those of you that didn’t sit up and pay attention the first time of asking can be found here https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2014/04/12/petunia-liebling-macpumpkin/ – at the time we made reference to Bearsuit records noting a curiously skewed and off the wall affinity for the crooked aural abstract worlds that both appeared to delight and occupy. Both weird and warped, the artful Ms MacPumpkin’s sound world is a disorientating collage of dissolving lysergic mirages, skewering Oz dream passages and playful Disney surrealism seen through acid eyes, with a total disregard for form, structure or verse / chorus / verse appreciation, she instead skips and hiccups amid a beautifully fried fantasia letting her inner child run riot creating weird landscapes whilst chirping almost nursery rhyme like her peculiar diarised prose, let’s face it where in the world of pop will you ever find – should you so wish – a love note serenade to a dead fish. Quite barking yet fried and freaky fun.
‘ostrich von nipple – upright jerker (psychofon)’.
I would dare anyone to categorize or indeed describe aptly where in the world and how exactly you would both fit on the great pop spectrum and describe the weird ear freakiness of Ostrich von Nipple. Ostrich is possessed of a wayward talent, a weird ear clearly cut from the top table of the academy of disciples in awe of the Residents perpetrating the kind of outsider sounds that crookedly fuse with much aplomb the worlds of the abstract with the absurd (and of whom is occasionally assisted by Molly Harvey and Nolan Cook who both apply vocals and guitars when the need / want arises – and who are as it happens rumored to be Residents types – the plot thickens).Known to release – admittedly hugely eye catching – limited editions of their albums and singles – usually in random number sets (we’ve seen their album – their current I should add – ‘Quantifies Absurdity’ in a deluxe 33 only pressing), we’ve admittedly become quite impressively obsessed with their impish shape shifting sonics (which variously incorporate art house, sci-fi, b-movie, eastern tablas and pretty much anything you care to mention – even prog at its most loosest form as we discovered on the rather fetching ‘grumpy crustaceans’ from the ridiculously bizarre and fried ‘ostrich von nipple contemplates the universe’). As to the new album, well we must thank head honcho of electric phantom records Melody for turning our ears on to ‘upright jerker’ – a wired and zonked out subterranean dubtronic art opera skirting around the kind of strange untamed worlds that once seemed to be the sole aural playground of frank wobbly and sons which once scratched beneath of its surreal surface there’s a revealing of a smokingly funky soul beat mantra straining to jump out.
‘wolfgang flur and jack dangers – ‘staying in the shadow’ (electronic sound).
Yes I know we’ve featured this a few times already, but blimey is so damn good that why not –but more importantly it’s to make up for something of faux pas on our behalf wherein our spell checker decided it was doing good by changing Dangers to Daggers much to the consternation and ridicule of their press folk – so er – here it is again this time with video no less – we like to think we spoil you……previous visitations can be found here – https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/05/03/wolfgang-flur-and-jack-daggers/
‘the equestrian vortex – dreams of r’lyeh’
Eyed this by sheer accident on a recent sound cloud posting, from Newcastle this is the mysterious equestrian vortex who it appear delight in crafting horrorphonic soundtracks for fabled cult creep cinema grooves existing in parallel time lines to our own, ‘dreams of r’lyeh’ particular tapping into that same cold war minimalism as so adeptly carved by the likes of wizards tell lies, duke st workshop and concretism to name but three albeit here as though submerged in to some weirded out nightmarish occurrence that sees Vangelis’ bleakly void futuristic dystopias of ‘blade runner’ remodelled into darker more complex strains of unease under the investigative eye of Quatermass. I’m guessing this won’t be the last we’ll hear of TEV. https://soundcloud.com/the-equestrian-vortex
‘loud and quiet’
We’ve always found time to grab a few passing minutes to muse through the pages of freebie music newspaper ‘loud and quiet’ – always considered it as being a cut above the rest of the gratis periodicals that litter the counters of local record emporiums. In recent days we even found time to track down their web page mainly to try and find out if a new issue was out yet – it is – issue 67 featuring Chromatics on the cover who also feature on a nifty though teasingly short mix tape with the adorable vapour trailing dream popping lovely ‘I can’t never be myself when your around’ along with that quite spiffing Sauna Youth speaker frazzler ‘transistors’ which we mentioned a little earlier in despatches as well as some cutely affectionate glitch grooved garlandia from a no doubt Grimes acolyte Holly Herdon which we suspect might be knocking soon on the doors of the lo recording or 4ad sound houses soon. All said best moment finds Anton Newcombe paired up with Soko for the simply irresistible ‘Philadelphie story’. Apparently culled from a recently released set entitled ‘musique de film imagine’ it finds Newcombe and Co paying homage to European filmmakers of the 50’s / 60’s with this dream weaved panoramic psych symphonia tripped in ghostly noir textures all purred seductively in the consuming forlorn ache of a torn and faded romance. http://www.loudandquiet.com/2015/05/loud-and-quiet-digital-issue-67/
‘blacklung – black bones (sways)’.
Now for your essential daily dose of mind altering psychotropia, in truth it doesn’t get much better than this. Info is a little sketchy but I think I’m right in saying that Blacklung are duo Steven and Laurie and ‘black bones’ is the lead cut culled from a forthcoming heavy duty wax 12 inch EP due shortly out of the sways imprint entitled ‘continental baths’. This hulking slab of brooding cool emerges from lysergic mists forged from the battle scarred woozy wastelands where stood previously the combined psych battalions of brian Jonestown massacre and the black angels, dragging with it shadowy preacher blues mantras from the fabled crossroads ‘black bones’ ghosts in upon desert dry trade winds, upon its crest a howling foretelling opines rippled in looped grooving primal kraut dripped mind wiping pulsars tethered seductively upon a snake charming arabesque axis which in truth is invested in the kind of head expanding mosaics once upon a time enacted to wax by a pre e / trance variant of the shamen.
‘Brian Jonestown Massacre with Soko – philadelphie story’.
Mentioned briefly in passing (per that aforementioned ‘loud and quiet’ mix tape) when our radar was somewhat entranced by its beguiled bewitchment, this is Newcombe and Co aided and abetted by Soko crafting out sonic seduction in the guise of ‘philadelphie story’ – utterly stunning.
‘the residents – theory of obscurity’
Sore thumbs, surrealists, avant-gardists, weirdos – there have been many names and many attempts to describe, pigeonhole and try in some way to put in a comfortable box the musical mischief makers the Residents, in an alternative space far removed from the notional disciplines of pop, art and media they have for over forty years defied, bedevilled and confounded the usual rules of the game in the process creating their own sonic universe itself populated by sub cultures, mystery and myth, the ultimate outsider collective they’ve always been ahead of the curve existing on the edge of belief to such an extent that one suspects in futures to come they will be hailed and held in the same kind of reverential tones these days afforded to classicists of the past. In an attempt to debunk long held myths and no doubt give rise to more, a film about the Residents entitled ‘theory of obscurity’ is long overdue and imminent…….for details feast thy eyeballs.…..
While somewhere out there on the net we happened across this little curio, no need for explanation Ralph communications explain all at the beginning…….
‘table scraps – bad feeling (hells teeth).
Looming large on the horizon a dark shimmer toned storm cloud is prowling its way casting long dark shadows in its wake. ‘bad feeling’ is its name, the newly minted platter from table scraps a dark hearted duo pairing together the talents of various Big Bang and Poppy and the Jezebels’ types Scott and Poppy. Serving as a teaser preceding their debut full length ‘more time for strangers’ via hell’s teeth, the fuzzily scuzzed out ‘bad feeling’ is a killer slab of swamp dragged primal buzz bluesscowled in skin creeping horrorphonic twang-a-rama sliced and serrated in vintage garage beat gouges which reference wise see it existing in some rarefied psych sub space between the fat truckers, wimple winch and the fuzztones – pretty much essential ear gear then. https://soundcloud.com/table-scraps-1/bad-feeling-1
‘junkboy – release the sunshine (enraptured)’.
Culled from a forthcoming enraptured set ‘sovereign sky’, an album which has, I don’t mind admitting, been getting a fair amount of adoring glances and nods since arriving here and is primed to go under the critical eye shortly. For now though, serving as a teaser and a somewhat stop gap while we sharpen pencils this is the softly intoxicating ‘release the sunshine’. A lazy eyed lovely wistfully radiant in warming west coast vibes and dreamily drizzled in an affectionately reclining purr whose hazily glazed tingled pop artistry hints at the more demurring feel good dialects drifting from out of the back catalogue of Dennis Wilson though here impeccable phrased with a lilting easy on the ear baroque elegance of Van Dyke Parks in a studio collusion with Oddfellows Casino and something which those much admiring of the Brigadier and Ashley Parks may do well to seek out at your earliest convenience. That said holding its own on initial album listens ‘Belo Horizonte’ is trimmed in the kind of sultry sunny soft psych dimpled latino tropicalia reclines that had us here imagining some far flung beach party gathering of Le Mans and Moviola types cooking up and rephrasing smoky Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 salvos from yesteryear albeit as though recoded firstly by the high llamas. http://junkboytheband.bandcamp.com/track/release-the-sunshine
‘musical interlude…..9’
The full unedited 12 inch version of UK Decay’s ‘werewolf’ from their ’82 set ‘rising from the dread’ – those primal growls at its opening used to scare the bejeezus out of my old girl……she was never to fond of Crass either……
‘snow in mexico – ride (Saint Marie).
I’ve a depressing feeling that we’ve somehow fallen off the Saint Marie mailing list, we’ve checked all manner of email and spam folders even under the sofa but alas still no sign – which is a shame really because like the hidden shoal and the emerald and Doreen imprints they appear to have cornered a niche in the shoegaze market proving themselves along the way to be purveyors of ethereal pop. Now we were only minded of this upon stumbling across snow in mexico who we believe hail from Italy and are currently sporting a new album via saint marie with this ‘un entitled ‘ride’ – I think I’m right in saying pulled from a release originally around a few years ago or something to that effect. What we are sure of and what can’t be denied is the sheer bliss kissed beauty of the cut, a kind of celestial Chapetrhouse enacting heavenly visitations all shimmered in the divine magisterial chill toned chiming cool of the Church – and with that in mind we frankly suspect that we need to investigate more. https://soundcloud.com/saintmarie-records/snow-in-mexico-ride
‘new candys – surf 2’ (shyrec).
More cool essential Italo groove, where does he keep finding these cooking cuties from you might well ask, well as it happens we nicked this off a mix tape currently doing the rounds on drowned in sound wherein floppy fringed types have seen fit to cobble together a selection of shoegazed sorties from the likes of pinkshinyultrablast, false heads, flyying colours, the telescopes – all of whom in the main have featured quite recently here (that Telescopes release is still the dogs danders) along with these dudes New Candys. ‘surf 2’ comes culled from a by all accounts spiffing 10 inch split release that pairs them up sharing groove space with kill your boyfriend that’s being put out by a joint enterprise forged by the skyrec / xnot you xme imprints, a twang-a-hula garage psych dandy shimmered in oodles of reverb found cutting cool shapes in Martian sands whilst simultaneously straying into the kind of riff rumbling territories these days ably catered for by the sonic cathedral imprint.
Those fancying checking out the whole Some Velvet mix tape better get setting your dials and mouse for stun whilst generally pointing it somewhere here – http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4148936-some-velvet-mixtape–2015-so-far-in-reverb-delay-and-distortion?ticker
‘musical interlude……10’
Something of a lost album from the electronic silver age, by all accounts it was the only time Charles Wuorinen created a suite from synthesised sounds, released in 1969 ‘time’s encomium’ was a sometimes playful though often strangely obtuse study in chamber electronics crafted by way of the use of the RCA Mk II synthesizer.
‘betrayers – tombstone salesman’
Prized from a split 7 inch with the lad mags, this is the Betrayers side of the bargain ‘tombstone salesman’ – as you’d rightly imagine from a track thus called there’s a fair amount of garage psych voodoo going on about its wares not forgetting to mention the fact that to these ears its sounds as though its literally just stepped out of a mid-60’s chemical haze whereupon it’s been in a bliss kissed coma these last 50 years and now awoken still shaping up like some sassily smoking hot west coast ne’er do well. https://soundcloud.com/betrayers-1/tombstone-salesman-1
‘musical interlude…..11’
Our wireless still mourns the passing of ‘Mixing It’ from the BBC Radio 3 schedules, the show co presented by the late Robert Sandall and Mark Russell for nearly two decades was in many respects a perfect companion to the Wire magazine in that the show truly was at the cusp of cutting edge sounds that rather than dictate to its audience more so sought to expand musical taste with a refreshing without borders genre-less appreciation and a want for the new whilst applying authoritative viewpoints and critiques on as to where these strange found sounds fitted on the accepted musical map. I’m certain we have about 50 or so shows on cassette recordings which we have been meaning to convert to digital for upload, however before then (believe me – I wouldn’t even think about holding your breathe in readiness) here are several shows that have been posted on the internet by kind folk – some genuine classics here featuring Aphex Twin, Bjork, Joan as Policewoman, future sound of London and more……
https://www.mixcloud.com/tag/bbc-mixing-it/
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/People_Like_Us__Wobbly/Live_On_BBC_Radio_3s_Mixing_It_2004/
https://soundcloud.com/mshqn/fsol-isdn-live-transmission
‘die wilde jagd – s/t (tapete / bureau b)’.
You can always rely on tapete / bureau b to occasion the odd picking your jaw off the floor moment, last years unexpected year end list botherer was the debuting platter from Automat (with whom common ground is incidentally found on the subtropic ‘jag’d auf den hirsch’), while it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find this hulking slab of kraut trance still holding its own come the close of the year and making a strong call in the album of the year selections roll of honour. Die Wilde Jagd are duo Messrs Beck and Philip – the former known to cut his teeth with unit 4 / karl bartos the latter one half of dark disco duo Noblesse Oblige. There’s a crafted familiarity that Die Wilde Jagd bring to your stereophonic world, it’s like waking up only to find someone has rummaged through your prized record collection and decided to give it a tweak and an upgrade into the bargain applying a Kraut- tech kool to its make-up. For here lurk electroid dadaist disco dialects scattered with motorik earthbeat pulsars and trance toned dubtronics, which when gathered together create what the label press release rightly notes a mind weaving ‘swampland’ sub species of kraut groove that playfully picks away at the outer spheres of club / electronic dance cultures of the last 40 years. None more so is this the case than on the opening salvo ‘wah wah wallenstein’ – a wig flipped hypno-grooving cosmic cruiser that sumptuously fuses the industrial disco of Front 242 upon an Embryo chassis and rephrases the union through a Moroder viewfinder. Similarly traced ‘Austerlitz’ – perhaps the sets best moment, is a psychotropic dub draped lunar ride pressed upon a deeply mesmeric looped groove motif all sumptuously tripped by floral kraut folk mosaics that lightly dance and jig to re-imagine and recalibrate as were forgotten ‘war of the worlds’ soundtracks had that is a twin pronged studio gathering of Fuxa and Slipstream types seen fit to collude to put it through some wig flipping futuro funk hot wash. Elsewhere there’s the gorgeously lilting shape shifting orbital ‘der elektrische reiter’ found cosmically dream weaving upon an astral trajectory into worlds once occupied and populated by the sounds of la dusseldorf and recalibrating to its core chassis all manner of mind melting and entrancing Arabesque snake charms. Amid these grooves you’ll encounter the mooching ‘torpedovogel’ which hones in sublimely on the early minimalist 80’s retro futuro groovings of Herbie Hancock albeit as though impishly modified by some studio mischief by a youthfully kooky Art of Noise only to be drop kicked into the shadowy landscapes of Add N to X. It’s not all lightness as the chill toned haunt of ‘durch dunkel tannen’ cautiously reminds, a doom dripped monolith etched in cold war minimalism and ice dripped atmospherics which in truth had us imagining a darker hearted variant of Battles map marking the lair of Clock DVA while there’s something regretful and bruised about the lonesome ‘morgenrot’ as it silently patrols ghostly shadows replaying looped memories atop rain swept noir pulsars. The set is brought to superb closure by the slow slick seduction of the DAF and Propaganda head space sharing ‘der meister’. Essential then.
Sound cloud snippets – https://soundcloud.com/bureau-1/die-wilde-jagd-snippets-out-may-1-2014
Previous entries – https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/die-wilde-jagd/
Video –
‘Automat – plusminus (bureau b)’
Responsible for one of our favourite albums of last year, Automat’s self-titled debut was awash with guest appearances – Lydia Lunch, Blixa Bargeld and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge doing a mighty fine William Burroughs cameo, all attended the party, the soundscapes within detached and minimalist hinted at a subtle emergence of a new species of kraut dub, it was loved so much here we damn well ended up taping down the repeat button on a stereo player. ‘plusminus’ finds these seasoned players encountering the dilemma of the difficult (oft considered third by some) second album especially when you don’t send out the invites to your best friends, despite the limitations of the narrowed generic mediums it populates, this return visit provides a more considered, often lushly toned, expansive canvas for the listener to lose themselves within. While the debut thematically considered Berlin’s four airports as its underlying backstory, the shape shifting ‘plusminus’ recalls, according to the press release, the strange monolith in Kubrick’s ground breaking ‘2001’. At times sharing common ground with label mates Die Wilde Jagd in so much as rethreading and retuning dance cultures into newly formed sonic sub species’, ‘plusminus’ navigates the spacious corridors existing between the finite lay lines that separate the classic sound houses of dub / trance and techno, arguably more a slow burner than its older sibling, but give it time and let its woozy essences breathe and take hook and what you have is a head tripping tour de force in the making which in terms of reference points assumes a seating somewhere on an aural axis between Plaid and Astralasia. None more so is this the case than on ‘RE201’where the classic Detroit techno mainframes are stretched, softened and moulded upon sultry Middle Eastern mosaics to form trip-a-delic mantras that dissipate and dissolve into head expanding flotillas of bliss kissed bonged out groove. ‘H910’ deploys the same technique only this time taking matters into more atmospherically cinematic and hazy climes as though some collective headed up by Ry Cooder where on a spiritual detail deep in the Tibetan. Those of you ever finding yourselves suffering sleepless nights wondering what a tag team pairing of Cabaret Voltaire and the automated doppelgangers of Dusseldorf’s finest might sound like will do well to plug into the title track while the cosmic cloud that is ‘DMX18-80S’ (and ‘SST282’ in effect a slo mo nocturnal variant of the former) sounds to these ears like a seriously spaced out Invaders of the Heart cutting shapes upon alien moon based club floors. Somewhere else ‘mono’ has all the wherewithal of a lost old school Yello sparring with Depth Charge while the smoking cool space walking ‘EMT140’ finds Automat switching off all non-essential life support systems in readiness for deep hibernation.
https://soundcloud.com/bureau-1/re-201?in=bureau-1/sets/automat-plusminus-snippets
‘the implicit order – mountain music (wholeness recordings)’.
We really must try and keep on top of these things, seems that since the last time we had occasion to feature the implicit order in these musings that they’ve since released a plethora of releases all of which have sadly passed up by. ‘mountain music’ sees these psychedelic concrete droners voyaging celestial netherworlds and while we here try to wrestle about freeing up time for a more detailed and considered listen can we just point out that ‘blind clocks’ has been the cause of much admiring wonder since positing itself in our listening world. Here the ghostly echoes of Jacques Lasry’s ‘maneche’ – more commonly familiar to many as the theme from 70’s children TV oddity ‘toybox’ – spookily drift through the ether flanked by angelic apparitions to create jubilant albeit disorientating jet streams of woozy white noise mind fractures. https://theimplicitorder.bandcamp.com/album/mountain-music
‘Exile Pots – the well of night’
Those with memories stretching as far as last year’s pre festive periods might well recall us enthusing about Exile Pots’ ‘sorcery’ EP – a deeply engaging head expanding spectacle of dubbed out astral ambience where if I recall rightly such names as Tangerine Dream and Floyd where summarily called to mind in a dreamy instant. Well now the blighters only gone and sneaked out to little fanfare a full length set entitled ‘the well of night’ – a beautifully spacious delight, twinkled in all manner of lulling cosmidelica which alas due to time being a cruel mistress we’ll have to put on hold from listening to a little more fully though not before drawing your attention to the quite beguiling ‘frank the signalman’. This sweetly amorphous titan affords the chance to slip away for some blissed kissed out of body experiences, best experienced loud through headphones in order to capture the full on trip-a-delic effect, the dimpling lush recline of the dissolving reverb mirages cast woozy shimmer toned ripplesas the dreamy mosaics carry you aloft on a galactic ride deep into the cosmic outlands, it’s an utterly becalming and chill dripped kosmiche spectacle of the highest order which should you be in need of modern day reference markers we’d suggest the cosmic canvas’ of Craig Padilla as an as were happy bedfellow. http://exilepots.bandcamp.com/album/the-well-of-night
‘Joseph Quimby jr – wren / le chat est parti (tombed visions).
We’ve oodles of gnod related groove to get to in the coming weeks, not least those long promised tesla outings which in truth we are enjoying far too much at present to review and in turn put away in order to move onwards towards the next listening obsession. This is a recent release put out by the impressive Tombed Visions imprint of Manchester (who you may recall we mentioned briefly when transfixed by that recent ‘spool’s out’ mix tape which included a cut from Bad Body), a cassette label who I suspect in the very near future we will be paying closer attention to especially if this release is anything to judge by. Alas the physical copies – a hulking double cassette – are now all sold but this is one Joseph Quimby Jr whose just turned in a most divine collection entitled ‘wren’ / ‘le chat est parti’ which initially our attentions were snared earlier today by the cut ‘saint-quentin-en-tourmont’ which has since been overshadowed somewhat by the parting ‘scenes de rue’. A most elegant and eloquent slice of neo classical symphonia, beautifully poised, expressive and beguiling, in truth crafted with the kind of fragile ice sculptured stature that you’d expect from those dudes over at cathedral transmissions, amid its grooving shimmering sepia traced memories echo mournfully as distress call pulsars sorrowfully transmit into the darkening voids as though the looped last transmissions from a long since deceased cosmic outpost on the very edges of the galactic highway. http://josephquimbyjr.bandcamp.com/album/wren-le-chat-est-parti
‘les big byrd – Stockholm death star (a recordings)’.
Okay I gather you are all well familiar with Les Big Byrd, they’ve only gone and released several well-heeled platters (according to our friendly record emporium retailer) in recent times, all of which I’m very much disappointed to say have somehow slipped beneath the critical ear of our radar. ‘Stockholm death star’ is their latest, signed to and issued by Anton Newcombe’s a recordings, the set features four cuts which had we judged on sleeve alone (incidentally featuring grimly psyched daubing / imagery) we’d have scarcely expected to hear the love noted bruiser ‘vapour r.i.p.’ or ‘I woke up in a dream’ – the former a murmur toned slice of dreamy introspection revealing a pure pop chemistry that’s lulled in swirling lysergic opiates all trip wired by a smoking bliss fused shimmering whilst the latter sumptuously framed upon a stratospheric cosmic cloud glide haloed in a hazily glazed tanginess. Lead track ‘stockholm death star’ is your heads down frazzled wah wah’s to go spaced out kraut kooled kosmedelic kruiser voyaging trajectories more commonly navigated by a playful less cranial messaging Mugstar while over on the flip sideopening salvo ‘anywhere but here’ plugs in to channel the out of body grooves of the Beatles’ ‘tomorrow never knows’ before engaging thrust boosters to zero out at warp drive into the great cosmic heavens beyond very much traversing a trajectory once upon a time enacted on wax by Fly. https://soundcloud.com/les-big-byrd-official/i-woke-up-in-a-dream-1
‘les big byrd – liquid sky (hoga nord rekords)’.
Second visit to these pages by Les Big Byrd, this one an ultra-limited 12 inch picture disc, just 299 of these babies emerging from out of the hoga nord sound house from which is culled a tasty sneak teaser in the shape of title track ‘liquid sky’. More shadowy than the kaleidoscopically star cruising ‘stockholm death star’ release for this dark beauty imagines some hitherto lost soundtrack to a space spy noir thriller from the 60’s penned covertly by a secret writers guild headed up by Le Carre, Buchan and Chandler and featuring an unfinished sonic face-off between the shadows and shadowy men on a shadowy planet stumbled upon re-trimmed and tweaked by the much missed Quickspace. https://soundcloud.com/les-big-byrd-official/les-big-byrd-liquid-sky
‘Impersonal records – the splendour of model railroading and its benefits’
Vaporwave situationism is how it’s described in the liner notes, this time from Nebraska and another little gem we uprooted out of the thickening musical brambles that is bandcamp this is impersonal records who are currently sporting a set going by the excellently named ‘the splendour of model railroading and its benefits’. Now I’ll admit there was a worrying moment when Billy Joel’s ‘uptown girl’ came into earshot on ‘apoka lounge break’ threatening all amount of horrific 80’s flashbacks before being suffocated and submerged beneath choking walls of noise skree, but it was ‘nuclear sunshine’ that bent our earlobes having us much adoring of its bitter sweet faded romance and shedding a tear or two at its aching funereal melancholy. http://impersonalrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-splendor-of-model-railroading-and-its-benefits
‘Tiny blue dragon – dapi’..
Refreshingly described by its author / s on the liner tag cues as ‘electronic chill I don’t know weird Minneapolis’ – this is a twin set from Tiny Blue Dragon information on whom is scant, in fact make that non-existent. That said we found ourselves drawn to this little nuggets almost withdrawn and shy eyed carefree sparseness and although the wonderfully lolloping seafaring cosy cosmic lunar shanty ‘woodwalker’ might be for most the essential picking here it was its partner in crime ‘eau caé’ that had us somewhat shuffling up closer to the sound player with its fragile ice carved mellowing murmur tones putting us much in mind of the sleepy headed glitch grooves of a retiring minotaur shock and the kind of surrendering bitter sweet melancholic rushes that occasion the catalogue of the flau imprint. http://tinybluedrajon.bandcamp.com/album/dapi
‘noah – flaw (flau).’
And talking of the Flau imprint, we mentioned Noah scarcely a few days ago when we here were much entranced by the sultry opines of ‘take it down’. A new album about to break cover in the guise of ‘Sivutie’ from which this newly minted video for her new single ‘Flaw’ has been unveiled. Directed by one of the leading lights of Tokyo’s film and animation set Takcom, ‘Flaw’ is a beautifully frosted apparition ghosted in skittering glitch crackles all delicately dimpled in the graceful chatter of whisper toned ethereal hymnals and an ice floral sonic pageantry that’s quietly haloed in the kind of warmth cosy toed cavernous intimacy that used to surrender stereophonic sets with the rare visitation of platters signed by Mum. Irresistible.
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/125655198″>Noah "flaw"</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/takcom”>takcom™</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
‘Autobahn – immaterial man (Tough Love).
These Leeds based post punkers have in recent times brought much brooding cheer around these here parts with a handful of well-heeled though sadly long since sold out bruised and epic singles through the much admired tough love imprint. This summer sees the unveiling of the bands much anticipate debut full length entitled ‘dissemble’ and from it serving as an early warning herald looms ‘immaterial man’ . this dark hearted beauty finds Autobahn patrolling the austere 80’s wastelands that once upon a time provided a forging of aural lay-lines connecting ‘seduction’ era Danse Society, Zerra 1 and the mission with of course Sisters of Mercy, a raging tour de force of storm wielding passion gloriously gouged in the kind of consuming anthem like sinew straining taught tension that once graced the early outings of the Chameleons. Be honest would you wish for anything else. https://soundcloud.com/tough-love/autobahn-immaterial-man-1/s-Ua8kv
A live studio video, spoiling yus methinks…
‘nightingales – bit of rough – taken from their current mind over matter set for louder than war’
It’s a given thing that as they get older most bands begin to wear like comfy slippers, their best days behind them, the energy and vibrancy of youth, challenges conquered, milestones achieved, royalty cheques regular, in some cases a critically acclaimed moment serving as a monument that now creativity wise is but a distant memory as they trundle along to a familiar groove going through in many respects what many would refer to as the motions. Not the Nightingales, for it seems as though they’ve not so much gotten a second wind but doses of their third, fourth and possibly fifth. Either that or people close by just forgot to give them the how to grow old gracefully band manual. Sounding as relevant now as they did when they first irked the Peel playlists way back in the early 80’s,these last few years have seen a newfound sting and brutally playful bite ushering in to the Nightingales agit pop roster with each ensuing full length literally wiping the floor with the previous. ‘Mind over matter’ due for careful consideration in the coming days is no exception to the rule and finds the Nightingales at the top of their game with ‘bit of rough’ snaring the earlobes as it closes this most blistering of sets. Kissed with a primal rage rarely heard around here outside of a Fatima Mansions nugget and flanked by the fried harmonies of what sounds not unlike some seriously wired variant of Kate and Cindy B-52’s c. ’wild planet’, this gnarled bad boy comes on moonlighting as a teen thrilled 50’s bubble gum popper before derailing to momentarily spark up glam shocked before quickly and abruptly turning matters on their head to carve out a hysteria haloed slab of frantic rapid fire eye poking art pop, never too late to acclaim them as this nations saving grace is it.
There’ll be videos later.
‘AJ and the Hackney Empire – Martyn’s elephant charm (singing dune records).’
Okay so I’ve heard the single of summer now, in truth this so gorgeously giving, happy, radiant and damn bloody catchy that we did consider on several occasions whether or not to nail our frantically tapping feet to the floor before they skipped off into the sunset now though heading up some jubilant smiley faced conga. A tale of superstitions ‘martyn’s elephant charm’ comes backed ‘ghost daddy’ both of whom will feature on a forthcoming AJ and the Hackney Empire set entitled ‘soft power’. Words fail, really is quite something else and so lovely we could weep, this had us happily recalling the much missed Zimbabwean troupe Four Brothers and Diblo Dibala, the guitar playing simply exquisite lushly woven in sun kissed arpeggio raptures – just bliss believe me. And just when you are picking up your jaw from the floor along comes the smoking ‘ghost daddy’ which unless our ears do deceive manages sublimely to draw the invisible dots between Lupen Crook and the Aloof. Alas no links just yet – but rest assured we are working on them.
‘Alberteen – a French connection (rhythm and noir)’.
Mentioned this recently – here in fact https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/alberteen/ – new single from Alberteen gets a video make over just ahead of the release of a new album ‘miss world’ along with a nifty remix by Comma Period who apply to the original sonic blue print something of a coolly shadow-esque Meek inspired ghost rider aura to proceedings….
https://soundcloud.com/alberteen/alberteen-french-connection-comma-period-remix/s-gYvMb
‘nightingales – bit of rough (louder than war)’
Here’s that promised Nightingales video that we hinted at yesterday, indeed we could have tagged it on to the original review – but hey – the blighters so damn good we’ll just annoy you with copious postings until you get the message……
‘listen with wireless…1′
It’s not uncommon to feel somewhat baffled, bewildered yet none the less amused at the quaint eccentricity of Vivian Stanshall, it’s a bit like being on the outside of in house joke, he was after all performing on a surrealist playing field and reading three sheets ahead on the auto cue. This year marks the 20th anniversary of his passing and by way of marking the event Radio 4xtra are re-broadcasting a transmission first aired way back in 2001 and hostec by Stephen Fry called ‘big shot – a trip through the canyon’s of Viv Stanshall’s mind’ (I actually nearly typed onions instead of canyons – either my eyes are going through being up at ungodly hours or else I’m now auto correcting in Stanshall-ese)….anyway listen……. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007kdyf
‘Beaulieu Porch feat. The Best of Belmondo – navy blue the first (free download from Beaulieu Porch album ‘made in England)’
I think we may owe Beaulieu Porch something of an apology in thus far we’ve been slightly delayed in coming forward with reviews for his two recently (and I should add here –quite sublime) released albums. Add to that list a third in the shape of ‘made in England’ from which ‘navy blue the first’ has been sent ahead by of a free to download teaser. An utterly captivating spectacle that features the first appearance of the best of belmondo that’s mellowed in beautified swirls of dissolving dream sequences and ghostly baroque signatures that owe much to Komeda whilst simultaneously kissed and caressed with the kind of forlornly crushed fragile enchantment that haunted the grooves of Ooberman’s much underrated lost classic ‘running girl’. http://beaulieuporch.bandcamp.com/track/navy-blue-the-first-2
‘Toromi – Roland synth demonstration’.
You know how we love to unearth little curios for posting here- we actually pulled this from the electronic sound blog (home of that excellent Wolfgang Flur / Jack Dangers single). Should you find yourselves lucky enough to have the odd classic Roland synth about your person and you’re scratching head wondering how you can miraculously turn yourself from ordinary Joe to uber trance overlord or something to that effect in six minutes or less, then watch on as Toromi demonstrates with such easy and simplicity, the basic rudiments of extracting floor bopping groove from your box of nobs, dials and wires – the cat incidentally is optional.
‘AJ Holmes and the Hackney Empire ‘Martyn’s elephant charm / ghost daddy’ (singing dunes).’
I’m afraid I’m not going to apologise for featuring this again, just can’t get enough of it, both cuts are frankly perfection – so in order to make up for the fact that we erroneously credited this as being by AJ and the Hackney Empire ‘tis in fact AJ Holmes and the Hackney Empire we’ve got videos, sound clouds the lot – listen, love, adore……..
https://soundcloud.com/ajholmesthehackneyempire/martyns-elephant-charm
https://soundcloud.com/ajholmesthehackneyempire/ghost-daddy
https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/05/12/aj-the-hackney-empire/
‘short skirts – far side of mexico’.
Oh yes, just what the great boogie doctor ordered, all the way from Trondheim these rumble-rama dudes – short skirts they call themselves have an album looming on the horizon by the name ‘family values’ from which this bad boy has been culled. And damn fine it is to, a sub three minute wig flipper that imagines Jan and Dean leaving behind their Californian roots and surf boards to boot to don headphones and go all hot rod grooved to get dirty and down with the Mono Men, frankly this gem has uber cool branded on its backside. Any questions?
‘zohara – lost’
Quite something, a place where the finite lines between enchantment and bewitchment merge, utterly adorable, you’ll feel helpless in not being able to avoid falling headlong deep into its ghost light. This is a new cut from emerging Tel Aviv artist Zohara entitled ‘lost’ all genuflecting strings, floral whispersand the undulating cascade of twinkling keys which when gathered together craft out a deeply alluring spectral magicalia the likes of whose artistry, poise and sense of aural storytelling recalls that of Laura J Martin albeit relocated to the Icelandic wilds.
Thanks for tuning in……..
Take care,
Mark
x
the sunday experience 