Tales from the Attic
Volume LIX
Revolutions of a 45 and 33 kind……
More wordy gubbins from earlier in the year I’m afraid
This particular edition features –
Alrealon musique, Robert peter Williams, rasplyn, john 3:16, jan Swinburne, fluid, rapoon, aru, mnipk, broken keys, subduxtion, black Saturn, fat kneel, [owt kri], blues sausage infant, jazzfakers, hypnodrone ensemble, flowers must die, the mynabirds, qluster, conrad Schnitzler and pyrolator, the telescopes, vukovar, this heel, psychomania, bikes, lame, the deadline shakes, m, stoneghost, extol, death waltz, fangoria, pinno donaggio, myrow and seagrave, sexual objects, itsabrightlight, tvam, concretism, xyzips, red house glory, Donald Rubenstein, Richard einhorn, douglas gamley, Fabio frizzi, john carpenter, the watchmakers, exile pots, pale honey, antelopes, lazy day, young knives, antartica, novanta, magic potion, the parrots, grounders, tandem felix, ultimate painting, roger o’donnell and Julia kent, count Frederick and the lubricators, mumbles, milk and biscuits, octopuses….
Last time out we mentioned the cutely formed Little Red Rabbit imprint who we begin things with here……
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
‘the Mynabirds – semantics (saddle creek)’.
I’ll be honest with you, we actually sneaked this off the Domino web site and much taken were we that hey ho it features here, crystal tipped pure pop from the Mynabirds who’ve an album ‘lovers know’ due to appear soon – well August as it happens – giving you plenty of time to set aside hard earned cash and likewise fall beneath its spell which is something that lead out single ‘Semantics’ may go some way in assisting. Possessed of a lilting ear candy symmetry, ‘semantics’ purrs amid a vapour trail swoon of buzzing cosmic pulsars all seductively dimpled in an affectionate rush of lunar love noted 80’s electro signatures which by the tingle felt by our well-worn earlobes ought to attract admiring nods and glances from the drive time radio community whilst simultaneously loosely catching the attention of those much recalling the early outings of birdpen and a softer toned less world weary youthful swimmer one.
Okay plenty of little Tapete’s and Bureau B’s heading record emporium way shortly….the first of which comes from…..
‘Qluster – tasten (Bureau B)’.
Due sometime July, ‘tasten’ is the long awaited 5th full length from trio Qluster, alas we only have snippets to go on at present but I’m guessing though they only tell the briefest of stories there’s more than enough here to pique the interests of even the most casual passer-by. Solely utilising three Steinway concert grands, Messrs Roedelius, Bock and Metz provide a masterclass in maxima – minima neo classicism by way of pushing the instrument to its very limits and in so doing crafting a beautifully expressive suite that demurs and captivates from the frosty genteelness of ‘Il campanile’ to the souring bitter sweet elegance of ‘zwischen den zeilen’ and the simply entrancing floral pageantry of ‘spuren im schnee’. https://soundcloud.com/bureau-1/sets/qluster-tasten-snippets
‘Conrad Schnitzler and Pyrolator – con-struct (Bureau B).
From an idea first forged way back in 2011 and realised through the use, manipulation and remodelling of a vast array of sound samples left by the late Conrad Schnitzler, former DAF / Der Plan player Pyrolator set about seeking to relocate the former Kluster / Tangerine Dream mavericks sonic legacy into darker and more technoid climes, thus ‘con-struct’ was born. Again only snippets of sound sketches are available, no titles alas but a revealing – I’m sure you’ll agree – of a wide spectrum of technique, stylising and texture can be found at play here that stray into the varying facets of the sonic cosmology that the worlds of trance, ambience, techno and drum n’ bass where heard to birth. https://soundcloud.com/bureau-1/conrad-schnitzler-pyrolator
‘the telescopes – hidden fields (tapete).’
Having recently returned from the deep reaches of the noise niking improvisational wastelands which saw them heavily immersed in the crafting of abstract drone, there were times when it appeared that the mighty Telescopes had forsaken the notion of song based sound altogether to voyage ever deeper into unchartered sonic voids in their pursuit of exploring newfound micro worlds. However recently received broadcasts from afar hinted an imminent return of psych’s lost brothers with the unexpected appearance on a side sharing split with a place to bury strangers wherein they sublimely retooled the Stooges ‘I wanna be your dog’ into a savagely primal psych soaked head kick to the senses. And now ‘hidden fields’ – a new full length set shortly to emerge on the tapete imprint will find Lawrie and Co firmly back in the fold and resume taking up his place at top seat oft psych’s grand table. Here you’ll encounter the volcanic head trip ‘you know the way’ – a realties fracturing brooding storm of intent that veers into listening space like some second coming. While through hazily glazed twilight mists something stirs drawn upon a-would be coalition between a stoned out and blissed flying saucer attack with cheval sombre emerges in the shape of ‘absence’. Pride of this short but oh so essential sound sampler the velveteen ‘the living things’ veers into ear space traced upon wavesof feedback fog that suggest its ventured the distant sonic quadrants of once upon a time mapped by Lou and Co. https://soundcloud.com/tapete-records/sets/the-telescopes-hidden-fields-snippets
‘Vukovar – new world order (small bear).
Whether by design or simple happy accident, one thing that hasn’t escaped our attention is the subtle clue in the title, but there’s a krafty trick at work here in so much that this absolute gem of a release imagines an as were in an alternative parallel world / dream ticket meeting of Ian Curtis and that of the phoenix rising from the ashes post Joy Division isolationist pop gurus New Order. Marking the first of two releases from the Isle of Man based Small Bear imprint after what seems like an age of hibernatory silence, Vukovar finds the gathering of Bordellos, longdrone flowers and postcode types colluding on what may well be the finest 6 minutes of groove never written by the Bunnymen this year. ‘new world order’ is simply put, the great lost anthem from ‘power, corruption and lies’ right down to the simplistic but effectively memorable keys swirl, the low strung Hook’y bass growl and the killer cool as f sonorous world weary vocals – oh and not forgetting the youthful Go Team sound-a-like teen thrill trims littered liberally everywhere – be under no illusion – once heard never forgotten. The single proceeds the long awaited debut full length ‘Empire’.
‘this heel – this heel II (Small Bear)’.
I’ll admit we lost sight of this heel’s debut EP from way back in January, buoyed by its reception it appears that Martin Mansonn Sjostrand wasn’t quite done with his extra curricula solo work having packed under his arm a whole heap of broken boogie he obviously felt a need to share. For those not quite so familiar Mr Sjostrand is found here moonlighting from his usual Dog, paper, submarine concern who some of you might recall featured amid these pages many moons ago. ‘this heel II’ is a crafted collection of lo-fi acoustic recordings with ‘mrs disaster’ proving to be the main event on initial listening, a lilting gem that amid its June Panic skirting has a curiously wistful whiff of the crooked mindset of a ‘the madcap laughs’ era Syd Barrett albeit seasoned in a homely hued lazy eyed lull of Neil Young’s ‘on the beach’. Also highly thought of in the affection stakes, the beaten around the edges hippy dippy strum freneticism of ‘magnus lives in a tree’ is kissed with the kind of wonky craft weaving of a youthful Elephant 6 Collective stylising though why we feel inclined, nay, compelled to start whistling the theme from 70’s children TV show Magpie is quite beyond us, that said admirers of Guided by Voices will find much to adore. Elsewhere there’s a pretty faithful cover of man or astro man’s ‘evert l pipkin’ that’s certain worth a stop by while the radiant power popped zap of the parting ‘cold outside’ is a kiss cool take on a Choir penned nugget which we must admit thus far has escaped our attention though rest assured we are now frantically researching. https://thisheel.bandcamp.com/album/this-heel-ii
‘musical interludes…..12 / 13’
A handful of killer dude grooves from Smoke doing some amazingly wasted west coast hippy boogie….that frankly has to be heard….
…and well interlude thirteen had to be something very special – the ‘psychomania’ soundtrack is a mercurial slab of psychotropic macabre – ‘crossing over to the other side’ still chills like nothing else…..
‘bikes – two mice (alien snatch).
First of a brace of cool dudes heading out of the Alien Snatch sound house one of which finds the latest outing from the Bikes coming limited to just 500 copies with the first 100 arriving on super elusive snow white wax, a scuzzy lo-fi slab of uber cool garage groove authentically whittled out with slinky riff struts aplenty and some killer blues licks to boot and sounding into the bargain not unlike a seriously wasted beat gouged early 60’s era Stones sharing a moment of studio wig flipping with the Flamin’ Groovies. https://soundcloud.com/aliensnatch/bikes-two-mice
‘Lame – Oracle (from the Alien Snatch album ‘the lame shall enter first’)’.
Scalding rock-a-hula from Torino based garage freaks Lame whose latest full length platter ‘the lame shall enter first’ comes stamped on heavy duty gold wax and promises to be a groove packing whole heap of bad boogie with ‘oracle’ charging out the traps guided by the spirit of Meek acolytes Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and rippled in the prairie gunning cow punk of an as were sonic mind melt between mojo Nixon and the violent femmes as re-imagined by the Hentchmen. https://soundcloud.com/aliensnatch/lame-oracle
The deadline shakes – phonecalls in the bath (flowers in the dustbin)’.
So gorgeous and adorable we suspect this blighter ought to come accompanied by a surgeon’s health warning alerting to the possibility of the occasioning of swoons and fainting fits each and every time it rears into earshot. Softly wrapped in the kind of radiant euphoria and feel good effervescence that once upon a time used to visit upon our stereophonic turn table courtesy of platters eked out by the Heartstrings, the Deadline Shakes prove again their uncanny knack for releasing tiny slices of pristine pop perfection. Latest addition to their formidable canon, ‘phonecalls in the bath’ comes sighed in a lovelorn reflection and the kind of classicist pop astuteness that hints at the mercurial pop craft of greats likes Bacharach / Van Dyke Parkswhilst all swirled and serenaded in the adoring trimming of sepia hymnal twists and the quick stepping rush of an affectionately aching tenderness that kicks like a mule and is liable to leave you with a prickly rash. https://soundcloud.com/flowersinthedustbin/the-deadline-shakes-phonecalls-in-the-bath
‘musical interludes……(the return of) 13…’
Stumbled across this on a brief wander down the off road dusty pathways of the internet, apparently as yet it hasn’t been given a release (ever). premiered in ’72 ‘children shouldn’t play with dead things’ was a low budget comic horror fright wig directed by Bob Clark, but it’s not really that with which you should be concerning yourselves, the little known soundtrack that accompanied it was composed by Carl Zittrer who would go on to complete the soundscapes on Clark’s next horror ‘black christmas’. ‘children shouldn’t play with dead things’ is a curiously kooky listening experience, a perfect example of the kind of experimental electronics at play at the time, elements of Bebe and Louis Barron are immediately obvious as are the skittish Radiophonic noodles, but scratch a little deeper and there’s some pure gothic Hammer moments chilling the grooves as well as the out there oddness of White Noise – http://siteofthedead.co.uk/children-shouldnt-play-with-dead-things-1973-soundtrack/
‘musical interludes…….14…’
More gaps in our musical listening revealed, something of a curio featuring Robin Scott – indeed he of M fame – apparently this was released after the hoo-hah of ‘pop musik’ had passed, hitting a creative block he invited several musical acquaintances around – including members of gang of 4, yellow magic orchestra, Thomas dolby and david vorhaus (who apparently features on this particular cut) – resulting in both the ‘official secrets act’ and ‘famous last words’ – ‘maniac’ from the former also features Mark King and Phil Gould later to go on to form Level 42….anyhow ‘Maniac’ has a certain Yello feel about its wares……
Staying with Robin Scott, around the same time he collaborated with Ryuichi Sakamoto on ‘left handed dream’ – of course the music of Mr Sakamoto is synonymous with elegance and poise as evidenced on the track ‘left bank’ which by sheer accident we were much minded of when we happened across a quite sublime re-trimming of the same track by Jaekim which apparently has been quietly resonating amid the backwaters of the internet for a while now and is deserving of wider exposure…..
‘stoneghost – raynardine (mascot)’
Ripped asunder from their recent ‘new age of old ways’ debut full length, this is the brutally unflinching and unforgiving ‘raynardine’ – an apocalyptic war cry dragged kicking and screaming from the very depths of the abyss armed to the teeth with a savage artillery of Joke styled chop chop riffola with a remit to blanket bomb your normal easy on the ear listening comfort in an abasement of fury, retribution and some good old fashioned grimly gouged blues boogie. https://soundcloud.com/mascotlabelgroup/stoneghost-raynardine-clean-radio-edit
‘extol – of light and shade (indie recordings).
The aptly named ‘of light and shade’ (or indeed it may be a track entitled ‘betrayal’ – press announces one thing and the download blurb suggests something else – mind you it could be haplessness on our part), whatever the case this bad boy comes ripped from Extol’s recent self-titled opus and finds them freewheeling between moments of brutish cauldron like cranial trepanning and clouds parting blissfully radiant progressive groove which if reference markers are required we suggest you imagine a rather playful Mastodon armed with an impish charm to tame and torment in the blink of an eye.
‘musical interlude…..15..’
Now for a handful of mix cloud sets, in truth these happened across our listening desk after tripping over ‘the burning’ soundtrack by Rick Wakeman which I’ll just say needs to be heard by those still of the mind that the bloke is a pompous prog head, maybe after this you’ll be a little more forgiving and respectful for this is one of THE great lost soundtracks – a masterclass in psychosis and disturbia that weaves elements of Carpenter, Goblin and Tangerine Dream into an ever darkening void of detachment which much like the aforementioned references pretty much set the benchmark for all ensuing 80’s b-movie / cult sci-fi / horror musical mosaics
Death Waltz are one of a number of labels specialising in releasing out of print and long forgotten horror / b-movie soundtracks, in fact we fell over ourselves mention the oft overlooked and underappreciated ‘Halloween III’ score a little while back – this version expanded with previously unreleased cues. Well you can expect plenty more Death Waltz groove in the coming weeks given we’ve sharpened our sights on both ‘a cat in the brain’ and ‘a girl walks home alone at night’. Before that though, this – a dandy little Death Waltz mix tape that clocks in at just shy of 60 minutes – okay granted it is heavily weighted towards John Carpenter – Fog, Christine, Halloween’s II and III and Escape from New York all feature along with a scattering of Goblin, Fabio Frizzi and Wendy Carlos nuggets along with the aforemention ‘the burning’ score by Rick Wakeman but fast forward to the sequence break featuring clint Mansell and riz ortolini’s respective scores for ‘in the wall’ and ‘cannibal holocaust’ for maximum heart shock listening….. https://www.mixcloud.com/dazed/exclusive-death-waltz-halloween-mix/
While you are there – it’s also worth hooking up to the Fangoria site who’ve got a dandy little ‘monsters rule okay – a Brit horror mixtape’ – a fine gathering of the strange, the surreal, the sadistic and the downright scary – some oft excluded soundtracks here such as ‘the company of Wolves’, Douglas Gamley’s ‘the beast must die’ and a few sound effects from the Nigel Kneale penned classics ‘Quatermass and the Pit’ and ‘the stone tape’ not forgetting to mention both ‘Dracula AD 1972’ and ‘psychomania’ the latter being in my own humble opinion one of the finest horror soundtracks of all time…. http://www.fangoria.com/new/exclusive-british-horror-mixtape/
Here’s a little something we pulled from the site of the dead – ‘shock waves’ was a 77 released low budget creep out that featured undead Nazis headed up by a certain Peter Cushing – the soundtrack by Richard Einhorn was for many years thought lost until recently appearing on the howling wolf roster, the suite featured here is all grimly gouged minimalist electronics, very sinister and claustrophobic in texture not to mention shadow lined in a spectral swampland edginess…..well worth a peak…..
Whilst on this little soundtrack sojourn we also hit upon a top 100 horror soundtrack list compiled by FACT from a few years back – features all the usual suspects – Bernard Hermann,krzysztof komeda, goblin, tangerine dream, popol vuh, john carpenter, ennio morricone, broadcast, Delia Derbyshire and brian hodgson, basil kirchen andJerry Goldsmith – yet take the time to wade through what’ll be long since forgotten or overlooked gems from the genre and you’ll be greeted by the likes of ‘cannibal ferox’ – an uncanny melange of 50’s b-movie scores, a particularly head warping ‘the bogey man’, Pinno Donaggio’s disorientating score from ‘tourist trap’ clearly influenced by Bernard Hermann’s ‘vertigo’, ‘the chopping mall’ composed by chuck cirino in a kind of Miami vice meets ‘escape from new york’homage, Donald rubinstein’s beautifully macabre ‘martin’, Howard shore’s nightmarish ‘videodrome’, the sublime ‘the house by the cemetery’, the psychosis psych of ‘the shiver of the vampires’ and Myrow and seagrave’s ‘theme from phantasm’ always near the top of my preferred list.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg5ScSqSDXssdb6I0GWjlFm7lkDxIUZ9K
‘the sexual objects – cream split up EP (creeping bent).’
Been an absolute age since we had the pleasure of mentioning both Creeping Bent and anything related to David Henderson (though just between me and you – it was probably Nectarine No 9). Seems in the intervening years we appear to have missed a trick because it seems Mr Henderson (did we forget to mention he is one of the nations most undervalued talents – see Fire Engines) and Co have seen fit to occasionally worry stereo systems with the odd release under the on-going concern that is the Sexual Objects. Aside rumours abound of an album – ‘marshmallow’ – being put up for auction (only one copy with all the rights / masters signed to the winner – hello Jean Michel Jarre – don’t worry yourselves it’s no doubt been and gone)there’s the small but oh so consequentialas to how you are going to grab a copy of this ultra-limited 10 inch EP. Only three hundred of the blighters (Probe records apparently have a good few) but check anywhere else and these babies are like hen’s teeth. Anyhow plain white die cut sleeve, number stamped no less and upon the heavy duty wax within five wigged out instrumental treats (curiously named after a sometime Voidoid, a Stooge, a Jesus Mary Chain-er and a BBC newsreader) await love and attention. First up the gloriously shit faced ‘Robert Quine’ emerges from the smoke addled fog to kick up a rock-a-hula storm whose discordant blues gouging sounds as though it’s just fallen out of a CBGB’s styled mid 70’s scene. Those fancying a spot of twanged out riffola will do well to hook up to straight up and at you garage beatified ‘tel-ray collins’ for a nifty slab of surf-a-rama beach popmuch recalling Dick Dale while rounding up side one ‘Ron Asheton’ is just a furious nuts down slab of wig flipped groove that quite frankly wouldn’t look to out of place sitting on that recent Ork box set tthat emerged on RSD15. Cream heads out there expecting this to be all some kind of Cream homage might find themselves somewhat short changed and disappointed, though that said over on the flip opening salvo ‘funella fudge’ does at least pay its dues being that it sounds like some lost 60’s beat chic happening while the clearly frazzled ‘culture supervisor’ rounds up the pack in fine acutely angular art pop style.
‘red house glory – so easy’.
Just so all over this, one of those rare releases that comes along ever so often whereby hooks, melody, chops and vibe collude to coalesce perfectly to mainline directly into your headspace. Now the press release makes a big hoo-hah alluding to Interpol references – well indeed that may well be all fine and dandy but we here are picking up vibes from a similar era transmitting from lost and forgotten backwaters where once 50hz oh so briefly shone. This young folks is the blistering new and imminent platter from the highly thought of Red House Glory entitled ‘so easy’ from an EP ‘heart of gold’, a slam dunking hot wiring slab of progressive grunge gouged anthem groove that hints of Nirvana traces in its DNA and hones them onto a thunderously turbulent epic widescreen setting that crystallises with the kind acutely mercurial song crafting much recalling a youthful Pure Reason Revolution. https://soundcloud.com/redhouseglory/so-easy-1/s-MSNei
With all the wigged out frivolity of the last two releases think it’s high time to turn things to a smoulder setting and no better way can we think than with this gem…..
‘itsabrightlight – weaken me (woah dad)’
Quite something, more exquisite Swedish pop I’m afraid, this time a debuting single from Sarah Frey masquerading under her itsabrightlight non du plume, ‘weaken me’ is a surrendering slice of pure seduction teased in shimmers of shy eyed nocturnal noir all kissed with a purring glacial soul smokiness and softly steeled in dreamy wisps which to these ears sound not unlike a lovelorn ice sculptured and space walking youthful Eurythmics.
‘XYZips – cosey warm (polytechnic youth)’.
Seriously ultra-limited – and when we say ultra-limited we mean just 55 copies – all on hand numbered clear wax sevens in fold out poster on the uber cool polytechnic youth imprint. ‘cosey warm’ is a retrieved from the archives slice of rarefied cold war electronica or rathermore dystopian surveillance pop originally released at the dawn of the 80’s by Leeds combo XYZips and taken from a 5 track EP entitled ‘tape to tape’. Clearly something of interest to those much admiring of Cabaret Voltaire albeit as though relocated to the future worlds of Blade Runner whilst providing a retro echo to the minimalist cold wave groove these days patrolled quite admirably by Concretism.
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/127869006″>XYZips-Cosey Warm</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/user24992389″>Polytechnic Youth</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
‘concretism – electrics’.
And having just mentioned Concretism in passing, then here’s Concretism on the player. Literally fresh off the line following quiet acclaim still being heaped upon his recently released debut album ‘town planning’ which is we believe getting the full (limited granted) wax dusting from Norman records sub imprint – whose name escapes me just now – can’t even check either cos their site is down momentarily. Anyhow ‘electrics’ be the name of this new bright shiny thing and sees Mr Sharp sharing common ground with both Palace of Swords and Ghost Box on what is essential a strangely wonky psychedelic carousel of sound that finds him ploughing ever deeper into the macabre sonic sub-strata of cold war inspired analogue tech, public information announcements and secretive / covert Kneale styled nightmarish government plotted futuresalbeit here as though warped by means of being left on a laboratory windowsill whilst observing nuclear suns.https://soundcloud.com/concretism/electrics
‘TVAM – No Explanation (static caravan / blak hand records)’.
Mentioned this in previous despatches, long awaited and highly anticipated groove from TVAM – see here https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/tvam/ and much deserving of repeat adoration – out on super limited cassette via Liverpool based blak hand records in conjunction with the ever essential static caravan sound house……
‘Exile Pots – the minch’.
So scrumptiously mellow and dreamy. Now if we had more time on our hands instead of say, having to venture into 9 to 5 work hell in order to scrape together an existence then you’d have probably gotten all the Exile Pots ear wares pretty much in one hit. Alas life’s a bit of a bitch, so instead you are going to have to contend with us sneaking these little murmuring melodic morsels in at each and every given opportunity. ‘the minch’ is one such nugget, very much inhabiting a sound space once occupied by Cheju, there’s a measured poise, anticipation and ultimate perfection about its execution suggesting a considered mind craft delicately tweaking its strings for this lonesome shy eyed ice sculptured wonder sets about on a gorgeously lulling lunar carousel trimmed by the playful pout and pop of chiming bubbles crystallising serenely and sweetly dissipating into star crossed serenades of star twinkled vapour clouds. absolutely transfixing and beautiful with it. http://www.reverbnation.com/exilepots/song/10862100-the-minch
Staying with blak hand records, 5 cassettes – if you include the TVAM release, beneath their belt each a happening nugget which from what we’ve heard thus far has us slyly suspecting this lot could be your favourite new cassette emporium before very long…..first up on this brief overview…..
‘the watchmakers – to be part of you (blak hand records).
Ordinarily and indeed arguably we’d be adoring of cuts drenched in mind weaving hullucinogenia, dissipating backward loops and the kind of Revolver-esque daydream groove that appears to lushly seduce the wig flipping floral footings of the bliss kissed magikal third eye mosaics that pepper ‘to be part of you’, but the truth is it’s the flip side ‘kimnara’ that gets our seal of approval here. For here heavily vibing on a classic Love sound and sweetly arrested in Sergeant-esque dust swirling noodles there’s something swarthy and epic emanating across the desert dry wildernesses ghosting upon Arabesque echoes bringing with it strange lysergic essences and potions like some shadowy preacher man orchestrating mind warping mantras from bonged out thee oh sees drop outs fused with stoned out spectral black angels musings. Essential in a word. http://blakhandrecords.bandcamp.com/album/to-be-part-of-you
‘Antelopes – it’s you (blak hand records).’
Very much tipping all the boxes around our gaff not least because each and every time it comes into earshot it has this indelible knack of bathing our listening space it strange day-glo haloes. The Antelopes hail from Liverpool and do an incurably infectious infusing of teen thrilled tingle power pop that hasn’t quite made up its mind as to whether or not it wants to be the Raspberries or the Ramones and somewhere along the line has turned up as the Pooh Sticks. ‘it’s you’ hooks you in in such an instant that you are left feeling the blighter ought to come pre packed with jabs and a health warning as its lo-fi loveliness effervescently swoons about your headspace causing lovelorn rashes in part down to its frenetic action packed Spector-esque shh-bop. And just when you think it’s safe to pick yourself off the floor ‘girl’ comes swanning in bubble grooved upon tangy 50’s styled pastiches leaving the parting ‘got to know’ to sweep up the remaining pieces clearly with a Jan and Dean itch about its wares albeit zapped with a guided by voices impishness. http://blakhandrecords.bandcamp.com/album/its-you
‘pale honey – youth (bolero recording)’.
Be honest, isn’t this the sexiest and sassiest bad assed groove in record world right this minute, well we like to think so. This is the debut single from Pale Honey entitled ‘youth’ culled from a forthcoming full length of the same name. Pale Honey are a duo hailing from – er – yea you guessed it – Sweden. The fracturing ‘youth’ is equal measure PJ Harvey and the Breeders – notably ‘cannonball’ fused into a seductively prowling beauty that shimmers between shadows and darkness one minute sweetly caressed and purring dreamily like a Bardot / Nico femme fatale, the next fired and fried upon an emotionally torn blues gouged primitive scuzziness – need I say any more. https://soundcloud.com/bolero-publishing/pale-honey-youth-1/s-21PvA
‘lazy day – portrait (lost map).’
Stumbled upon this by sheer accident, something which had until now previously escaped the advances of our usually ever watchful radar. This gem featured on one half of a split RSD15 release for lost map records and found it paired with Tuff Love. ‘portrait’ by Lazy Day is a hulking slab of stratospheric bliss kissed progressive dream pop that channels the spirit of the much missed bang bang machine and here found crafting a full on consuming lovelorn vortex of statuesque storm drenched emotional turbulence all metered out by the coiling slow burn of the rupturing snake wind of sky scorched riffola. https://soundcloud.com/lostmap/lazy-day-portrait
‘Alrealon Musique – little water radio mix’.
Been meaning to feature this for ages but for a series of mishaps, spots of head turning and a general lack of time we’ve been thus far unable, until that is, now. Now we’ve been dipping in and out of this quite regularly these last few weeks and just when we found the time and freed ourselves of all distractions we press play at the blighter wouldn’t kick into life. Several attempts and we were off on a mammoth journey, a two hours journey to be precise, to venture across the outlying sonic rings of sound, to a place where drone, ambience, psychotropia and industrial dub fuse and meld to form new musical species’ and in to the bargain offering a shop window peek into the labels considerable aural armoury. Okay let’s get the grumbles out of the way first, nothing massive in reality just a little difficult navigating your way through what is an epic montage, no handy track cues which means you are committed to listen in real time so no skipping along at the boring bits which I’m happily to say, I’ll hasten to add, there are none, but then it does pose a slight issue in so much as one misjudged break or lapse and you could be backtracking fast towards mistaken sonic points. That said a magnificent that blends the ethereal with the elegiac, the classicist with the freeform. Amid this set a 25 track cocktail that includes cameos by John Carpenter, Coil, Boards of Canada and the dearly departed blues man Robert Pete Williams from therein a journey into pop’s outlands opening with the trippy senses dissolving last moments as you pass through the physical to spiritual veil of Pas Musique’s ‘inside the spectrum’ – who incidentally feature again with ‘telepathic rain dance’ which if hands were forced behind back and forced to choose would edge matters in the affection stakes not least because it somewhat flirts with the dream weaving psych fractures of a youthful Echoboy. Featuring a guest appearance by Utu Lautturi, Rasplyn’s ‘among the stars’ occupies a spectral sound space somewhere between dream and reality couched upon the shadowlands of ghost light realms, its ancient tongue daubed in ethereal contours possessed of the spectral classicism of dead can dance. John 3:16 on the other hand continues his brooding and foreboding widescreen end of days biblical incantations to swallow dive into the ghost light wilderness of wizards tell lies via ‘towards the wide sea’ whilst a little later re-appears again with the storm advancing ‘God’s holy fire’ and sounding not so dissimilar to some last stand convening summit meeting gathering together Roy Montgomery and Yellow6.Jan Swinburne’s ‘consensual enigmas’ sets its dials for the minimalist underbelly of flying saucer attack while somewhere else [owt kri] continues to mine the finite open fault lines in the sonic architectures of both Bruce Russell and Anla Curtis while had we not known any better we’d have said Broken Keys’ ‘road to ether-nity’ was a consortium of invaders of the heart and wagon Christ types concocting a foretelling and foreboding dark wind to channel desert dry wastelands. Elsewhere there’s some neatly hypnotically amorphous Australasian ju-ju courtesy of blue sausage infant’s ‘afflicted by the wind disease’ while the apocryphal ‘angels pt 2’ by fluid is steeled in the blissfully ethereal monastic choral weep of slo-mo showers of the white hot embers of fallen archangels. Fluid appears again a little later on paired up with ARU eking out subtronic lunar mood musique. Whilst steeled in the void edginess of the aural outlands,technoid communications and artificial intelligence pulsars bleakly populate the micro sound worlds of the mNIPK palettewhile we must admit something of a warping fondness for the jazzfakers zonked out and freeform fried skronk nugget ‘weise horn’, the impish dreaming up of a super group pitting together this heat, albert ayler and henry cow that quite frankly wouldn’t look to out of place on the much admired foolproof projects imprint.Black saturn’s face off with subudxtion on ‘conquering echo’ is we think an old release from way back in the day when Alrealon Musique was still but a babe in arms – the dream drift dub mosaics still sound stunning, atmospheric and very much tuned into frequencies imagining some hitherto stand-off between Bill Laswell and Depth Charge. Alternatively black saturn’s ‘victory’ offers dystopian nightmares that are scalped in Burroughs-esque paranoia that serve to blot and gouge out distinctly edgy and claustrophobic landscapes to imagine Public Enemy entering as were, the frazzled and frightening lair of element. I guess the clue is in the title of Fat Kneel’s ‘touch tone meditation’ for here comes a smoking nocturnal noir vapour spray so chilled and woozy that had it appeared on the semi legendary touch tones or tummy touch imprints we’d have scarcely battered an eyelid that is after a spot of momentary swooning. the inscrutably funkily jazzed out refit of DJ Phys’‘bury mx dxxp in lovx’ by Fluid – has something of a Roni Size glazing about its wares while those among you preferring a little jazz noir in the style of Miles meets Bablicon might be minded to seek out Rapoon’s ‘je veux d’l’amour’ for some spaced out uber chilled grooving.No matter how many times I visit the use’s ‘ripe’ there’s still that sense of impish glee ruminating about its grooves suggesting some cosmic afro-beat finale to some strangely warping Spaghetti western gunfight finale.
http://littlewaterradio.com/playlists/2015/4/26/alrealon-musique-april-25th-2015
‘young knives – something awful’
Mentioned this here too much adoration https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/young-knives/ this is art pop weird ear dudes young knives’ ‘something awful’ EP – a four step slow deterioration of the mind which having sold out of its limited vinyl variant that appeared on RSD15 is now being given a digital airing – is it just me or does this sound very Psychic TV…just me then…..
‘Souvlaki reheated – an Italian tribute to Slowdive’ (seashell)’.
I’m suspecting we’ll be revisiting this at some point in the very near future and suggest that you to take up chance to download for free a quite sublime compilation put together by the Italian imprint SeaShell by way of a homage to Slowdive. Of course you don’t need me to tell you that ‘Souvlaki’ is one of the foundation stones of dream pop, here 10 of the finest underground artists you’ve probably yet to encounter gather to celebrate this titan of bliss fused elegance. Due to time constraints we’ve dived (no pun intended) in at the shallow end to sample both the Antartica and the Novanta re-appraisals. The former beautifully re-align ‘when the sun hits’ – a must hear treat for those all too familiar with the spectral salvos emanating these days with regular frequency from the Hidden Shoal imprint, this tear stained opus comes sighed in swathes of celestial chorals majestically murmured and frost framed into a gloriously as dawn breaks serene ice sculptured astral glide. Opting to navigate their way around ’40 days’, Novanta relocate the original dream draped blueprint to the dark side of some hitherto distant galactic outpost whereupon from long since abandoned messaging masts lovelorn distress calls transmit before being blurred and lost in the dissipating drizzle of of solar skree flares – quite blissful if you ask me. http://seashellrecords.bandcamp.com/album/souvlaki-reheated-an-italian-tribute-to-slowdive
‘magic potion – booored (PNKSLM / Beech Coma)’
Indeed more Swede pop for you to swoon over, this little darling has had us merrily cutting all manner of shapes in the listening shed which I must say is causing much panic and hilarity amid the local neighbourhood parish. From a debuting EP platter by Magic Potion entitled ‘melt’, ‘booored’ is a wonderfully wonky slice of off kilter lolloping lo-fi sun shimmered psych pop all sumptuously gridlocked by a divinely addictive slacker-esque modern lovers meets Velvet-een groove and dour dipped in a Pavement like off centring all tastily glazed in a smoke addled wasted west coast afterglow. https://soundcloud.com/pnkslm/magic-potion-booored
‘the parrots – I’m not alone (burger / luv luv luv / sonido).’
Been bouncing this around in tandem with the aforementioned magic potion release, this is frankly the dogs danders and I don’t mind saying is right this minute doing bad things on the player. Something of a tri-label outing between sonido / luv luv luv and burger – the latter taking care of a cassette version with the other two pressing this nugget up on 10 inch slabs of wax. ‘I’m not alone’ comes culled from an EP entitled ‘weed for parrots’ and arrives draped in an ear candy seasoning of twang drilled grooviness that on first hearing had us reaching for our Violent Femmes and Meteors platters for a fond revisit, yet scratch a little deeper and hints of a glam glazed 50’s bubble grooving comes rising to the top, that said we’re now searching long and hard for our prized Turbines treats for closer comparison. Incidentally the dogs danders. https://soundcloud.com/theparrots/im-not-alone
‘grounders – drawing space (Nevado)’.
If like us the mere promise of some dreamy sun drenched euphoria floats your chosen boat then may we suggest you take a little ear to the quite frankly dansette desirable ‘drawing space’. Taken from a forthcoming self-titled full length, this honey comes drenched and oozed in the kind of acutely effervescent pop vocabulary the likes of which we’ve scarcely heard done so fine since the advent of the Woods’ ‘cali in a cup’ came a calling upon our turntable. Add to that radiant alchemy some stray traces of the flaming lips and kiss it all with a strutting and swooning 60’s beat psych baroque shimmy all set upon an ear candy peppering of seafaring tropicalia and you have something that un-mistakenly purrs with the imagined classicism of a rare studio gathering pairing together the Zombies and Left Banke. https://soundcloud.com/nevado/grounders-drawing-space
‘tandem felix – union st. blues (trout).’
Mentioned this little darling a few weeks back, here as it happens https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/04/19/tandem-felix/ – ‘union st. blues’ comes pulled from tandem felix’s current EP ‘comma’ for the trout imprint, a gorgeously lazy eyed slice of lolloping prairie dinked west coast breeziness that manages to sumptuously arrest with a would be flavouring of lost Neil Young inclines softly drizzled and cooed by the kind cosy toed dreamy raptures in much abundance on Moviola’s ‘durable dream’ and Soft Parade’s debuting ‘nobody told you anything’ EP from nigh on two and half decades back (where are they now we often wonder in moments of fitful sleeplessness), though just between you and me we reckon a closer to home stereophonic partner in crime might be the hopelessly adorable Goodnight Lenin – ‘nuff said.
‘ultimate painting – break the chain (Trouble in Mind).’
Having scarcely just bade farewell to the last track thinking it was the best thing we’ve heard since the record before, along comes another to duff up our over excited heart strings in what’s now becoming not so much a record of the day affair but a track of the hour. In truth we’ve cried, laughed, had a moment of thoughtful reflection and then cried again amid the duration of this. A new thing from the ridiculously hip Trouble in Mind imprint, this is Ultimate Painting – duo James and Jack variously of Veronica Falls and the Mazes with ‘break the chain’ a single taster heralding a forthcoming summer scheduled full length ‘green lanes’ of which the press release hints is a mid-way point between Floyd’s ‘meddle’ and blur’s ‘modern life is rubbish’. Wise words indeed for hints of the Small Faces and the Zombies are duly peppered in this wood crafted pastoral carousel of English eccentricity all indelibly rubbed in reflective hues that mourn as were fading memories of late 60’s summers whilst sighed in the redeeming radiance of honeyed harmonies crooned around support group campfire meetings and smoked delicately in the demurring glow of XTC mirages, emotionally unravelling I should hasten to add leaving scarcely a dry eye in the house. https://soundcloud.com/troubleinmind/ultimate-painting-break-the-chain/
‘roger o’donnell and Julia kent – love and other tragedies (99x/100)’.
A brace of newly chipped visual portraits accompanying two cuts featured on what is a most elegantly poised neo classical suite by Roger O’Donnell and Julia Kent unto which a beautified floral waltz is crafted that pairs together the fleeting and playful courtship of the cello and the pianoacross three storyboards featuring the bewitching beguile of the undulating pastoral posy that is the sweetly expressive ‘La Ninfa – Orpheus and Eurydice’ and the humbling noir traced bitter sweetly reflecting ‘Tristan and Isolde’, utter bliss……
‘count Frederick and the lubricators – (I got) a durex machine’.
Described by its author as a collection of ‘shitty little garage tunes’, this is a slap you across the head preview of the potent and primal offerings that should soon be flattening your earlobes shortly courtesy of the secretive extra curricula workshop of Fred Earthling Society here found masquerading as Count Frederick and the Lubricators. ‘(I got) a durex machine’ is your sub three minute fried and wasted slab of toxic bad boogie garage groove, totally off radar, discordant and way out, in truth sounds like it’s come space, a kind of beyond the grave Cramps in seriously caustic and cranked up mode holding siege in a studiowith the Mummies and the Germs as an unwitting captive audience. https://soundcloud.com/fred-11-1/i-got-a-durex-machine
‘magic potion – booored (pnkslm)’.
Okay we’ve already mentioned this too much adoring fanfare somewhere here https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/magic-potion/ – one of the best things we’ve heard in recent weeks – we just love its ‘oh so yawn and whatever anti sun pop tedium sarcasm’ – so for those who missed it the first time around here’s the newly crafted video that accompanies it……a gem….
‘the parrots – to the people that showed me their love I was here (burger /luv luv luv / sonido muchado)’.
More returning featurettes from earlier in the week (see https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/the-parrots/ ) – we really do spoil you don’t we. Another teaser cut from that previously mention tri-label release by the Parrots entitled ‘weed for the parrots’ this is the rather cumbersomely titled ‘to the people that showed me their love while I was there’ – not surprised its coming pressed on 10 inch of wax as opposed to 7 inches as the blighters would have trouble fitting the title on the label. But wilful sarcasm abound this is a pretty nifty nugget whose slow seductive spidery twangs and shadowy 60’s shimmering hints and harks back to an era where pop charts where occasioned and populated by the likes of the Troggs with this spectral glazed lazy eyed bliss cradled babe sounding as though it’s just smoked itself off a lost Tarantino film score. https://soundcloud.com/theparrots/to-the-people-who-showed-me-their-love-while-i-was-here/s-pi3xu
‘mumbles – geese my eyes (kitchen leg).’
Slightly disturbed by an email from the folks over at kitchen leg announcing this to be their last release – now of course we hope that they meant to say ‘latest release’ in which case with sighed relief we can swiftly move onto the job in hand of actually listening to the release instead of setting up some small tribute in the corner of the listening room to mourn the labels untimely passing. Anyhow damn fine release from Mumbles who hail from Berlin and state in their resume that they love making ‘noise, poms poms, cake, dance, scream and scream’ whilst their label maintains that they serve up a healthy dollop of ‘fuck off punkish attitude’ all of which I’m happy to day we are much enthused and welcoming of around here. Alas time constraints and other nonsense necessitates a brief ramble through ‘geese my eyes’ 12 track contents – but jeepers do we love what’s a cooking. Affectionately ramshackle, the sounds don’t exactly form but rather more fall over each other in what one suspects is a happy accident but that said be minded that there’s more creativity here than most bands manage to summon in a whole career, the sweetly dizzy ‘nanananaaaa’ has a playfully kindergarten styled musical posy-ness about its wares, the lulling chimes and errant child-like innocence attaches a kind of cuteness that forms bonds with both Altered Images and the Lovely Eggs while elsewhere the parting ‘my geese’ is shimmered in deceptively demurring and busying arrays of squirming and shifting beats, clicks and riff shrieks that collectively form a most mesmeric ear worm pattern that sounds not unlike the undergrowth chatter of a twilight bathed enchanted woodland undergrowth over the top of which a dreamy vocal, obviously lost in the moment and unconcerned by the clambering chuckles at play, wiles away reflectively. Somewhere else the earth beat mantras on ‘snail shells’had us frantically trying to root out old school Au Pairs and Slits grooves for close comparison while all said from what we’ve heard thus far it’s on ‘jadda jadda’ where the main event appears to be, progressive post rock art math pop is I suppose the best way to describe what scratching away between the grooves here, those imagining a tag team forged from a studio meeting between Quickspace, the native hipsters and Ludus may well find themselves suitably satiated by the intricate layering and locked groove post punk alt funkiness of it all though try and stay till the end for some remarkable biting and barking gnarls. http://kitchenlegrecordsberlin.bandcamp.com/
‘milk & biscuits – towns are concrete holes (lick music)’.
Part of a split release for lick music – the other side is winging its way in hot pursuit after this. This is milk and biscuits end of the bargain entitled ‘town are concrete holes’ a star crossing refuelling point where ‘map ref’ era Wire meets Stereolab c. ‘Mars Audiac Quintet’ and the sumptuously dipped in milky white cosmic haloes buzz grooved purr of pristine pop dynamics swerve, swoon and shimmer crafting out motorik mosaics of affectionate love noted vapour trailing dream drifts. Enough to give you an adoring rash……
‘Octopuses – pogo (lick music)’.
More returning souls to these pages, this is the space sharing salvo from the clearly bonkers Octopuses with their split offering ‘pogo’ – these dudes feature various Foxes types and have a habit of cooking up crookedly kooky midget pop gems that wire themselves into your headspace whether you want them or not, and which once there set up home and start partying at ungodly hours with the disturbing side effect of having you whistle distractively as you walk the streets in waking hours. ‘pogo’ is your typically happy go lucky slice of impish fun pop which ape-ishly shuffles to a rock steady / ska groove once upon a time the trademark tuneage of a certain Madness had they of course held both talking heads and a ‘country house’ era Blur in a studio hostage siege by water pistol while all metered out to a ridiculously acute hook heavy harmony hued preposterous palette that you’ll find hard pushed to walk away from. Did we mention the video features superhero costumes – very worrying.
As ever thanks for tuning in……..
Take care of yourselves,
Mark
x
the sunday experience 