Look what we sneaked online while you were sleeping…
Transmission 8.0….w/e 25/2//2017
Revolutions of a 33 and 45 kind….
This edition features……
CIFIKA, Jamie Paton, noah, ueno planet, polymer cities, guesuse music, laura james, resonance fm, ost, robin the fog, concretism, kit records, seaside caves, sonic visions, object agency, devonanon, art of the memory palace, polo, linda guilana, psyence, purs, invaderband, vorderhaus, analog candle, mortlake bookclub, Ashtoreth, Adriano Zianni, phlox, desert culture, sodastream, famous problems, fortuna pop, gew gaw, Constantine, the basements, frantic v, seventh ring of Saturn, yellow digit, le mur, ron cannon, fake stereo, scythe collective, Alasdair Roberts, Korean underground pop, fuxa, sea witches, reactor 6, besnard lakes, LA Witches, fall seattle, whistlejacket, jean claude vannier, my expansive awareness, miss mobile home, television personalities, the times, nick taylor, howling larsons, moby, dada, orbit one zero, maximum joy, the flowers, artery, the residents, penguin café orchestra, clyde stubblefield, Stephen Hewlett, butterflies of love, crest
Nothing better than opening the Sunday morning listening account with a spot of sublimely trip hopping down tempo lunar soul, this is CIFIKA, one of the leading lights of an emerging Korean sound scene with a track entitled ‘my ego’. This quite seductive slice of love noted frost pop comes ghost swooned in spectral electronic wisps, its hushed haunting beguile principally reminiscent of Fever Ray, yet scratch beneath its spliced and willowy surface textures and a playfulness more redolent of Takako Minekawa weaves into view albeit as though rephrased through the sonic viewfinder of the Lo Recording sound house.
You’ll probably be none too surprised to hear that we’ve bugger all info on this one except to say its heading out of the esteemed hoga nord record factory sometime around now in limited numbers. This is ‘telefuture’ from Jamie Paton, one half of Cage and Aviary we believe, a track that we must admit we’ve found insidiously burrowing its way into our psyche since first earshot the result of which the blighter has been leaving tiny little earworm eggs to hatch. Found strangely weaving a curious sonic palette that bridges elements of techno with a sparsely tutored vintage more attuned to old school minimalist electronics from a 70’s golden age, there are elements here that have on more than one occasion had us with half a mind to go rooting out Tele:Funken’s ‘A Collection Of Ice-Cream Vans Vol.2’ set from a while back and imagining it being retooled by a seriously out of it Depth Charge, just adore the chilled out lazy eyed vibe that smokes throughout, kind of binary tropicalia for droids. https://soundcloud.com/hoga-nord-rekords/jamie-paton-telefuture
A little something that we here suspect ought to warm the cockles of the hearts of those much admiring the likes of Plone and ISAN, this is Ueno Planet or more specifically Noah who according to the credits actually contributes the music, think this might some nature conservation related campaign, depressing to realise that these are probably the actual numbers of some of the species still alive and fearful on a daily basis of the vileness that is mankind, as to the sounds – playful, lullaby like and charmed with a free spirited delicacy of touch as to suggest that yellow magic orchestra might well figure on the playlist of admiring references.
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/199628064″>UENO PLANET</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/uenoplanet”>UENO PLANET</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Impish dig time, newly treated polymer cities groove called ‘the hauntologists race to emulate the stranger things soundtrack’ – a title that almost takes as long to read as the actual duration of the track itself – 82 seconds if you were wondering, anyhow a succinct one stop summation in sound of all your favourite late 70’s / early 80’s VHS sci-fi / horror / fantasy soundtracks neatly distilled into something that hints of dark things looming on the horizon and not a million miles, it should be said, to the Howarth / Carpenter ‘Halloween III’ suite albeit as though channelled and rephrased through the sonic eye of Pye Corner Audio. As to the whole hauntologist / stranger things discussion – in truth I had always thought Zombi had beaten them all to the punch by about 10 years – that should open a whole new can of worms. https://soundcloud.com/midwich-youth-club/the-hauntologists-race-to-emulate-the-stranger-things-soundtrack?fb_action_ids=1228066173907181&fb_action_types=soundcloud%3Apublish
Another track we tripped over on a recent ramble around the sound cloud sonic cosmos is this rather remarkable outing by Gueuze Music who according to the liner notes, hails from Japan and is better known to kith n’ kin as Yoshimichi Setsuda. ‘ballet cosmique’ taken from his fourth full length ‘pastoral of microcosm’ is an elegantly and beautifully expressed slice of graceful symphonia that blends and fuses old school neo classical tropes with a nu age electronic awareness and from this coalescing fusion crafts something both dreamy and mesmeric whilst simultaneously cinematic and isolationist. Intricate in its detailing ‘ballet cosmique’ flits and flutters with svelte texturing between kosmiche flotillas and arcing sepia toned orchestrations, think Sakamoto astral gliding amid futuristic landscapes engineered by Jean Michel Jarre. https://soundcloud.com/yoshimichi-setsuda/ballet-cosmique
if this doesn’t register a lump in the throat and a tear in the eye I’ll begin to wonder about you, described as a lament to Liverpool, this is the frail ache of ‘rooftops’ by Laura James, a devastatingly beautiful track that gently stirs and creeps up on you just when you’re off guard and literally knocks you over with its emotional punch as it weaves from a point of flawed vulnerability to rise momentarily in peaking of stirring string serenading euphoric bliss, a quite humbling listening experience all told.
It’s fund raising week at Resonance FM, with gifts aplenty from friends of the station up for grabs as they rally up funds to enable them to stay on air for the coming year, Robin the Fogg stands in for Jonny the Trunk for the latest OST broadcast, this one featuring a gathering of guests among whose number are Buried Treasure’s Alan Gubby, Chris Concretism and Dan Wilson. The bulk of the show is turned over to buried treasure with select cuts from the labels archive, the focus being on the forthcoming Delaware Road extravaganza at the Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker – an event featuring an enviable roll call talent that includes Dolly Dolly, Howlround, Teleplasmiste, Radionics Radio, Ian Helliwell, Glitch, Saunders and Hill, Concretism, Simon James, the Twelve hour foundation, Loose Capacitor and DJ Food. In between all this thee’s a first hearing of new Concretism groove in the shape of ‘waiting, watching’ – an album looms with a summer time schedule pencilled. https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/the-ost-show-18th-february-2017/
Continuing with the fund-raising festivities over at Resonance FM the near mint show hands over the broadcasting reigns to Kit Records for an extended mix set featuring tracks pulled from the labels back catalogue….
https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/near-mint-140217-kit-records-fundraiser-special/
been a while since we had any Seaside Caves groove with which to cause your turntable to swoon so you can imagine the nervous excitement as our eyes spied this popping up on our player. ‘this is ‘terminal’ a track pulled from, by the looks of things, a planned full length entitled ‘hope’. This is huge, like skyscraper huge, just smothers you in an arresting stately and statuesque euphoria that drags you from the floor of despair and serves that one last much needed kick up the jacksy to get you over finishing line, you can feel the adrenalin peeling off this amid the ricocheting lunar sprays, just when you think its ridden its course then in come the all-consuming synth swathes of bliss toned radiance at the 3.20 to take it to a different level somewhat more hymnal and majestic in vibe, easily filed alongside Wild Swans ‘revolutionary spirit’ and the chameleons ‘second skin’. In short, will blow you away. https://soundcloud.com/seasidecaves/1-terminal-seaside-caves
fancy some blister kissed dream dazed kaleidoscopic pop, this is the ultra cool sounds of sonic visions with the effervescently euphoric ‘lost in between’ – a track pulled from what we believe is a forthcoming debut 6 track self titled EP through the Soliti imprint – quite frankly has everything in its arsenal – shimmering riffs, sky siren melodies, vapour-esque bliss toned swoons all filtered upon a muscular motorik underpin and kissed in warp factor dizzying delirium. Any questions. https://soundcloud.com/soliti/sonic-visions-lost-in-between
promised we’d be back with further kit records happenings, well here’s two to engage your ear-lugs, the first from object agency sneaked its way out last year, a gorgeous slice of vintage electronica, love the way this starry orbital slowly builds layer by layer both in density and detail to cocoon you in its softly serene and quietly affectionate not to mention jubilant cosmic waltz flight, by our reckoning something for the Magnetaphone admirers among you.
Last one out of the Kit sound house, December time was a long since sold out cassette outing by Devonanon entitled ‘city of all times’ – it’s the parting track that caught our attention, the short and briefly sweet ‘Beaulieu’ – a sonic map of sorts drawn from field recordings gathered from overheard conversations and aural photographs collected on their travels, this one being, if we have this right, from a church service features a lone choral, quite eerily beautiful all said though strangely dislocated and disquieting. https://kitrecs.bandcamp.com/album/city-of-all-times
Chic, seductive and delicately daubed in opaque mystery, the beautified lounge noir dialects of Art of the Memory Palace’s ‘Voiture Blanche Dans Le Noir’ soundtrack are sure to appeal first and foremost to the folk over at Finders Keepers. Cooled in lush cosmopolitan tropes ghosted in a sonic vintage so exquisitely crafted that you swear it had stepped from the late 60’s, there’s a momentary pause wherein just for a second you suspect you’d stumbled across a lost soundtrack rescued on a recent vinyl vault dig. ‘Voiture Blanche Dans Le Noir’ provides the micro tape label Horror Pop Sounds with its second release, a super limited, to just 100 copies, cassette with download variations.
A soundtrack to a lost 70’s French film directed by the darling of the Left Bank Claude Doine. The story in short follows protagonist Alain as he desperately tracks the whereabouts of his girlfriend Iris who mysteriously disappears, as the story unravels a white Citroen is never far away as each of their friends and colleagues are taken in the night, are the two connected in what is a secret Government plot or is this something far more sinister. As the plot unravels, Art of the Memory Palace’s silken symphonia breezes between moments of mesmeric translucence (as on the brief bucolic bewitchment that is ‘flight of shadows’) and stilled shadow traced solemnness that not only exquisitely captures the tension, desperation and edginess throughout but simultaneously vividly portrays and paints the shifting and changing personality of a city beneath the cloak of night.
At once elegant and eerie, ‘Voiture Blanche Dans Le Noir’ clearly applies the sonic vocabulary of John Barry to colour its base palette, case in point being ‘Phares Sous La Pluie’ whose psychosis chill manages to marry elements of ‘Vendetta’ and ‘the Ipcress Files’. Oozed in dulcimers and harpsichords, a rich melodic vibrancy is drawn forth, that hints of evenings set aside to meticulously pour over platters from the likes of Jean Claude Vannier, Jean Pierre Mirouze, Francois de Roubaix and Ennio Morricone (with ‘Spasmo’ appearing to be a clear influence). Amid these grooves there’s the breathless parting act ‘Voiture Blanche Dans Le Noir’ – a sumptuously demurred love note softly soured in loss and regret as it sweetly serenades with the same lush enchantment that graced Cat’s Eyes quite ethereally beautiful ‘The Duke of Burgundy’ set. What might escape the attention or thought processes is the fact that ‘Voiture’ stretches the usual AotMP spectrum, putting them on the back foot straying from their usual comfort zone and trademark sound template (fear not for both ‘Iris la baie des anges’ and ‘sleepwalkers theme’ should scratch that kosmiche itch) only to emerge out of the other side with much artistic aplomb to their credit, for here its apparent they’ve done their homework in so much as aclimitising to the vibe of the period. Take for instance ‘Dead Bronze Hours’ which subtly draws upon the influence of both Goblin and Andrzej Korzynski, the former again recalled on the dream weaving ‘Promenade Onism’ – one for you palace of swords admirers I shouldn’t wonder. Elsewhere ‘a tilt remains’ comes seductively stroked in the mercurial mosaics of a youthful Broadcast as were shimmied up the much-missed Italo imprint Shado while scratch away at the chill toned bachelor pad noir grooving of ‘a New Absence’ and an imagined tryst between Stereolab / Monade and Komeda seductively swirls amid the listening space. An essential acquisition and sure to be one of the defining recording moments of the year. The cassette incidentally, comes in three colour variations replete with download codes and an A3 film poster. https://www.facebook.com/horrorpopsounds/
Future horror pop sounds happenings straight from the labels mouth, so to speak……
‘Coming up we have Xam Duo scoring an early 80’s German political thriller. Stephen James Buckley (polypores) working under a Polish pseudonym scoring a Polish children’s tv show. Also A Liverpool man (Germanager) working on an Italian piece’
Why am I feeling a mite squiffy each and every time this little lovely blossoms into view (3 times and counting), this is ‘soak’ – a track pulled from a forthcoming EP by trio POLO entitled ‘Alice’. Trimmed upon a delightfully demurring Balearic toned orbital pirouette all fashioned in the softly smouldered twinkling stuff that one suspects, holds the stars in night sky formation, this little snow soul darling aches and coos with a distractive lull both thoughtful and inquisitive, its introspective gaze seasoned in a fragile ice sculptured framing whose spectral frailty you fear might crumble at the interruption of your presence upon its secret moment. https://soundcloud.com/polomusicuk/3-soak/s-vjLLs
Getting goose bumps just for being in close proximity to this nugget, latest from the essentially hip elefant imprint, this is Lindy Guilala with “Abstinencia’ – sprayed in ice crystal cool, this frost framed slice of stilled psych chic weaves a spiritual kinship that draws towards its magnetic radiant core elements of the Bang Bang Machine, Broadcast and Electrelane, set to a purring pulsar synth murmur it ruptures at momentarily intervals to snow burst into bliss halloed jettisons of euphoria, quite sublimely statuesque if you ask me.
Damn this quite smoking stuff, new thing from Psyence entitled ‘falling in love once again’ – hailing from Stoke by way of the late 60’s West Coast, these dudes sound so out of step and so coolly out of time that we suspect they’ve means to time travel, for the best part this honey swoons to a seductively smouldering Americana drift that had us recalling elements of Goodnight Lenin and Tokolosh before going all wigged out and hazily funk struck at its run out, this cut comes culled from a forthcoming EP set ‘a new dawn’ through beyond the sun records. https://soundcloud.com/psyenceuk/falling-in-love-once-again/s-0X77X
Touring shortly…..
LIVE DATES;
25 Feb – LEEDS – Verve Bar
03 Mar – STOKE – The Exchange
05 Mar – NEWCASTLE – The Honey Box
10 Mar – NOTTINGHAM – Jam Café
11 Mar – MANCHESTER – FAC 251
15 Mar – LONDON – The Brewhouse
16 Mar – OXFORD – The Cellar
17 Mar – BRIGHTON – Sticky Mikes Frog Bar
18 Mar – LIVERPOOL – 81 Renshaw
24 Mar – AMSTERDAM – Shiine On mini-cruise
I have a seriously concerned and worrying feeling that we might have this stranded in our in box somewhere along with oodles of gubbins relating to super-duper happenings, alas not to hand so I’m afraid you’ll just have to make do with the sounds which quite frankly are mightily dandy. This is Purs with ‘girl in love’ who do a neat line in shade adorned 60’s psych pop, this one emerging from an obvious love for the Pixies and a ‘bleach’ era Nirvana whilst all at once channelling a sonic cocktail that draws and fuses together the Breeders, Throwing Muses, Strawberry Switchblade, the Heart Throbs and the Smoke Fairies, now pick the bones out of that lot if you will and prepare to swoon…… https://soundcloud.com/purstheband/girl-in-love
Detuning its radar to a dayglo sprayed kraut gouged post punk kaleidoscopic palette, the eagerly anticipated and long time debated in the mooting rooms debut self-titled full length from Invaderband finally lands. Thawed from a late 70’s post punk wasteland, this angular slice of schizoid sore thumb turntable turbulence arrives chomping at the bit dragging with it damaged ditties that bark with razor sharp attrition and an impish tongue in cheek humour, a kind of one stop party tape of seizure stricken adrenalin anthems purloined from your older and much cooler brother’s collection of played to near destruction new wave nuggets. In truth we can’t remember the last time we heard an album flow and fly so quickly, its rapid fire response akin to a frantically throbbing and pogoing party pack for sealed upon these grooves lurk seven angular anthems and one humungous slab of kosmiche kool.
No envelope pushing here, there’s no bold statements and a wantonness to start a bandwagon for the lesser to follow like sheep, just a bunch of dudes dropping out whilst prescribing to a musical craft steeped in wit, waywardness and whole heap of buzz sawing white hot effervescence. Reference wise, if kindred spirits are a must then you wouldn’t have to look much further than the Soft Boys legendary ‘underwater moonlight’ for source inspiration, amid the occasional nods to the TV Personalities and Magazine, lazing buried deep beneath the see sawing post punk flashings lurks the spirit of Syd Barrett being channelled by Robyn Hitchcock whilst peering over the shoulders of Cardiacs main man Tim Smith and eyeing his schizoid sonic doodles, none more so is the case that on the warping Freed Unit-esque ‘spirit photography’ – a kaleidoscopic fracturing slice of psych eccentricity decked out in flowery threads whilst tripping out, turning up, down n’ inside out amid a chemical haze. Similarly goon’d in lysergic twister-ella’s, opening salvo ‘ship of nothing’ veers with the same prickling panache as to imagine Cardiacs dude William D Drake moonlighting with a particularly spiked variant of the Soft Hearted Scientists whilst scowling struts aplenty curdle the chop chop up very close and impersonal regimental jab-a-rama that is the caustically cool ‘you’re a submarine’.
A very youthful Fall c. ‘grotesque’ are dragged into the melodic melee for the hip priest psychosis soaked ‘ringtones from the coffins’ while those of you ever happening to restlessly lie at wake at night thinking up fantasy band line up’s and disturbed that your imagination won’t quite stretch too imagining a prime time Magazine with Eno doing Eno Roxy things with a wound licking John Foxx just out of Ultravox fronting might do well to seek out the ridiculously impatient nag nag nag jabbing and pouting n’ strutting ‘implausible man’. ‘Attack of the pod people’ is your slap in the face bracing TV Personalities-esque b-movie sci-fi-tronic grooviness while Ed Ball’s post TVP ventures with the Times are recalled on the suited n’ booted Mod stomping ‘not Alan Rickman’. Which folks leaves ‘tree erection’ to cruise control matters towards the end grooves, a humungous and hypno-grooved slab of star swooned kosmiche kool whose vintage eye pilots an orbital axis whereupon sits at one end Fly and t’other a youthful motorik moulded eat lights become lights, it’s enough to lift your wig clean off. All said, timeless yet strangely out of time. Available on limited variations of Vinyl and CD along with all the usual digital gubbins.
https://adamleonard.bandcamp.com/album/invaderband-2
here’s a moving picture show type thing accompanying ‘attack of the pod people’……
was put on to this inadvertently following spying a random posting for another track by the same artist entitled ‘my situation’ – more about that in a second. This though is the latest sound happening from the Berlin based Vorderhaus ‘black suspicion’ is a sublime slice of early 80’s chill wave vintage, coolly aloof, austere and shrouded in an ice cool shadow play that to these ears sits somewhere between Minty and Fad Gadget. As to ‘my situation’, what can we say, a sometimes darkly though distantly poised romantic and lushly evocative slice of post punk electro cool whose isolationist remoteness tailgates into terrains occupied by an Ultravox fronted John Foxx, a here I’m principally thinking ‘my sex’.
https://vorderhaus.bandcamp.com/track/my-situation
https://vorderhaus.bandcamp.com/track/black-suspicion
it’s all getting a tad disconcerting now, no sooner do we despatch one release with fond words and another stumble’s along into our affections. This is Analog Candle who arrive with a track entitled ‘Scarlett’s Web’ which came described by their press folk as being ‘beautifully dreamy’ whilst pitching its longing radar in musical camps occupied by the likes of Broken Social Scene, Rilo Kiley and Xiu Xiu. Too good to be true you’re thinking, right – well – wrong as it happens, for this sepia toned twinkle trimmed starry shy eyed lovely gracefully tugs at the heartstrings all the time yearning, whispering and aching its way through a lilting lullaby serenade whose fragile and frail design, you feel obliged to throw a consoling arm around, if only in an attempt at shoring up its bruising vulnerability as its intensely magnified emotional crash unpeels, bit like the Sundays counselling the Delgados if you ask me. https://soundcloud.com/analogcandle/scarlettsweb/s-WsrG1
not even sure whether we have clearance to post this, guess we’ll just have to wait for the complaints and grunts of disapproval. This is forthcoming from the reconvening Mortlake Bookclub – a secret collective gathering together Melmoth the Wanderer, Grey Malkin and members of the Equestrian Vortex – an album no less which if their critically acclaimed EP set of last year is anything to judge by, will fly out of the label before the inks scarcely had time to dry on the labels. Anyway the album is entitled ‘Mysteriorum Libri Quinque’ – more bewitchment and dark deeds afoot on this sonic séance sampler, dimly lit in spectral ghost lights a voice beckons from the beyond, through the mists a ghostly ship of souls draws near passing through the veil between where reality and nightmare / fantasy are separated, to the sound of a choral enchantment a harking mesmerises which as it fixes upon the unseen shore soon manifests an uncertain eeriness upon which a shadow lengthens to cast itself upon all to pressgang all who befall its gazing spell to join its deathly crew. . https://soundcloud.com/themortlakebookclub/mysteriorum-libri-quinque-sampler
stately, statuesque and seismic, the latest from Ashtoreth finds ‘hyberna’ heading up a four-track set entitled ‘morana’ for the esteemed unexplained sound group collective. Formed from the soft opine yearn rippling from the measured riff murmurs and forged upon a primordial tongue that draws, much like a lightning rod, its stilled atmospheric charge from the very elements of nature itself, this leviathan prowls with a lonesome bruising, mournful yet majestic, amid its sparsely minimalist detailing and ghost like shimmering, a forlorn intensity burns within that solemnly spirited upon the slow burn intricate sonic vocabulary of the likes of godspeed, yellow6 and Roy Montgomery.
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/205088127″>Hyberna – video by cEsar naves</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/user17960724″>Unexplained Sounds video channel</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Herewith the lead track from that rather spiffing Adriano Zianni 7 inch heading out shortly via the much-loved boring machines imprint, you might recall we mentioned the flip way back at https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2017/01/28/adriano-zanni-2/ – anyway this is the ‘white’ side of ‘falling apart’ – a seductively skittering slice of glitch bop which like its partnering flip side explores the micro sound hatchlings of a youthful Autechre albeit here as though accompanied by Minotaur Shock and a healthy dollop of wiry Radiophonic Workshop meets Louis and Bebe Barron styled manipulated sound looping trickery. Those of you well versed and admiring of those early Pimmon outings are heartily advised to seek out at your earliest convenience.
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/203711401″>Falling Apart 7" (white side)</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/punck”>Adriano Zanni</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
A little something we stumbled across, this being Phlox Mkdk with a track called ‘rotwang’ which I must admit caught us clearly on the back foot being that it sounds as though its heading out of the Pickled Egg label – see Now / Bablicon et al, now I don’t know about you but to our ears these dudes cook up a fairly hot n’ wiry sonic sauce out of free improv jazz dialects which at times had us recalling the mighty Wizards of Twiddly yet on the other hand some secret previously unheard fusion between pharaoh sanders and tubby hayes gathered together summoning up spirits by way of head melting wigged out spell charms in some smoky chemical hazed 60’s jazz basement. https://soundcloud.com/phloxmkdk/rotwang
this ‘un has been nibbling away at our earlobes since shimmying its way on to our sound player little over five minutes ago, bleached with a twang toned vintage and haloed in honeyed sprays of softly shadowy west coast vibes that suggest it’s just snaked off a Tarantino / Cox film set haunted by a whispering Joe Meek, this babe sits somewhere on a sonic axis with the Flaming Stars to its left and the Hanging Stars to its right. This is Desert Culture who hail from Austin, Texas and come striding along with a new platter entitled ‘they’re not gun’ tucked under their collective arm for imminent release, this be the ultra-cool ‘Elva’ stolen for swooning from it to serve as a teaser. https://soundcloud.com/desertculture/elva
perhaps it was coincidental, a happy accident that on the you tube preview pane next to this video, Donovan was queueing up for play, now perhaps it’s just me, but Sodastream did on occasion show flashes of Donovan at one time, okay so it’s just me that thinks that then. A new album ready to hatch first week in March, ‘little by little’ comes previewed by ‘three sins’ – something you’d call a slow burner that gathers deftly in depth and density adding flourishing colours to its palette with each passing verse and with it sucking you along swept off your feet all the time adoring of its stirring chest beating jubilance for what starts off sounding frail and fragile as though swept off the cutting room floor of a Belle and Sebastian final mastering for ‘Tigermilk’ delicately unfurls, blossoms and rears up in joyous triumph like a prime time era Hefner.
It’s not for me to tell you that the Butterflies of Love where one of the great should have been bigger ensembles to have graced turntables in the last twenty years, ever since hearing ‘rob a bank’ quietly seduce the night time listening space as it delicately demurred its way out of the transistor speakers one lost evening in the late 90’s whilst tuned into the late John Peel, I won’t deny I was in awe of them. Back after a lengthy hiatus, in their Famous Problems guise, and about to make a rare appearance at the Fortuna Pop farewell shows, more about that in a second, a single is pressed and ready for counter action shortly via WIAIWYA sometimes early April entitled ‘riot reunion’ the flip of which has just been sneaked out on preview. Wonderfully ghosted and creaked with intimately reflective pauses and trimmed just slightly off centre not to mention framed mid-way through by a seductively fluttery siren-esque riffing solo that’s haloed in a sepia shimmered sting, ‘moon thinking’ finds Mulcahy and Co picking up the heart string threads and tugging on them ever so gently, kerchiefs are a necessary listening addition I would have thought. https://wiaiwya.bandcamp.com/album/riot-reunion-moon-thinking
Ripped this straight from the press release, much missed and a sad loss…….
Join us to celebrate Twenty Years Of Trouble with many of the bands responsible for Fortuna POP!’s untimely demise. Everything’s ending here.
Five Day Festival Pass guaranteeing entry to all shows – £55
Advance tickets – http://www.wegottickets.com/f/10555
Wed 22 March – MOTH Club
First night meet-up with Simon Love & The Old Romantics + DJs + Special Guests – (Five Day Pass Holders Only)
Thur 23 March – 6.30pm – Bush Hall
Withered Hand + The Ballet + Pete Astor + Would-Be-Goods + DJ Ian Watson (How Does It Feel To Be Loved?)
Fri 24 March – 6.30pm – Islington Assembly Hall
The Butterflies Of Love + Sodastream + Flowers + Darren Hayman + DJ Declan Allen
Sat 25 March – 3pm – Tufnell Park Dome / Boston Music Room (all dayer)
Comet Gain + The Proper Ornaments + Evans The Death + The Loves + Mammoth Penguins + Milky Wimpshake + Bearsuit + September Girls + Tigercats + Special Guests
Sun 26 March, 12 noon – The Lexington
Steven James Adams & The French Drops + Tender Trap / The Catenary Wires + Elva + DJs John Jervis & Ben Clancy (The Hangover Lounge) – (Five Day Pass Holders Only)
Sun 26 March, 6:30pm – Scala
Martha + Joanna Gruesome + The Spook School + Chorusgirl + DJ Paul Richards (Scared To Dance)
** ** **
More about Fortuna POP!
Fortuna POP! has become something of an indie institution since it was started in 1996 by Sean Price, just as britpop and grunge were fading from the nation’s consciousness. The label moved quickly from limited edition 7″s in plastic bags to its first bona fide hitmakers The Butterflies Of Love who were made Single Of The Week in the NME in the days when that was still a big deal, and whose debut album received glowing review across the music press. That early success allowed the label to attract an international roster of indiepop talent, including the UK’s Comet Gain, America’s The Aislers Set and The Ladybug Transistor, and Australia’s The Lucksmiths, and orphaned bands from labels such as Sarah Records and él Records such as Amelia Fletcher’s Tender Trap and Jessica Griffin’s Would-Be-Goods. Peel favourites such as Bearsuit, The Loves and Milky Wimpshake flocked to the label but, having flirted with greater success before when releasing the debut single by Fanfarlo, it was the signing of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart in 2008 that took the label to the next level, with indiepop at the time enjoying a huge resurgence thanks to clubs such as Twee As Fuck and How Does It Feel To Be Loved?
Around the same time the label signed Anglo-Australian indiepop outfit Allo Darlin’, a band who would go on to become Fortuna POP! mainstays, and on the back of their success and that of the Pains, began working with ex-Hefner main man Darren Hayman as well as releasing albums by such serious contenders as Crystal Stilts, Herman Dune and The Pipettes. While Hayman and Allo Darlin’ continued to release excellent albums alongside bands such as Withered Hand, Let’s Wrestle, Tigercats, Chain And The Gang and Pete Astor, the label nurtured a new generation of bands starting with Evans The Death and continuing with Joanna Gruesome, The Spook School, Flowers and Martha, keeping the label vital and relevant as indiepop itself moved towards a more DIY aesthetic with an emphasis on feminism and gender politics. Indeed, one of the key tenets of Fortuna POP! has always been its commitment to the representation of woman and LGBT artists, with other latter-day examples including September Girls and New York sissypop duo The Ballet.
In 2016 the label announced that it would cease operations due to rising debts. A series of farewell shows at the end of March featuring many of the bands released by the label will celebrate its twenty years of existence.
We owe a massive apology to the Gew-Gaw folk who sent over past copies of the publication along with CD’s which were primed for review at one point, words for which disappeared in a lost proposed missive due to a laptop crash sometime way back in the autumn months of last year. To compound matters the package they sent over has since gone into hiding in the great CD mountain that is currently threatening to outpour from its box room location at present. We mention this partly to unburden our failings – been ages since we had a full night’s sleep I can tell you – and in some to make up for past oversights by having the pleasure of cherry picking our way through their latest release. A new edition of Gew-Gaw, long time coming has finally hit the shop front, with it a 19 track CD compilation tucked inside. Now here’s where things get a little confusing, as it appears that the magazine is available in four different variants – the standard Mag / CD version plus limited run copies of the same that feature in addition – a 7 inch featuring Constantine and another featuring a split outing gathering together the Marshmallow Overcoat /Fly Away & Thee Hands Of Tyme/(Can’t Stop) Thee Hands Of Tyme – or you can just purchase the bumper bundle version featuring the mag, the CD and the 2 7 inches – there’s just 10 of these. Anyway as to the CD, I think I’m right in saying we’ve previously mentioned the Bordellos mystical contribution in previous dispatches – a track sung in Greek to boot. In many respects the CD reads like a Nuggets / Pebbles relic, a smorgasbord of fuzzy psyche, willowy folk and 60’s garage beat to which Constantine open matters with the wonderfully dreamily harvested floral enchantment that is ‘η μέρα του φωτός’ – think Ghost, Circulus and Justin Hayward. We’ve mentioned Snails in passing previously, these are the Greek variant and not those dudes from Bristol whose debuting full length is shortly to get a wax airing on the celebrated feral child imprint, these folk do a neat line in classically toned bearded buzz sawing 70’s styled psych prog freakbeat. Occasional visitors to these pages the Seventh Ring of Saturn drop the snaking ‘σούρα και μαστούρα’ which unless our ears do deceive does quite sound like an early 70’s acid pill popped out of a bonged out Turkish drop out commune while αρνητικό Ανάπλους I’m assuming the name of the track is the first part of the title with the band being the second, anyhow quite irrelevant when the sounds are so indelibly wigged out, admirers of the mighty Baby Woodrose will do well to seek out at their earliest convenience. Those fancying their sounds somewhat shade adorned and oozed in strobe lights and kaleidoscopic swirls will do well to check out the Seeds meets Standells scuffed n’ smoky primitive garage beat of the Statycs. Up close and personal the agit gouged spiked friction of αταιριαστο πνευμα Ηλίας by Χορταριάς wires with the kind of fist clenching gusto that suggests they’ve been rummaging through a box of second generation punk heroes notably Chron Gen c. ‘nowhere to run’ while elsewhere memories of the Stranglers ‘the raven’ are swiftly recalled to mind when η ζωή της νύχτας Διαφυγόν Κέρδος connects and fuses to the synapses. We must admit to having more than a soft spot for the Basements’ ‘δεν ξυπνo’ not least because it sounds so decadently lo-fi and primitive not to mention a tad beaten around the edges and worse for wear, in truth sounds like something Estrus would have kicked out in the 90’s, then there’s the wickedly wiggy Frantic V with the some uber funky vintage freakbeat loveliness courtesy of ‘κορίτσια για παρηγοριά’. Add in some super slinky swarthy arabesque dub doped out there-ness from Le Mur and some chemically lysergic math fusion from parting dudes Yellow Digit and you have yourself something of a head shrooming happening. https://nowherestreetmusic.bandcamp.com/album/spooks
We will do our best to remember to return to this in a future missive, seriously post it notes are festooned all over the gaff to aid our failing memory. Here’s a little something that dropped by our way a day or two ago, a compilation entitled ‘hear the living dead’ through the scythe collective, a secretive gathering of souls hidden behind banks of vintage synthesizers cobbling out eerie listening fair that has a particular affection for the undead. Surely of interest to those of you who flock to the independent retail stores at the mere mention of horror soundtrack re-issues from the likes of Death Waltz, waxworks, mondo et al, featured here are 32 eerie sore thumbs dredged from waking nightmares and straight to turntable with Fake Stereo’s ‘questioning reality’ immediately hooking our earlobes not least for the way its psychosis soaked dissipates had us much recalling the missing in action of late Villa9 studios output, so missing that they appear to have removed their presence clean off the internet – very strange. Anyhow oodles of Carpenter tropes here, macabre choral choruses reaching through the veil, trick n’ treating twinkling keys and don’t dare look over your shoulder tension wracked cinematics. Somewhere else there lurks ‘life or death’ by Ron Cannon, straight off a Cronenberg VHS taped flick, shadow lined prowling mosaics with nods to the classic Italo horror Giallo scores of the early 70’s recommended for those well versed with Richard Einhorn’s ‘shock waves’ score one suspects. Last one for this very brief mention Star Spawn’s ‘consumed’ is pure apocalyptic fantasia bathed in the glow of an atomic afterburn which might just have you imagining Zombi rethreading and revisiting lost VHS suites by Brad Fiedel. https://scythesaga.bandcamp.com/album/hear-the-living-dead
Accompanied by a press release which exquisitely nails both the sentiment and the reference points that stray and swim in the rippling tides of this vintage woven nugget, amid which mention is made of nods to Richard Thompson and the 60’s folk set, a song about ‘sympathetic birth’ the liner notes continue, a masked commentary on the seismic consequences of Brexit / Trump phenomena. Hell’s teeth there’s little else for me to write about. This is a newly peeled video gracing the title track from Alasdair Roberts’ ‘pangs’ full length, out about now via drag city, a journey back to simpler and fathomable times, a search for a lost happiness in the safe bosom of friends and family, daubed in mystery and magic all lushly threaded and steeped in a rich folk heraldry, ‘pangs’ finds Roberts retracing his steps to familiar climes, the melodies skipping with impatient effervescence spraying their pastoral posies to colour the deathly winter landscape in warming hues of Spring blossoming beauty. Quite breathless and somewhat beguiled if you ask me.
Alasdair Roberts ‘Pangs’ trio UK tour 2017….
2/23/17 at Cafe OTO in London, United Kingdom
2/24/17 at South Street Arts Centre in Reading, United Kingdom
2/25/17 at Ropery Hall in Hull, United Kingdom
2/26/17 at Colchester Arts Centre in Colchester, United Kingdom
2/27/17 at The Cumberland Arms in Newcastle, United Kingdom
3/1/17 at House Concert in Edinburgh, United Kingdom
3/2/17 at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow, United Kingdom
3/5/17 at The Continental Pub in Preston ,United Kingdom
3/15/17 at Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry, United Kingdom
3/16/17 at The Courtyard in Hereford, United Kingdom
3/17/17 at The Tangled Parrot in Carmarthen, United Kingdom
3/18/17 at B-Bar in Plymouth, United Kingdom
3/19/17 at Noah’s Yard in Swansea, United Kingdom
3/21/17 at Smokey Joe’s in Cheltenham, United Kingdom
3/23/17 at Prince Albert in Stroud, United Kingdom
3/24/17 at Bodmin Folk Club in Bodmin, United Kingdom
3/25/17 at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, United Kingdom
stuff….
Korean underground / overground pop
some loveliness from Fuxa….this is ‘photon’
An oldie, well I say oldie, out around this time last year or so, this is the much adored seawitches with ‘fathead’ – why oh why do they remind me so much of pink industry / pink military…..
Add a wonky and warped 80’s sound to your grooves…..
http://www.factmag.com/2017/02/16/reaktor-6-vhs-tape-effect-free/
can never beat a spot of Besnard’s doing magically things to your listening space…..
Stuff we’ve missed…..
I could kick myself silly for having missed this, it seems it reared its swamp dragged decadent head early last year, just sounds so fucked up yet simultaneously so to die for cool, it’s by the LA Witches and goes by the name ‘drive your car’
https://soundcloud.com/la_witch/01-drive-your-car-master
…and another we appear to have missed from around the same time, what happened were we asleep or something, this is the smoking cool sounds of Fall Seattle with ‘wanda johnson’ culled from their self-titled debut full length through faux discs
https://soundcloud.com/faux-discx/fall-seattle-wanda-johnson
more from last year, what the hell is going on, were we holidaying last February or something, this is frankly the danders, okay I’ll admit there are Mascis-esque vibes happening through the grooves but then since when was that a bad thing…..oh and this is whistlejacket and a cut called ‘duck soup’
https://soundcloud.com/whistlejacket/duck-soup-1
safe to say we are rummaging the net for the latest offerings from these three…….
A little interview we found featuring Art of the Memory Palace….with video premiere to boot…..consider yourselves spoilt…
http://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/music-videos/art-of-the-memory-palace-a-tilt-remains-track-premiere
not familiar with Jean Claude Vannier, well here’s the opening track from his debuting album – features a cigarette being lit and you thought Roxy Music’s ‘dance away’ wax the first, also used as the opening credits to those hip happening podcasts from the finders keepers dudes…..in fact we’ve been double tracking this with one version playing five seconds ahead of the others – sounds well trippy…..
More stuff we’ve missed……these dudes sound like the flaming stars with a rocket up their jacksy…..their called my expansive awareness….some great howling I should warn…..just saying..
https://soundcloud.com/myexpansiveawareness/do-you-wanna-be-rich
….and this most becoming lulling beauty, by the excellently named Miss Mobile Home……
https://soundcloud.com/missmobilehome/sleepwalker
mentioned earlier when running the critical ear across Invaderband’s debut full length, here’s a spot of the Television Personalities followed by the Times……we do spoil you at times….
Those of you with an eye for arty things might well be interested in Nick Taylor’s latest designs following his brief soiree with the polytechnic youth imprint, this is a new Bowie screen print, very tasty looking….
irrefutably paying dues to Syd Barrett, here’s another little nugget which for reasons far beyond our understanding, we somehow missed original time of asking, a cover of Floyd’s ‘matilda mother’ by howling larsons – a duo comprised of R Loftiss and Alan Tench – this slice of psychedelic spell crafting comes woozed in dreamy flotillas of strange folk kaleidoscopia enchantment……
https://soundcloud.com/orphic-records/howlilarsonsng–matilda-mother
Moby has just made available free of charge over four hours worth of quiet ambience to serve as soothing backdrops to your yoga / relaxation exercises – more information and download links here – http://moby.com/la1/
Download all 8 copies of the Dada magazine – originally published 1917 – 1921….
http://www.openculture.com/2016/07/download-all-8-issues-of-dada.html
aired for the first time since its original broadcast in 1961, a lost sci fi classic ‘orbit one zero’ – listen in 6 nightly parts at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fxww3 or – shhhh – don’t tell anyone – download it for free from https://archive.org/details/Orbit1Zero/OrbitOneZero61042101TheUnseeingEye.mp3
bands annoyingly forgotten…..
maximum joy
The flowers
Artery
popcorn and film time……..
the residents……..’theory of obscurity’
…and a little something from the ridiculously overlooked Penguin Café Orchestra who we’ll gone on record as saying are quite superb…..just in case you weren’t too sure…….
gone……and respects…..
Clyde Stubblefield…..James Brown legendary drummer…
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/18/arts/music/clyde-stubblefield-dead.html?_r=0
so sad to hear of the passing of Stephen Hewlett earlier today, his regular chats with Eddie Mair on Radio 4’s PM about his cancer where sometimes dryly funny, deeply observant and brutally candid, he gave hope and spirit to many going through the same battle, like many listeners he livened our day with his updates – i laughed, i cried, i prayed and hoped above hope he would overcome his health struggles, alas it was not to be…..goodbye Sir….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39027583
Contact resources….
Email – marklosingtoday@gmail.com
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/thesundayexperience
Word press – marklosingtoday.wordpress.com
Twitter – @marklosingtoday
Physical – 46 Webster Avenue, BOOTLE, Merseyside, L20 9JF, UK
The end groove……
The butterflies of love with the immortal ‘rob a bank’….
And we’ll leave you with this, how I wish someone would post a clean clear studio copy of this on you tube, this is the achingly beautiful ‘68’ comeback’ by Crest – scuttled out around 1998 on the quintessentially cool noisebox imprint…..
the sunday experience 