Look what we sneaked online while you were sleeping… Transmission 36.0….

Look what we sneaked online while you were sleeping…

Transmission 36.0…. w/e 10/09//2017

Revolutions of a 33 and 45 kind….

Opening credits ….

…some sad departures from pop world …. firstly, Walter Becker of Steely Dan …

… and Don Williams ….

… this edition features ….

… Walter Becker, Don Williams, Drunk in Hell, Ka Baird, Bonnie Prince Billy, Slowthaw, Katje Janisch, Zola Jesus, Peter Howell, john Baker, Delia Derbyshire, paddy kingsland, ray cathode, Arcade Messiah, Matias Aguayo & The Desdemonas, Violet, Faten Kanaan, John 3:16, Laraaji, sexton ming, jarboe, father murphy, Mx-80, Sleepers, Soft Kill, the Screamers, Chrome, bona dish, disturbed furniture, vain aims, the chemistry set, prana crafter, le Plaisir, dozzz, legumina, Elizabeth veldon, seatemples, kemper Norton, so totally, james Murray, 62 miles from space, schnauzer, volcano the bear, Christoffer Franzen, the wedding present, forest swords, Uffe Lorenzen, odonis odonis, Assembled minds, the resource centre, luminance, wizards tell lies, the third eye foundation, pram, black moth super rainbow, Magnétophone, ritual howls, the whip angels, buried things, chikiss, le superhomard, caustic Casanova, zoviet France, some some unicorn, cattle, gagarin, Trepaneringsritualen, negra branca, gransound, the all golden, spacetime, moths & locusts, Nathan hall and the sinister locals, the reverse family, duke St. workshop, Schema, Broken Water, Laurel Halo, Swim Deep, Autolux, stagnant pools, the stargazer lillies, Alison’s halo, Craig sibley, autumn, absolute body control, the scarecrow, 20-20 system, doxa sinistra, polyphonic size, the girls, family fodder, judy dyble and sleepyard, holger czukay and david sylvian, halim el dabh …..

I’m guessing this is going to split opinion and no doubt cause a whole heap of offence. However, I’m much minded to feature it because there’s a lack of honesty in the media world these days don’t you find, heartening then that a release comes along that’s not afraid to say it how it is in declaring this ‘un to be ‘sonically and socially, this record is an offence and an affront’. It all kind of warms the cockles of the heart. This is Drunk in Hell with the brutally frank ‘I’m an arsehole’ – a track ripped from a forthcoming sore thumb debut full length that’s heading this way sometime October through the burning world imprint. A slavish slab of nuts down discontented boogie all scowled in a crusted f*** you hate filled malaise that screams anti everything through every pulsing sinew of its being. https://soundcloud.com/burningworldroadburn/im-an-arsehole

What the hell are Drag City feeding their roster of late on, no sooner do we despatch ka baird then along come dead rider replete with its own strangely unsettling video in tow to boot. This is ‘the ideal’ – starts a tad woozy I’ll admit but once kicked in, well I say kicked in optimistically, because it kind of does and doesn’t, blighter threatens to settle into a swing, but pauses, jars and spars crafting out a deliciously schizoid and warping palette of dislocated and fractured psych funk with offset calypso mosaics muddying the mix, very Deerhoof meets Battles had they been trying out for Bureau B, frankly off the page.

Insanely good and infectious with it, come on be honest, aren’t you carried along by the crooked jubilance of it all. This is Bonnie ‘prince’ Billy with the roots of music bringing pomp and cheer to a cover of an old Mekons nugget by the name ‘the curse’, I mean the carnival like upbeat fanfaring of the mock New Orleans jazz funeral, the breezy sway and vintage swing of snaking Beefheart-ian blues riffage and the stirring front of the march celebratory gusto of Billy – what’s not to adore.

Freshly dug up creeping dread from those Aetheric folk, this be head honcho Alistair in his grim grinning slowthaw guise doing chilling, and no doubt frowned upon in some territories, things across two newly peeled slabs of fright wig frivolities. Not as dread headed as previous Aetheric occurrences, in so much as we haven’t felt compelled to hide behind the sofa in fear of some unholy manifestation taking form in our listening space. Still, all the same, enough mischief afoot here as to incur a worrisome disquiet, ‘missing (teeth)’ is particularly cooled in a funereal macabre, the rattles, the shuffles and that sense of manic activity suggesting some lurking primordial ne’er do well prowling patiently in the shadows. While over on the flip ‘opoponax’ instead opts for the direct approach with a furious spot of sandblasted white hot skree extreme noise niking brutality, the intensity of which, if anything else, ought to assist in the loosening of your fillings and various other bodily functions. https://aetheric-records.bandcamp.com/album/missing-teeth-opoponax

Recommended to us by Oliver Sleepyard – more from them – hopefully a little later this missive. A foolhardy request for listening suggestions threw up this ‘un. Agreed it’s been out for a while, but let’s be quite frank about it, this is exquisite. From Katje Janisch, this is ‘chatoyance’, a track pulled from her 2014 set ‘DulceMuse’, at once seductive and mysterious not to mention delicately pressed in mysticism, this slice of snake charming spell craft coils and caresses to an ancient tongue spraying forth a mesmeric and intoxicating dream draped haze of Eastern enchantment. https://katjejanisch.bandcamp.com/track/chatoyance

You can expect two very special happenings over the course of the next few weeks from celestial sound guru Laraaji via the All Saints imprint. First up, two long form drone recitals exploring the range of tonalities by way of utilising the sounds of a gong processed through a varied array of electronic mediums, the set entitled ‘sun gong’ appears pressed on clear slabs of 12-inch wax. In hot pursuit, some two weeks later ‘bring on the sun’ arrives, a double vinyl outing upon whose grooves are featured eight newly peeled tracks which both sound and style wise cover the length and breadth of Laraaji’s eclectic sonic universe. In readiness for the ‘sun gong’ sessions, here’s some quite extraordinary albeit short, footage taken from a recent appearance at the Terraforma festival in Milan, Italy as shot by URSSS. Both a spiritual and meditative experience, it’s something his press folk rightly describe as ‘evoking the sound of a shimmering metallic eternal wave’ – couldn’t put it better myself, very trance toned and eerily primal …… you can catch Laraaji in the intimate settings of Kilburn’s Tin Tabernacle tomorrow evening (2nd Sept)

With ‘okovi’ literally just around the corner awaiting release through Sacred Bones, here’s another teaser taster from Zola Jesus in the shape of the ghost waving celestial that is ‘Siphon’ – a more siren sighed stately and statuesque affair than the fractured happening that was ‘exhumed’ all seductively sheened in frost tipped shadow falls and hymnal hazes, by the way does it for us.

Interlude …. Radiophonica …. Peter Howell, john Baker, delia Derbyshire, paddy kingsland, ray cathode ….

Radiophonic rock …..

Peter Howell ….

John Baker ….

Delia Derbyshire ….

Paddy kingsland …..

Ray cathode …..

Leaving his 4/4 beats and DJ sets in his tote bag for a spot of darkly woven cold waved austerely tipped minimalist electronics, this is Matias Aguayo & The Desdemonas, just one of several bands to be found lurking and dwelling amid the shadowy recesses of the fictionalised dystopian landscape that is Sofarnopolis. Gravitating around the infamous Rabbit Hole club, a group of imagined riff hip talent, among the roll call – Solid Bass, Johnny Frugo, Cold Fever and of course, the Desdemonas, are all vying for local scene adoration. This fantasy land is gathered together on a pencilled for October release via Crammed Discs, incidentally and with much obviousness entitled ‘Sofarnopolis’ is heralded by the teaser cut ‘cold fever’. A mutant funk dark heart, this part sleaze part cool chic sore thumb purrs to a low lit subterranic pulsing vibe whose skeletal framing weaves with shadowy seduction to a sparsely coiled swing that at times eerily echoes to imagine Suicide in cahoots with a smoked-out Gun Club.

Hopefully we should have words aplenty about this epic release heading out of Fruits de Mer’s off shoot Strange Fish imprint shortly. Blighters so heavy it’s left a crater where our turntable used to be. This be Arcade Meesiah who you might remember from way back when he appeared on that ludicrously fine ‘side effects’ gathering. Anyhow this release was prompted by the folk over at FdM being a tad dizzy what with being equally irked and dismayed to hear that the third Arcade Messiah album hadn’t as yet been afforded a physical release. To right that wrong, mainly because they were beginning to get irked and dismayed at the continuing dizzy episodes, a plan has been hatched to release, not just one, but all three Arcade Messiah albums in a limited pressing of 200 – well 199 seeing as I’ve got a copy – on CD no less, I know CD the scourge of the vinyl lover, but let’s be honest, CD’s are so yesterday and so forgotten these days that we sense a resurgence among those Spotty-fying folk with the long hair and questionable dress sense. Anyhow the collection, incidentally entitled ‘trilogy’ is due for release September end, here’s a few choice nuggets from it. Be warned may inadvertently give rise to the creation of black holes in your listening space, so play sensibly.

http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/trilogy.html

are my ears deceiving me or this have something of the nostalgic monochrome lacing of a mid-career the Crimea about its wares albeit as though fed through a symphonic emotion rattling pop hot wash of Toy whilst swooned in the kind of sky scorching siren sighing vapour trailing raptures of a young Bernard Butler in situ Suede. This be ‘Feel’ – the debut offering from the hotly tipped Violet out via Holy Howl, the band are shortly to be wowing select stages on a short September tour – dates below …. https://soundcloud.com/violets-r-blue/feel-1

LIVE DATES

08/09 The 27 Club, Liverpool

21/09 The Finsbury, London

22/09 The Cookie, Leicester

25/09 Kasbah, Coventry

29/09 The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham

30/09 The Loft, Southampton

No one does murmuring mosaics of mysticism and apocalyptic foreboding quite like John 3:16, sky scorching symphonies that cast images ripped from the pages of Revelations scriptures, prowl with watchful patience perched upon death headed creaking crosses, from their vantage point surveying vast arid wastelands, the sounds snake to a dance gloomed in finality and a betraying beauty. Originally released in 20111 on the French imprint Sirona and bolstered now by the inclusion of a previously unreleased cut from those same sessions (‘….to help me obey you’), ‘Sinner’s prayer’ gets a much-deserved outing on the Alrealon Musique label. Amid these grooves the epic 16-minute colossus ‘eternal sin offering’ opens proceedings, a fierce some storm chaser ripped and rippled in sky burning salvos whose atmospheric weight draws easy comparison to the mighty Godspeed, as brooding as it is hypnotic, this towering arabesque mistral navigates and snakes to a retributional end game where both turbulence and tranquillity collide to devastating effect. ‘….to help me obey’ is a more considered perhaps more so, meditative affair, its pensive roll carving and cutting to a slow burn arcing prowess that softly treads and trades upon terrains more commonly associated with yellow6, its hypnotic toning calmed and sprayed to a pristinely turned post rock lull, stately might be the word I’m struggling for. Rounding off matters, switching creative hats from author to remixer, John 3:16 rewires Fluid’s ‘disassembly of the self’ – remodelled here as the ‘holy sacrifice remix’ – a hollowing ancient calling soured in a deathly chilled foreboding upon which are scratched eerie visitations from beyond the veil, seriously ominous stuff and best experienced in the cold light of day, not by the flickering shadow light being cast by our own fading candle, hello any one there? https://alrealonmusique.bandcamp.com/album/sinners-prayer-alrn076

Incoming via polytechnic youth and strictly limited to just 400 copies, Faten Kanaan’s ‘’Pleiade Hex 6′ is sure to have the critical tongues a wagging when it finally docks. Comprised of seven suites, ‘pleiade hex 6’ is in short, a cosmic fantasia comprised of a crafted classicism dappled in starry astrals and a radiophonic reverie that’s intricately threaded together by a symphonic lushness traced and meticulously cooled in baroque braids, heraldic mosaics, pastoral murmurs and Bucolic rushes. Here, lunar eternals twinkle in woozy waltz formations, the demurring fanfares that spray forth from the orbital love note that is ‘on the absence of longing in the modern age’ briefly spin with quiet radiance genuflecting to a salutary sigh to echo and lilt to the richly daubed amorphous orchestral tapestries of both Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre. The solitary traveller ‘all by compass, as previously mentioned in earlier despatches, provides a dream like magic land of lunar forest enchantment whose sense of both mystery and spectral unworldliness nods to play in strangely ethereal sound worlds once upon a time the domain of Delia Derbyshire. Despite its ghost like frailness, there’s a surrendering lovelorn majesty purring throughout the intimately glowed ‘Aventurine’, teased in chamber folk mosaics, a grace fallen hymnal unfurls, a deeply personal yearning visitation that allures to a soothed nocturnal whisper, quite beguiling if you ask me. Not quite sure if the inspiration for ‘Geist und Seele’ was Bach’s cantata of the same name, but initial moments give free reign to an imagining of Riley, Reich and Oldfield gathered together at work here, the utilisation of counterpoint recalling Moondog in the main is simply exquisite as is the framing of its poise and sense of grandeur with the blossoming pastoral posies crafting a wonderfully vibrant Baroque bouquet that’s graced with a Church like aura. Those of you thinking, well that’s all fine and dandy, but where’s the kosmische might do well to dive into the astral rushes sweetly harvested upon ‘Dargelos’, its undulating tonalities gushing forth flotillas of demurring bucolic celestials of the type touched and trimmed in the kind of nostalgic glow that veers upon the outer edges of the ghost box and clay pipe spectrum with a casual nod to fortdax for good measure. Elsewhere, with its ice sculptured minimalist purr, ‘turning into deer’ tracks a shadowy trail whose frosted chic seductively slipstreams into ‘stranger things’ terrains which all leaves ‘casting two bells (epilogue)’ to recode the stasis settings in readiness for deep sleep as it prepares to journey into the galactic void, though not before serenading you in a crystal tipped cosmic overture whose lilting tread gazes into the futuristic beyond all the time daubed in Carpenter-esque mystique. In short ‘pleiade hex 6’ is a work of beauty and enchantment, a true envelope pushing kosmick symphony.

Interlude … even more odd sods n’curious …. Mx-80, Sleepers, Soft Kill, the Screamers, Chrome, bona dish, disturbed furniture, vain aims ….

MX-80 ….

Sleepers ….

Soft Kill ….

The Screamers ….

Chrome …

Bona dish ….

Disturbed furniture ….

Vain aims ….

I find it a tad disconcerting and something of an oversight on our behalf, that thus far, the work of Sexton Ming hasn’t seen fit to trouble these pages. Aside cobbling out the kind of weird ear kitsch funk, bizarre music hall mosaics and impish twisted lunacy that might have found safe haven on the Frank and Wobbly Sons imprint many a year ago and Soft Bodies, now I come to think of it, Sexton Ming – or to give him his rightful birth name Anthony S Davis, delights in puzzling, perplexing and parading his peculiar palette to, I guess, a stoned out listening community just a tad sick to the back teeth of the kind of formulated nondescript pop pap that’s rotting the minds of a generation mindlessly following the major label pied piper. The ‘inevitable stupid’ OST is his forthcoming opus, a set that refuses to sit down and settle, instead preferring to jump up and down excitedly befuddling not only you but itself with its broad range of musical ghosts. Here there be the spectre of Buddy Holly – well loosely – patrolling through ‘Toby Jugg theme’, some whacked out mocked up 70’s judo-ploitation grooviness on the insanely daft ‘punch up music’ – hello Gary Wilson, ‘Johnny Spratt theme’ very Suicide – ish, super Nintendo hijinks via ‘cut his face’, inebriated ducks on ‘the duck song’ and the paranoiac night terror of ‘I have the body of a pig’. Fear not there are moments of lucidity lurking here, the sweetly mellowed dream drift scape that is ‘Apifanny’ and the superbly super chilled trance toned seafarer ‘they knew I was the one’ the later though ghosted by an eerie communication at its fall. All quite bizarre. The set is heading out on mordant music in a limited edition pressing of lathe 7’s hand cut by those 345rpm dudes – 5 in all to collect, each featuring selected cuts from the album. https://anthonysdavis.bandcamp.com/album/inevitable-stupid-ost

Something dark wanders this way. Incoming and set to coincide with a joint European tour, a new 10 inch, upon its grooves the unified might of Jarboe and Father Murphy. Here be a trailer of what to expect. Shrouded in a shadowy spectral stateliness that’s soothed and sprayed in a spiritual resonance, with a hymnal aura immediately to its opposite, a foreboding chill sets itself across a warring field, the sounds cut from a primitive tongue, ring to a deathly apocalyptic dance whose graven groan chimes to the archaic artistry of both Preterite and the Hare and the Moon.

Incoming as part of Fruits de Mer’s autumn pop parade, something we mentioned way back here https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2017/08/09/the-chemistry-set-6/ – this is the rather spiffing Chemistry Set with a track lifted from a forthcoming coloured wax 7 inch entitled ‘lovely cuppa tea’ – this ‘un being the blistering psych shakedown that is ‘the rubicon’ …

I’m sure we have Prana Crafter groove lurking on our to do list, certain they’ve been in touch recently. For now, though, while we rummage around the messages and the hard drive, here’s a track they’ve contributed to the latest volume in the blog that celebrates itself’s extended trilogy of compilations entitled ‘the sea’, ‘the sun’ and ‘the moon’, this collection being ‘the sun’ part of that three-way gathering. Anyhow you’ll find this particular track, incidentally entitled ‘as the weather commands,’ drawing matters to a close. In truth sounds as though it’s just emerged from some seriously bonged out early 70’s haze woozily oozed in the kind of stoner trippiness, the type of these days most are accustomed to hearing heading out from the more freak psych terrains of Japan, not to mention Dungen and Bardo Pond, all seriously kissed with a mystical aura and very spacey with it. Elsewhere to the fore of the set, Le Plaisir do the kind of effervescently caressed dream toned psych pop that’s succulently filtered through kaleidoscopic sunglasses with ‘feathers’ lightly shimmering in orbital formations sugared by hushly tipped harmonies and a teasing of feel good radiant riff ripples, quite blissful if you ask me. Last for this particular, brief mention, promise we’ll be back, this is ‘fuzzy mt.’ by DoZzz, what can I say, dissolving dissipates of dream pop delirium floating over vapour puffed ethereal Cocteau-ian bliss whispers, really is quite the cutie. https://theblogthatcelebratesitself.bandcamp.com/album/va-the-sun

Don’t mind saying that we are a tad smitten with this one. Came across our desk following a message from Marcin from the band well, duo as it happens who hail from Poland and go by the name Legumina. At present readying themselves for the release of their debut full length ‘something pasty and probably yellow’ from off which here’s the ridiculously affectionate ‘Berlin’. This shy eyed lovely twinkles with a breathlessly fragile heart tug to coo and swoon with the kind of distractive light headedness that had us imagining the much missed Frente cosying up to a particularly reflective Melys with lulled by flotillas of cloud watching pastoral posies, themselves seductively shifting up the gears towards the end daubing all in showers of crystal tipping stratospheric sirens.

Been meaning to revisit Brighton’s eclectic cassette imprint Third Kind records for a while now. Latest to feature on their esteemed catalogue a quite remarkable and wonderfully packaged gold hot foil stamped box, which when opened reveals two cassettes and a lovely looking A4 art card. As the title might suggest, ‘Laika and other works’ is a gathering of releases by Elizabeth Veldon – comprised of two and a half hours’ worth of piano compositions, drone recitals and spoken word monologues, the set includes the complete sets ‘Laika’ and ‘Milton Road to Nepal (For Ghoti)’ as well as ”The Scottish Fisheries’, ‘Darwin Cut Ups for Hobart’, ‘We Will Never Leave You’ and a brand-new companion piece to ‘Laika’. Really is a most intimate reading, which for now our ears have locked upon the chamber tones of ‘over the water’ which across its ten minute stay is awash in all manner of treated piano motifs and strangely abrupt metering, itself veering between moments of genteel passiveness to the turbulent eruptions which in some way, I’m minded to say, perfectly mirror and compliment the whole solemn, remote and reflectively melancholy nature of the water / sea in so much that beneath the tranquillity a confused emotion rages beneath the calming surface ripples. https://thirdkindrecords.bandcamp.com/album/laika-other-works

Tripped over this on a recent ramble around yoo tube world, I’m assuming the latest from Seatemples. These dudes are a five-piece hailing from Chile, this being ‘further’ a track that lurks in the darker and shadowy outer terrains of the great dream pop / psych spectrum, a probing dark star veering deep into the melodic hive consciousness of the Hookworms.

Would you believe that at this moment I’m frantically rummaging through our in box as I swear I’ve a download with press release to boot, lurking somewhere there, which due to some massive oversight, we’ve till now had, what can only be described as, a total absence of memory and sense in thus far missing. Anyhow this be Kemper Norton, it’s been too long since they last troubled these pages, the latest ‘Hungan’ is inspired, well we’ll let them tell you eh …. ‘….by the story of ‘Cruel Coppinger’, the semi-legendary Danish privateer and gang leader who terrorised the north Cornish coast in the late eighteenth century’, okay good luck with that but whatever happened to simple old boy meets girl happy songs. Now admittedly, this is darkly brooding stuff and not for the first time these last few missives, something that by these ears, sounds as though it should have creeped out on the much-loved Boring Machines imprint. As said this set comes ghosted in forgotten musical tongues where play ancestral spirits, shimmered in a stilled elegance, these woodland ghost lights flicker with an eerie majesty with ‘hungan 2’ particularly catching the earlobes as it emerges through the twilight haze graced in a glacial hymnal toning that spirit walks between Nico and Dead Can Dance. Elsewhere, the ice thawing enchantment of the petrified ‘Imeas’ is hushed in such fragile bowed unworldliness that you suspect the merest movement from its lulling fixed stare might shatter the spectral tranquillity. http://music.kempernorton.com/album/hungan

Sneaking in on the evening listening soiree, incoming cassette loveliness from So Totally. This ‘un is heading out next month, just 35 of the blighters which incidentally is called ‘a cheap close up of heaven’ from off which, previewing in the band camp window you’ll find ‘lead and alchemy’. In short a blister kissed slice of fizzy n’ fuzzy dayglo bubblegum effervescence all woozily fractured amid waves upon waves of soft sun burning euphoria. https://sototally.bandcamp.com/album/a-cheap-close-up-of-heaven-2

Hell’s teeth, lost our internet connection momentarily – hey thanks BT – your broadband is naff by the way, returned back to the facebook notifications and all the gubbins about this has disappeared into the ether. So, before we get lost in the grumbling, hang on one last dig – BT + Broadband = Naff – this ‘un is the latest from James Murray from a set that should see the light of day sometime later this month. ‘heavenly waters’ be its name, released through his own Slowcraft imprint. Serving as a teaser here’s (the aptly atmospheric for these wee small hours) ‘Columba’, in short eight minutes of close touch intimacy softly stirred in the kind of neo classical whispering that brings it into orbit with Antonymes. Amid its genteel binding the soothing sound of tidal flows delicately caress as the delicate harvesting of a restful piano braid longingly fills the canvas with it tender yearn. https://soundcloud.com/jamesmurray/columba

Visited this in previous dispatches, here’s another track from a quite formidable 12-inch set – on red wax in case you needed additional arm twisting – from those mega dodo folk courtesy of 62 miles from space. This is the Bucolic lunar that is ‘outside’, a wonderfully tailored slice of drift draped astral kosmische mellowed in orbital oceanic’s pressed with purring shimmers of silvery star lit pastorals, any questions at the back, guess not. https://soundcloud.com/mega-dodo/62-miles-from-space-outside

Must admit, we can’t get enough of this. Tis true there should be more Schnauser in these pages, but to be honest the blighters never tell us of their releases, rather it’s left for us to trip over them, if we are lucky, while out and about on various rambles. Anyhow enough grumbling, this is ‘the Monday club’ from a full length set by the name ‘Irritant’ which we believe is out and about doing its stuff via bad elephant music. Aside being so intricately cut that it’s liable to flip your wig and reshape your headspace whilst contentedly appearing on the less erratic and head shrooming edge of the Cardiacs’ sphere of influence spending evenings blissing out through listening to Kevin Ayers. A curiously manifesting progressive folk cornucopia which in truth sounds like a kind of hot wash blur of some early 70’s hipster record collection, there’s definitely Supersister grooviness afoot here cooking in a mix whereupon additional sonic ingredients from the Wizards of Twiddly, Cranium Pie and The Lancashire Hustlers lurk in abundant quantities. https://soundcloud.com/schnauser/the-monday-club

Mischief makers Volcano the Bear emerge from long silence with the release of ‘at uncanny valley’, a digital download of a live performance recorded way back last year in Belgium. From that set, we’ve been much taken by the sinister salvo ‘classic oo-va-vu fusion’, playfully ominous and irrefutably fried, a little more edgier and dislocated than recent visitations, for here there’s a fracturing and austere meter afoot that locates its shadowy sparseness somewhere between the sonic worlds of Henry Cow and This Heat. https://volcanothebear.bandcamp.com/track/classic-oo-va-vu-fusion

A little bit of background on this one. It’s 2008, having just completed recording sessions for ‘El Rey’ and fresh from a 20th anniversary tour of ‘George Best’. Gedge and Co are holed up in the studio with Steve Albini with a little down time spare, when the Gedge suggests a live warts n’ all studio recording of ‘George Best’. Albini, a little hesitant, is soon persuaded and the band crack on nailing it in one. Fast forward to 2012 by way of this year, hearing the original for the first time whilst mixing ‘Valentina’, Andrew Scheps is brought on board to mix those Albini recordings. The result ‘GB30’ gets a much-deserved re-appraisal and into the bargain viewed from the perspective of its author some twenty years older. From a personal perspective, always my favourite Weddoes album, each time it rears up for a dust down, the minute the stylus connects with the wax, I’m immediately connected with my 20 something former self. The sounds sharp, quickly drilled and acutely blistered, told of relationship splits, missed opportunities and misadventures in love. The rereading of this iconic debut – incidentally thunderously sounding and fuller in terms of density and reach, comes via the bands Scopitones imprint as well as vinyl junkie and HHBTM – the latter of whom are doing a very special deluxe variant that includes a screen-printed inner sleeve poster, a screen-printed tote bag, a square album artwork button and colour vinyl. From that set, serving as a teaser here’s the re-scalped version of ‘Shatner’ – time for swooning methinks. https://soundcloud.com/hhbtm-records/the-wedding-present-shatner-gb30/s-iPIrx

Elegantly evocative and teasingly sprayed in lushly breezed undulating cascades of tumbling pastoral posies, this is ‘seasons’, a track pulled from a forthcoming set heading out of the deep elm imprint entitled ‘Phenomenon’ by Lights and Motion’s Christoffer Franzen. Something to sit alongside both of those previously mentioned outings by Sleepyard and James Murray, ‘seasons’ arrives adored with a wonderfully lolloping spring heeled motif, at once as transfixing as it is timeless, a moment of genteel free spiritedness freeze framed and pressed as a demurring bookmark. http://deepelmdigital.com/track/seasons

Heading out of the Bad Afro imprint shortly, firstly on download then as a physical release later in the year, this is Baby Woodrose main man Uffe Lorenzen with a track lifted from a forthcoming full length ‘Galmandsværk’, a solo set no less, this being ‘Flippertøs’. This distractive nugget comes primed in the soft smoulder of airy psych folk, features some simply stunning flute work and if I didn’t know better, is possessed of more than a passing nod to the mighty Love, or is that just me? https://badafrorecords.bandcamp.com/track/flippert-s

Simply stunning in so much as this manages to operate and touch on so many musical levels. This is Forest Swords with ‘raw language’, a track taken from his current Ninja Tune full length ‘compassion’, an album which I’ll admit has been receiving a fair amount of listening space when the evening folds into the days end during down time in our gaff. In truth, it might take a few listens to kick in, the shifts in pace and perspective are so astounding that its forgivable to miss its intricate nuances first time of asking. An expression of joy ripples through this, it’s jubilant reach amorphously free-spirited, speaks with a multi lingual tongue that snakes and charms to craft an aural map of adventure both bespoke in spiritualism and classicism whereupon weaved into its colourfully radiant tapestry elements of hip hop, earth beat, world song and dub are wired upon a hymnal phrasing all the time nodding reference wise to Reich, Riley and a youthful Nyman.

Interlude …. a gathering of curios …. Assembled minds, the resource centre, luminance, wizards tell lies, the third eye foundation, pram, black moth super rainbow, Magnétophone …

Assembled Minds ….

The Resource Centre ….

Luminance ….

Wizards tell lies ….

The third eye foundation ….

Pram ….

Black moth super rainbow …

Magnétophone ….

safe to say it’s been a fair old while since odonis odonis troubled our listening space, wasn’t it via some Fat Cat related sub imprint last time. These days they can be found chilling the catalogue of the ultra-hip Felte, I say chilling, if that is their latest ‘check my profile’ is anything to judge by. This is seriously darkly tense threaded stuff, the subtronic pulsars, the austere framing, the remote vibes and that dead heading minimalist fixed stare had us strangely in mind of an early 80’s variant of Cabaret Voltaire cutting shadow lined shapes in some subterranean night spot in Berlin. https://soundcloud.com/felte/odonis-odonis-check-my-profile

staying with felte, here’s another from their eclectic roster, this be ritual howls of whom I’m certain we’ve mentioned on previous occasions. This is the darkly chic ghost rider ‘blood red moon’, a primitive twang opined ghost light which they describe in passing as death jangle, which by these ears had us imagining a witching hour studio summit embarked upon by Fields of The Nephilim and the Gun Club. Anyhow the track comes culled from their current EP entitled ‘this is transcendence’. https://soundcloud.com/felte/ritual-howls-blood-red-moon

those of you preferring your sounds glacially gouged and somewhat ghosted in a frosted solemnness might do well to hook up to ‘a pretty sight’ – a collaboration that pairs together both buried things and the whip angels who conspire between them to craft an eerie deathly chill upon the listening space, not I would hazard a guess, something for the faint of heart. https://soundcloud.com/buried-things/a-pretty-sight-1

is it just me or is this the coolest of videos, here’s the quite immaculate le SuperHomard performing ‘dry salt in our hair’ on a boat, all very chilled, tropically weaved and deliriously breezed in a lush lounge pop way, I’m thinking Stereolab, Fugu, free design and lake Ruth …. incidentally sub titled the ‘boat session’ – like what else ….

fancy something a tad dreamy and demurring with which to greet the morning, then let us introduce you to the twinkling ornate orbital that is the lulling love note ‘Kapeli’ by Chikiss. This one is heading out on the elestial sound imprint and comes pulled from the labels spring collection compilation series. Must admit to loving its genteel astral toning and star speckled lullaby like hypnosis all of which, I’m happy to say, takes on a somewhat darker countenance around the three-minute mark before resuming to spraying the listening space in all manner of mesmeric radiance. https://soundcloud.com/elestialsound/chikiss-kapeli

is it me, or do these folk sound like they are having way too much fun. This be Caustic Casanova of whom I’m disappointed to admit, haven’t yet bothered our listening space thus far. This one comes ripped from a forthcoming 7-inch set entitled ‘pantheon vol. 2’ – a cover of the Melvins’ ‘cow’ no less, all grizzled, goofed out and gouged with the kind of bonged n’ stoned fuzz flippancy as to suggest that to many repeat listens might well cause an intensified happening of rapid beard and hair growth all brought on by its whacked out high school dropout fried beatnik boogie. https://soundcloud.com/causticcasanova/cow?mc_cid=ea316ac2da&mc_eid=a245be6d3c

Fall Tour Dates:

9/30 – Dayton, OH @ Blind Bob’s **

10/1 – Canton, OH @ Buzzbin **

10/2 – Peoria, IL @ Redbarn **

10/3 – Chicago, IL @ The Burlington **

10/4 – Minneapolis, MN @ TBA **

10/5 – Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge **

10/6 – Denver, CO @ Streets of London **

10/7 – Colorado Springs, CO @ Triple Nickel Tavern **

10/8 – Albuquerque, NM @ Burt’s Tiki Lounge **

10/9 – Tucson, AZ @ TBA **

10/10 – Tempe, AZ @ Yucca Tap Room

10/11 – San Diego, CA @ The Tower Bar

10/12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake Lounge

10/14 – Reno, NV @ Shea’s Tavern

10/15 – San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern

10/17 – Portland, OR @ TBA

10/19 – Seattle, WA @ Victory Lounge

10/20 – Kalispell, MT @ TBA

10/21 – Great Falls, MT @ The Back Alley Pub

… here’s a brief little soiree into the world of the much loved IMPATV … we suggest you pay particular attention to Negra Branca, really is an extraordinary performance, very ethereal and magical ……

Zoviet France …..

Some some unicorn …

Trepaneringsritualen ….

Cattle ….

Gagarin ….

Negra Branca ….

Up next Gransound who beyond the name of the track in question, incidentally it’s called ‘Bum Zack Gran Chor’, we’ve diddly information about. That said, for reasons that even we haven’t been able to fathom, this track has been working a strange spell craft upon our listening space and with that impishly the cause of us hitting the repeat button on several occasions now. Strangely off kilter and deliciously garnished in a hybrid cold wave flavouring, there’s a curiously austere mutant funk swing afoot here that sleekly snakes around an oddly crooning 50’s styled bubble grooving which in truth had us much minded – and really – please don’t push me to give reason why – of the slightly less fractured moments found on the Pixies’ ‘Doolittle’ set. https://soundcloud.com/gransound/bum-zack-gran-chor

fancy something a tad bit mellow. Course you do. Another release we happened across by sheer accident on sound cloud, this is Spacetime, who appear to be a three piece – beyond that slither of information the clues go a little cold, except to say this is ‘entitled song’ from a self-titled full length heading out on Step Pepper. Safe to say one of those cuts best served for nocturnal delight, this little lovely arrives imparting a deceptively tangy cosmic-y chic that hints of lost nights spent huddled around a demurring sound system as the sounds of Air and Stereolab’s ‘cobra and phases….’ filter the listening space to exact their amorphous lunar lounge funk seduction. https://soundcloud.com/steppepper/spacetime

Okay you’d better get your backsides in to gear if you want one of these. Due for October release, this is the latest from the esteemed Eggs in Aspic imprint, a label who it seems appear content to persistently put out nuggets at stupidly regular intervals. This one, on their chosen format of play, that’ll be a cassette, is strictly limited to just 35 copies and features a cornucopia of home recordings by a certain Pete Gofton in one of his many alter egos, this ‘un being the All Golden. Now long time regulars to these badly written and ill punctuated missives, might well recall the name, not least because we mentioned them / him in passing early last year – see here https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/the-all-golden/ and there https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2016/04/01/the-all-golden-2/ – anyhow, this one be called ‘424’ EP. Just two tracks on the preview pane, ‘taking sides’ being a superbly lo-fi’d slice of new wave dayglo that ripples, swerves and purrs prickly with the razored effervescence of a youthful Ariel Pink with an Apples in Stereo fixation. However, for us it’s ‘Air’ that nails it, a bubble grooved slice of woozy kaleidoscopia dreamily wired to a deliciously dissipating lazy eyed stoner grooving, which unless our ears do deceive, sounds as though it’s been smoking whatever the hell Mercury Rev where when crafting ‘yerself is steam’. https://eggsinaspic.bandcamp.com/album/424-ep

hell’s teeth, this is grizzled, stoned out and woozily mystical. More October incoming from Eggs in Aspic, this time from Moths & Locusts, this being ‘strange space’ – a track peeled from their ‘intro / outro’ set, which aside arriving in strictly limited quantities of blue and yellow glittery cassettes also gets a heavy weight vinyl outing through the mighty Cardinal Fuzz imprint. Anyhow enough of the label marketing, to the sounds – in short wig flipping cranium reshaping deep heavy psych of the type you can swear you can feel beards grow and black holes forming, what you need references – put it like this, pisses in the pool as White Hills and the Heads. Nuff said. https://eggsinaspic.bandcamp.com/album/intro-outro

Think I’m right in saying that this will be coming out ahead (this Friday to be exact) of his debuting full length ‘effigies’ as Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals. Pulled from that aforementioned set, ‘spider skin’ gets its moment in the sun. Released as a digital download single, over on the flip you’ll find the simply irresistible and previously unreleased ‘the phoenix of Albany Road’ vying for affections. As Summer fades and Autumn’s bracing chill lurks on the horizon, this cut warms perfectly, chiming the arrival of the long nights. Beautifully rubbed in lush baroque symphonies, there’s a touching cosy toned and sleepy headed vintage attaching here as to suggest it had merrily waltzed from a Dickensian wintry setting. Such nostalgia purrs heartily through its enchanted chords as it weaves affectionately to a festive courtship imbibed on lost folk shanties and teased in the lilting pageantry of the late Greg Lake. Exquisite. https://nathanhallandthesinisterlocals.bandcamp.com/music

Expect further Reverse Family happenings if not this missive, then certainly the next. For now, here’s a newly peeled video accompanying a track ripped from their rather superb debuting full length ‘my songs about midlife crisis’ released earlier this year to much (delayed) in these pages entitled ‘number 6’. A darkly creeping slice of fracturing oddness whose weird ear seesawing sinister paranoia peers from the shadows playing peek-a-boo to perch somewhere on a musical axis between Paul Roland, Lee F Cullen and a playfully phantasmogoric Landscape.

Talking of Lee F Cullen, seems those Duke St. Workshop dudes slyly sneaked this out a month or three ago, blighter near slipped our net. ‘alpha / beta / gamma’ features three distinctly differing tracks, ‘alpha waves’ is your classic DWS fayre, a minimalist mysterio, both remote and spectral, eerie to boot, imagine Zombi / Steve Moore sound tracking forgotten 80’s VHS bargain basement masties. ‘Beta waves’ touches similar terrains, strangely uplifting in a haunting way as though it’s missing a Lucio Fulci film with which to adore. That said, those of you who’ve lain awake at night wondering what if Moroder had jumped into a studio be with Goblin and while sleeping in the following day, both Brad Fiedel and Harold Faltermayer had impishly sneaked in through the back door and retuned the mix tapes with a ‘Tron’ meets ‘Trans’ kosmische tailoring, then ‘gamma waves’ might be right up your information super highway and should ensure a restful night with an end to your mind’s eye fantasy band selections. https://thedukestworkshop.bandcamp.com/

interlude …. Odd sods n’ more curious …. Schema, Broken Water, Laurel Halo, Swim Deep, Autolux, stagnant pools, the stargazer lillies, alison’s halo ….

Schema ….

Broken Water ….

Laurel Halo ….

Swim Deep ….

Autolux …

Stagnant Pools ….

The Stargazer Lillies ….

Alison’s Halo ….

Words fail. Absolutely sublime whether that be down to the courtship afoot between the tenderly teased frost thawing symphonic murmurs and Judy Dyble’s thoughtfully enchanted whispered reflection or that sense of stumbling upon something truly magical. Safe to say you’ll be hard pressed to hear anything as beguiled and demurred as this right now. Both captivating and ghost like, its ice sculptured tremble, yearnful sensitivity and poised intimacy simply fixes you to the spot much like a passing visitation. This is ‘rainy day vibration’ – a track peeled from an archive set released just ahead of a new full length by Sleepyard entitled ‘Appreciation Deux (Demos and Rarities)’ featuring a guest vocal appearance by Judy Dyble, in our book, perfection. https://sleepyard.bandcamp.com/track/rainy-day-vibration-ft-judy-dyble-alternate-version

interlude……cold wave/ post punk………craig sibley, autumn, absolute body control, the scarecrow, 20-20 system, doxa sinistra, polyphonic size, the girls, family fodder….

craig sibley…….