Look what we sneaked online while you were sleeping…
Transmission 41.0…. w/e 15/10/2017
Revolutions of a 33 and 45 kind….
… opening groove ….
Not that we ever reach out as such, but we are planning a Halloween special and a Christmas soiree, so an early heads up to get in touch if you have anything you think we’d be interested in covering here.
In addition, an idea that’s been hatching for a while, we’ve several crates of cassettes and have been thinking of cooking up a ‘slow noise’ soundtrack made up variously of snippets interwoven into a ghost like dream calm. With that in mind and notwithstanding fears of either no participants or, at the other extreme, being deluged with all manner of tapes, we’re now asking folk to root about in attics for discarded unloved cassettes, doesn’t matter about the quality, whether pre-recorded, bootlegs, own musical recordings, field sounds, general radio taping or narration, no styles barred – a welcome sound laboratory is awaiting, thanks for your time.
…. and so, to the music ………
…. features …. Nots, July skies, own brand, dream cycles, wizards tell lies, tomorrow syndicate, sendelica, bong wish, swimming tapes, joe goddard, the helio sequence, dean forever, Nicolai Patricio, the barbiturates, iv league,raptor Koch, the pleasure holes, the pink diamond revue, papernut Cambridge, Darren hayman, the hardy tree, joss cope, smile down upon us, the leaf library, pulco, cahn ingold prelog, dukes of scuba, timothy fife, the heartwood institute, the last sound, all pigs must die, nick Sutton, luna del cazador, the whip angels, ix tab, radiophonic tuckshop, the greek theatre, active listener, lake ruth, the village, Jonathon heron, matthew Edwards and the unfortunates, ben reed, citizen Helene, victoria and Jacob, deafcult, primitive hands, trupa trupa, landing, stefan bachmeier, worriedaboutsatan, pye corner audio, wojciech gokzewski, vibravoid, infinity girl, wk69, punck, yellow6, john peel, louis and bebe barron, Bernard herrman
absolutely no information to hand on this blighter, damn good all the same though. This be nots with ‘anxious trend’ – a single heading out of the famous class imprint. Gloomed in a thickly dense post punk attrition, this stricken sore thumb emerges out of the angular fog with at least one member of their number keen to trip out darkly weaved Cramps opines while the rest clearly in defiant mood are determined to stamp an edgily fractured n’ gruffish seesawing turn that brutally swerves between the Inca Babies and the Triffids as it twists and prowls with shadowy acuteness.
typical of these things, a recent facebook conversation with which we’ve somehow managed to mislay, had us fondly re-acquainted with the sounds of the immaculate Epic 45 who’ll be featuring a little later this missive. Yet it was talk of them that had us fondly remembering their close friends July Skies, the catalogue of whom is now available for digital / CD grab on bandcamp. One of those ensembles for whom the immortal ‘should have been bigger’ tag is so deservingly placed, our recall is of many a night lost in the 00’s being entranced by their murmured mosaics via the artist collective imprint Make Mine Music. From their acclaimed 2004 opus ‘the English cold’ here’s the fragile ghost light ‘East Anglian Skies’, a beautiful fog bound dream haze which even back in the day had us much charmed and somewhat chilled by its forlorn whisper toned bruising, much like a Stylus apparition which despite its hitherto sparse and threadbare detailing, was still equipped with enough of an emotional tug as to leave you hollowed and sighing with head bowed hurt at its passing. https://julyskies.bandcamp.com/track/east-anglian-skies
by all accounts prepped for future appearance on a next year planned release from Own Brand. Hell’s teeth we still haven’t had time to tire of loving the current Own Brand ‘songs to accompany the punk rock heritage trail’ opus and now the blighter is talking of new grooves afoot. Mind you this is workaholic Allan Murphy, who when not Own Brand, can be found alternating between any number of guises – notably Midwich Youth Club, Polymer Cities and more besides including stuff he doesn’t readily admit to, instead teasing them out secretly without fuss or fanfare for you to trip over. ‘true love’ is your classic snot nosed sub 2-minute slab of fried and frayed pogo popped day-glo daftness, clearly nodding to the great Captain, as in Sensible with just the merest of spiky graffiti from the Jilted John, hours of fun, okay 92 seconds and a welcomed connection to a time when pop was fun and not determined by a marketing strategy that fleeces and forgets the fan. https://soundcloud.com/midwich-youth-club/own-brand-true-love
I’ll be honest in saying that we have absolutely no info on this, that said perfect for Sunday morning listening I’d like to think. I’m at a total loss, is it a mix tape, radio show, new, old, what. The only clues here are a reference to Roland Bocquet, the overall happening is a fifty three minute chill pill cooked up, by the looks of it, by the Dream Cycles folk – this extended recording going by the name ‘Morning~Gardening With Jenn #4 DDR 17.09.17’ – this is so radiantly feel good, blissful and trippy that you might want to consider strapping yourself in for fear of floating away amid its amorphous array of calypso church chimes, dissipating choral corteges, lounge jazz, arabesque mysterios, chamber ambience and overall sense of passing into the ethereal, in short an absolute head trip, shame there’s no download link. https://soundcloud.com/dystopiandream_cycles/morninggardening-with-jenn-4-ddr-170917
Not quite sure how this happened, admitting we’re a tad concerned by the fact, but somehow, we managed to thus far miss Wizards Tell Lies sonic activity. Well missed until now. Sneaked out a mere week ago, this is ‘the dust separates’, a track which thus far o initial listens, isn’t ringing familiar alarm bells but dare I say we’ll no doubt be told later it’s an oldie culled from an album previously much cherished here. Oh heck. Whatever the case, a ten-minute sonic fry up which at times takes you to very lonely places, a psychotropic mind trip therein spliced through with moments of acrid sonic solder burns pierced with a momentary dream sequence and oodles of Radiophonic wizardry, the void born intensity of which might have you thinking it had plugged itself into mains of Sonic Boom’s more out there EAR happenings. Happy to say all the WTL tropes remain intact as is all the usual atmosphere pre-sets, which usual centre around time locked parallel dystopias, extra-terrestrial experimentations / abductions and just generally split dimensional occurrences you thought were fiction and the stuff of Weird Tales and the like. Think again. https://simimansound.bandcamp.com/album/the-dust-separates
Much welcomed message from Gerard of Tomorrow Syndicate alerting us to newly peeled sound and vision in the shape of ‘warped v3’. Emerging blissed in a silver space age vintage, this starry navigator purrs upon a coolly coalescing motorik murmur tone, an astral gliding psychedelic pop rocket feeding on kosmische vapours whilst emitting solar love notes all sumptuously housed in a chicly contoured sonic capsule that fuses euphoria rising hints of Magazine, TV Personalities and La Dusseldorf to its cosmically radiant melodic mainframe. Their debut full length is pencilled in for adoring activity via polytechnic youth sometime Spring.
Been a missive or three since we featured anything Fruits de Mer related that we half suspected you folk might be suffering withdrawal symptoms. Fear not for new Sendelica happenings have come our way. Now the keen eyed among you, may well have noted for some while now, talk of a Sendelica special due to land around Christmastime, that is if you keep abreast of the furious release activity as listed on the FdM incoming page. Admittedly we’ve already set aside a special place for a super limited Schizo Fun Addict occurrence, whilst elsewhere the new year is greeted with planned outings by Moloko+ and the pretty things. For Sendelica’s part, a revisit to the Mwnci studio last summer had them reacquainting themselves with the spirit of 2015’s ‘Cromlech Chronicles’ to pick up the threads where they left off and expand / utilise and harness upon the mystical vibe that the surrounding landscape afforded. ‘Cromlech Chronicles II’ is the resulting account. A much different Sendelica beast emerges, more considered, more earthy and hitherto, more in touch with the elements, at least that’s what comes across upon hearing ‘ripples of the magaliths’. An atmospheric titan, it finds Sendelica turning an acute musical curve, where once these reviews would be peppered with descriptions such as bonged and beardy, they now freely express themselves in a narration more alluding to the land. For here there’s a gentle ascendancy that’s spiritually bewitching, its atmospheric charging adored in pastoral whispers and woodland coos, the way it takes an age to stir from its sleepy headed slumber as though engulfed in a magical snoozing fog, its chamber curvatures woozily weaving to an alluring yet primitively snaking mystic tongue. It’s both an eclectic and ethereal craft whose spellbinding charm is optimised by the skulking off in search of a quiet space for intimate listening through headphones thus blocking out clutter of modern day life. As ever ‘Cromlech Chronicles II’ comes pressed up in various limited editions, the most eye watering of which, the usual unfathomably wowing band / label cobbled together box set which includes – wait for it – t-shirt, live DVD, make your own dream catcher, poster, build your own chocolate cromlech, a seven inch single, a set of 5 7 inch prints and of course the album – coloured and housed in a gatefold sleeve and you thought the Chemistry Set special edition was beyond belief. https://sendelica.bandcamp.com/album/cromlech-chronicles-ii
One day into this particular week’s musings and this one by our reckoning is making early wow overtures to overcome the competition in being the track of the missive. Heading out of the beyond beyond is beyond imprint, who of late have a plethora of killer releases, most of which we’ll be featuring in the coming days, this is ‘in the sun’ by the excellently titled Bong Wish. Really is quite something else in the way it harnesses those peculiarly enchanting baroque arrangements that were once a thing for Brian Jones and which to the fore are lead, paraded and serenaded by a vocal that sounds as though it’s been distilled of equal measures drawn from Linda Perhacs, Bridget St John and Marianne Faithful. An utterly adorable cut dreamily daubed in birdsong and a genteel faraway floral whimsy. https://soundcloud.com/mike-newman/04-in-the-sun
Recently found heading out of the hand in jive imprint, this is the Swimming Tapes with the rather turntable tempting ‘Alison’, a track lifted from their ‘soft sea blue’ EP – all wonderfully shimmer toning jangle demurs teased in a surrendering shyness whose affectionately soft radiance had almost believing it had stepped from a Sarah back catalogue or from a latest matinee records listing, a label who sadly we’ve heard little from of late, anyway this ‘un almost had us recalling a very youthful Trashcan Sinatras, no bad thing there I hasten to add. https://soundcloud.com/swimmingtapes/alison
… and finally, for this evening, this one by Joe Goddard, as remixed here by Richard Norris, actually caught our ear this morning until in a brief hissy fit our laptop decided to stall, freak out and go into a momentary melt down thus losing the links – ahem. Anyhow this is the quite superb ‘children of the sun’ here oozed with a mooching nocturnal glowed psychotropic club floor trim which in truth had us much recalling a young astral gliding Moby albeit here as though phased through an Orbital hot wash and dry smoked by the Aloof. Guaranteed will drop little earworm eggs into your psyche when your guard is down ready to hatch when you least expect. https://soundcloud.com/richardnorris/joe-goddard-children-of-the-sun
Isn’t this quite homely, kind of has you fizzing up with a warming buzz as though someone has lit a little stove where your stomach ought to be, this be the helio sequence with a track entitled ‘out among the sheltering pines’ through the marmoset music imprint. I’m feeling Christmassy, is it snowing outside, hell’s teeth I’m a tad smitten, part Shady Bard meets Low Anthem, don’t get me started on those jubilant crescendos impacting momentarily throughout or the delicately sprayed seasoning of prairie pastoral daubs and the spectral sepia touching of campfire choral cosiness arriving at the end, utterly breath-taking in a giddy up and stop being maudlin type way. https://soundcloud.com/marmosetmusic/out-among-the-sheltering-pines-by-the-helio-sequence
also found fighting its way into our affections, Dean Forever’s ‘reverse’ – alas no information on this, apparently there’s a debut album arriving December time, but beyond that the clue trail goes cold. Safe to say courting a craft that dips, darts and shadow plays between sunny 60’s mosaics, noir trimmed chic and an alluring bliss kissed feel good radiance that at once nods to St Etienne, Broadcast, LeSuperHomard, Lake Ruth and Beautify Junkyards – seriously I kid you not, adorable in a word. https://soundcloud.com/deanforever/reverse-1
again another we stumbled over by sheer accident, a little something that we’d like to feel might well attract the interest of those among you attune to the sounds of say, Home Normal and Cathedral Transmissions. This is the stilled and mournfully frost toned ‘ten thousand miles alone’ by Nicolai Patricio, an immensely beguiling beauty soured in reflection and embued with a ghostly classicist translucence who fragile persona arcs and sighs to the swelling emotional response more becoming of something signed off with a Sakamoto signature. https://soundcloud.com/nicolaipatricio/ten-thousand-miles-alone-1
many thanks to the folk over at the Barbiturates for sending over the newly peeled live version of ‘psychotic mediator’, blighter had us pogoing to collapse, scuffed n’ scuzzed three chord spiked punk-a-hula that initial betrays an admiration for ‘songs the lord taught us’ era Cramps in the ranks before going all splendidly wiry and schizoid in a Stewart Copeland Police penning awkward crookedness type way, distractively demented is all we’re gonna say. More please and soon. https://soundcloud.com/thebarbiturates/psychotic-mediator
this one arrives armed with a kick and a swing that by rights ought to come replete with anti-infectious jabs, punch you out dream pop woo woo from the IV League courtesy of the stupidly immediate and up close and personal ‘change my mind’, a track which I’ll be honest has been, to use the common parlance, doing our skon in trying to recall exactly who it reminds us of, in which case after the 15th listen on the trot, only joking, the blurring recall of a youthful Sinead O’Connor in a face off with a ‘turn to the sky’ era March Violets slowly flittered to the fore. Anyway whatever the case, this widescreen honey peels and radiates with such an effervescent glow that you are likely to suffer after burns. https://soundcloud.com/ivleaguemusic/change-my-mind
not enough Frank Zappa covers in the world of pop for our liking, so is it any wonder we were onto this in an eye blink. A stunning re-reading of ‘hungry freaks daddy’ by Raptor Koch, the Mothers were the ultimate outsider band – freaked, fried and above all insanely fun, this version a near faithful reminder as to how impish and zany they were into the bargain infusing all with a fracturing kaleidoscopic waywardness that’s sumptuously threaded with a tripping blues beat swing, oodles of west coast mellowness and healthy helping of freak pop goofiness. Also features the much-underused kazoo which along with whistling, harmonicas, hiccupping and dog barks ought to be songcraft mainstays. https://soundcloud.com/raptorkoch/hungry-freaks-daddy-mothers-of-invention-cover
takes a while to hook I’ll admit, but stick with it and from out of the fuzzing haze of feedback a scuzzing shoegaze siren call emerges that okay, initial listening may nod to my bloody valentine or more so Ride, but scratch a little deeper down and amid the hissing haloes something appears etched in the spirit of an ‘every heaven’ era Boo Radleys. This be the pleasure holes with a track by the name of ‘suction’ – beyond that the information alas runs cold. https://soundcloud.com/the-pleasure-holes/suction
sexiest thing in planet pop just about now or yesterday or tomorrow for that matter. This is trio the Pink Diamond Revue with ‘go-go girl’ – a super psyched future vision both seductive and sleazy, think TVAM wired up to Add N to X with the purring pulsar pop finesse of Fuxa and the shadowy glazing of a very youthful Sisters of Mercy transmitting subliminal frequencies from their collective hive mind, a psychotropic chill trip fusing elements of cold war grooves with a VHS dystopian vintage. Crucial in a word. https://soundcloud.com/thepinkdiamondrevue/go-go-girl-13
Live dates
14th October – Oxjam – Reading
30th October – Windmill – Brixton
Tape tastiness in the shape of a cool looking cassette split between the much-admired sound houses of Gare Du Nord and WIAIWYA. Twenty tracks lurk within this soft pack styled cigarette packaging, very Gauloises / Gitanes. Going by the name ‘Disques d’Or: Sélection’, the set was cobbled together for appearance at the recent Paris Independent Label Market and features a host of familiar names. With full mentions looming for a near later date, we’ve been quickly grabbing earfuls of selected cuts for preview, noting an appearance by Papernut Cambridge. The husky ‘crying’ is crisply grooved in a shyly formed lo-fi touching, its sensitively sympathetic ache slowly peeling to sound like some hitherto forgotten and lost Hefner nugget all the time gathering its wherewithal shifting the pace, emerging out of its frail skin forged upon a smoky campfire seasoning that mellows to a wistful Jesus and Mary Chain like smouldering giddy up. Talking of Hefner, Darren Hayman’s ‘black rock baths’ is given a magically autumnal overhaul by the Hardy Tree, finding itself retuned in a wonderfully alluring sepia tied pastoral eerie that much recalls a late 90’s Birmingham scene much surveyed on vinyl once upon a time, by the much-missed Wurlitzer Jukebox imprint, reference wise see Pram and Broadcast. Somewhere else the stupidly cool ‘learn to float’ by Joss Cope arrives packed with soft psych smarts aplenty, upon its sleek n’ lysergic 60’s kaleidoscopic swing an acutely feel good fanfare parps to an attractive sonic carnival led from the fore by a fusing of July, Scott Walker and Robyn Hitchcock personas. Last up for this brief mention, been a while since Smile Down Upon Us had our listening space arrested in all manner of fondness, ‘magical breath’ here as revisualised by the Leaf Library, is tripped and reformed as a seductively woozy ghost light whose Oriental floral posies delicately dissolve in a heavenly haze of teasingly lulled shapeshifting rapture. https://garedunordrecords.bandcamp.com/album/disques-dor-s-lection-gare-du-nord-wiaiwya-compilation
I do wish folk who we love would stop sneaking out releases without telling us, makes us all a tad miserable. Inadvertently caught sight of this on the North Wales Sound Art Society band camp page, the reason for us being there was the result of receiving an email from them alerting us to a damn dinky and dandy looking fanzine they’ve just put out called ‘Dukes of Scuba’ which we will be mentioning in slightly more detail a little later, I say more detail, we might have to expand massively on the one sentence fanfare they paraded in front of us by means of a nudge. Of course we are only teasing. Laters for that though. For now, Pulco we’ve discovered sneaked out this here ‘Gargoyle’ EP. We’ll leave the man himself to explain the background to the EP ‘…..the tracks for this EP were hastily recorded in one take back in early 2017. I’d been listening to Blurt on heavy rotation and this was my response. It was one of those moments when you just have to hit record and make some noise’. Indeed. Now I must admit to having a considerable amount of affection for his stuff when he just cuts loose and gets a tad fractured and wiry as is the case here. Four tracks feature within, the set opening to the delightfully fried and skewingly melodic ‘at the racetrack’ which for fans of Guided by Voices and perhaps Southall Riot to a little lesser extent, we suggest gluing your ears upon. Elsewhere there’s the scuffed swing of ‘chip shop blues’ to contend with, quite frankly a pure distilling of Captain Beefheart extract, totally off the wall and well barking, frazzled and goofy, very early Fall like at times. ‘feral foods’ and ‘toof’ round matters out to the end groove, the former menacingly stilled in an awkwardly coiling austere lo-fi’d chill while the latter, the shortest cut here and perhaps all said, our favourite moment of the set is a taughtly tense serving of delightfully detuned and damaged n’ wiry math contortionism that seesaws waywardly upon a spikily threadbare palette of crooked Van Vliet non- pop. https://nwsas.bandcamp.com/album/gargoyle-ep
…. Staying with Pulco, well related anyway, seems Recordiau Prin have been sneaking out releases while our backs been turned, the latest of which is a double disc set from the mysterious Cahn Ingold Prelog in the advancing chill that is ‘tolerance’ from off which prepare to be gloomed in the isolationist disquiet of ‘unexpected item in the baggage area’. Seriously, I think these folk have been taking tips from the Aetheric community, for this ice glazed slab of pulsing bleakness has been forming an ever growing black hole where once was our listening space, very disturbing and void like, in truth perfect for those of you well attuned to the ominous hypno-grooves found manifesting the ‘Quatermass’ soundtrack and sadly not the kind of ear ware that you’re ever likely to find cropping up on Desert Island Discs any day soon. . https://recordiauprin.bandcamp.com/album/tolerance
little bit of a heads up for something we promised to mention earlier, a message from the North Wales Sound Art Society alerting us to their freshly pressed ‘Dukes of Scuba’ fanzine. These dudes shed the light on all things noise / drone / Avant grot/improv and dictaphonix – the latter of which, a genre I’m suspecting we really must do our level best to tap into. Anyhow issue 1 is among us, for the princely sum of one new pound you get in return an A6 fold out zine featuring all manner of the above – a little pic accompanying their band camp order page hints of features on our glassie azoth though here erroneously noted arzoth – who are we to say, still smarting over the Bong Fish / Wish cock up – ahem – and Yokonono. Anyway, we’ve ordered our copy, guess there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do the same. https://nwsas.bandcamp.com/merch/dukes-of-scuba-a6-music-zine-issue-1
a teaser taster of wonderfulness to come via Burning Witches’ forthcoming cassette store day happening. Peeled from the labels ‘Halloween brew’ tape release this is Timothy Fife. Shortly to be making a Polytechnic Youth debut, you know the deal limited in number hand pressed lathe editions by the 345rpm folk, anyhow this is ‘polykinesis’ a beautifully dream hazed slice of pastoral kosmische, sitting somewhere between Plaid and John Carpenter c. ‘lost themes’ all delicately spun with a vintage spray of bucolic much like the grooves pressed to wax by Vic Mars though here subtly invested with the eerie of a lost Giallo horror soundtrack. In short something that ought to appeal as much to those Polypores / Pye Corner Audio among you as it to those adoring Villa9 studio and Klaus Morlock. https://soundcloud.com/user-85346688/polykinesis
Many thanks to the Heartwood Institute for sending over his much anticipated ‘Halloween’ release. This ‘un arrives at the end of the month just ahead of a planned Polytechnic Youth full length which is currently stalled at the pressing plant. Entitled ‘Witch phase four one’, the set features five newly peeled slices of eerie electronic macabre. Not wanting to jump the gun, we’ll be revisiting this at some stage towards the end of next week, a little nearer to its release I guess. However, that said, we couldn’t pass up on mentioning the parting track, the chilling 14-minute aftermath that is ‘the legend of Hell House’. Those fully embraced in all things Melmoth the Wanderer and Villa9 Studios, will be all too familiar with the disturbia unfolding here, its sense of deep unravelling psychosis, paranoia and supernaturalia collude to enact a shivery sonic séance that unlocks the doors of both dream and nightmare bringing forth a glooming colossal where readings from cult horror films walk spectre like amid the unearthly shadows. The feeling of descending into a fracturing madness is palpable, the loneliness, isolationism and futility is as hollowing as it is harrowing with the atmospherics stilled with a deathly cold grace, very VHS cult flick terrains. Perfect fright wig ear gear those coming All Hallow’s Eve scares.
Acutely known for dropping the occasional sore thumb, Whirling Hall of Knives releases are met with a degree of intrigue and must hear curiosity around these here parts. So, it was a spot of unexpected niceness following a particularly trying day that caused the forming of a wee smile upon our anxious features, when we received a message from the Barry half of the band alerting us to a little extra curricula activity that he’s been up to. The Last Sound be the name of the project, latest to their quiet release roster, a four-track cassette heading of the Newcastle based Cruel Nature imprint entitled the ‘Fluenz’ EP. A more pop orientated species of the WHoK creative hive mind, don’t get me wrong ‘Fluenz’ is peppered with peculiar and abstract aplenty, each repeat listen taking you down a differing rabbit hole, almost as though each of the tracks are upgrading and maturing behind your back in your absence. Splashed in oodles of day glo colouring, there’s a radiant jubilance that attaches throughout, crystallising on the parting ‘we’re all here’ whereupon dreamily tripped trance beats skip and dissolve amid a floaty sonic oasis teased in woozily wafts of vaporesque psychedelia spliced in kookily alluring celestial trims hinting of an early 70’s bucolic vintage whilst weaved in hypno grooving motorik mosaics. ‘All’s ringing’ – the sets opener sublimely fuses the retro futuro etchings of TVAM with a youthful Ariel Pink to craft out a curiously affectionate kaleidoscopic ghost light. Somewhere else, ‘full beam’ sets its tractor beams to lock onto the gloopy kraut kooled mesmerics of Stirling Roswell onto its chassis wiring a frost framed mind-expanding motif that taps directly into the melodic mindset of a shadowy early 80’s electro chic where frequent a gathering of DAF and Bill Nelson types. While lest we forget to mention ‘oh begin’ – a hyper gliding solar flare whose haze blurring showers of softly psyched euphoria hint of midwich youth club in a face off with a particular flirty Add N to X. https://cruelnaturerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/fluenz-ep
Blimey no hiding place here, about you like a furious rash barely giving you time to draw your breathe or wherewithal. This is All Pigs Must Die with a teaser title track plucked untimely from their forthcoming fury ‘hostage animal’ approaching at pace through southern lord later this month. A scathing alliance of agit apocalypsia and torment, gouged and scarred with a skin flailing Killing Joke brutality, an end of days final stand impacted by an urgently festering war like cauldron of blistered bedlam.
Live dates:
October 19 Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus
October 20 Boston, MA @ Great Scott
October 21 Providence, RI @ AS220
I fancy we might have to go with cap in hand begging for downloads of this, another from the Cruel Nature imprint – see the Last Sound elsewhere here – this is the troublingly beautiful and immaculate Luna Del Cazador. On limited edition cassette pressing – just 40 – this is ‘nature, you are alone’ from off which, opener ‘red lands’ has been breaking hearts around these here parts since rearing up on our listening radar. A disquietingly seductive glacial hymnal softly submerged in a cavernously wallowing sonic howling all bedded upon a fixed stare earthbeat rumble, from its shadowy hidey hole eking a mesmeric spell craft gouged in a forlornly bruised soul sting, this damaged and head bowed apparition nods subtly to a vintage that recalls both XMal Deutschland and Pink Military with a dusting of the Virgin Passages and the coolly frosted stateliness and stilled majesty of Glissando. https://cruelnaturerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/nature-you-are-alone
Heading out of the Burning Witches stable shortly, Nick Sutton’s sparsely toned suspense soundtrack for ‘transmission’, a psychological descent into paranoia and terror. Not the first time that Mr Sutton has troubled these pages, his track ‘prayer’ being one of the highlights of Anti Ghost Moon Ray’s recently released second ‘annual general meeting’ compilation – see here https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2017/07/22/annual-general-meeting-record-volume-2/ . This here a wee taster in demo form of, we’re led to understand, the title track, at once disquieting and sinister, yet strangely engaged and smothered in a mesmeric and ethereal beauty, the softly turned bowed arcs crafting an eerie blankness all the time pulsing to a minimalist murmur as though a dancing visitation pulled through the veil, all wonderfully isolationist I should add tripped with a smidgeon of the macabre and unworldly. https://soundcloud.com/nicksuttonmusic/transmission
Here’s a trailer for the film itself,
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/193451667″>TRANSMISSION // 35MM SHORT FILM TRAILER</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/parallelmadness”>PARALLEL MADNESS</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
We were of half a mind to leave this until the end of the month, Halloween looming so on and so forth, but this being Friday the 13th, we thought we’d spread the chill a little. Goosebumps aside not to mention the visuals depicting a lady in black almost floating gently with ne’er do well intent in mind with mini scythe in hand is all very jeepers creepers. Add to the mix the grainy monochrome filmics and the deathly score attaching, prowling as though summoned from supernatural means and all of a sudden, the sun goes into hiding and an overhanging sense of anxiety and troubling trepidation stirs with black hearted emptiness. This be Whip Angels hooked up to IX Tab for the aptly titled ‘death is coming’. The plot thickens when you follow the link to the bandcamp page for an extended version of ‘The Smoke and The Birds (Fuck in Paris Remix)’ whereupon matters take a seemingly wrong turn towards a place you really don’t want to visit in daytime let alone darkness. For here a portal opens, perhaps through a Scrying mirror, to a place beyond, where dreams, nightmares, legend and myth cross weave dissolving perceptions and beliefs to uncannily harvest a deepening sense of entombed disturbia. https://whipangels.bandcamp.com/track/the-smoke-and-the-birds-fuck-in-paris-remix
A Walrus-ian magic parade greets the entrance fanfare of the latest Active Listener sampler with the rather squiffily trip-a-delic lysergic oompah of Radiophonic Tuckshop’s kaleidoscopic dreamcoat ‘Kensington garden pie’, very Murmurs of Irma like cross tweaked with the Dukes of Stratosfear and healthy dose of the Luck of the Eden Hall all indelibly cut in the finest tapestries of thee olde English eccentrica. Indeed, I can scarcely believe it myself, a new sampler, this one is called ‘the new and improved active sampler’, not that I could see any wrong in previous incarnations. A 18 strong gathering of woozy psych, acid folk and all manner of head tripping strangeness from across the globe, we will be coming back to this again at intervals in order to give it maximum coverage. For now, though a smattering of teasers, first five tracks then. We here finding ourselves somewhat lulled beneath the magical spell of Lake Ruth’s utterly beguiling ‘The Great Selkie’ a vintage sun dazed pastoral weaved of Magnet bouquets all softly stirred in crystalline Byrds-ian chimes which by these ears evoke an imagining of a midway place sitting somewhere Clock Strikes 13, the Ladybug Transistor and Camera Obscura. ‘heron pool’ courtesy of Jonathon Heron from a remarkable collection of songs called ‘skylark’ which we really must go back to for a fuller listen, was mentioned briefly over at https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2017/09/24/jonathon-heron/ – all I’ll say is that this should appeal to all who’ve found themselves much smitten by Scott William Urquhart, the Owl Service and the Freed Unit. I think I’m right in saying that the Greek Theatre have yet to feature in these pages, judging by the love pouring forth upon ‘just a little drop of rain’ I’d say we’ll be revisiting these folk again very shortly. This particular cut is teased with the same kind of lazy eyed mellowness that attracted us to the Snails, to a dizzy lollop a wheezing carnival troops into sight bringing with it a flavouring of misty folk seasoned in softly woven psychedelic petals, something we here are assuming that should be of interest to those much loving l’augmentation, dollboy and tunng. Last up for this brief ramble, ‘voodoo skull’ by the Village which unless our ears do deceive a tad, appears under the influence the mighty Nick Saloman nee Bevis Frond he himself strangely channelling Robyn Hitchcock and a certain Stan Ridgway, an impish cut that insidiously works its way beneath your skin courting a vintage early 70’s flashing and a rather nifty woozy psych blues detailing. https://theactivelistener.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-improved-active-listener-sampler
…. back with that rather spiffing ‘Disques d’Or: Sélection’ split cassette release from the Gare Du Nord and WIAIWYA sound houses with a special thanks to Ian at GdN for shipping out so fast. A lovely looking tape release, which frankly we’ve kept sealed though whether that was the wisest idea we’ve had all day remains to be seen given we are having issues with the download code that it arrived with. The joys of advancing years young people, bet ya can’t wait. Anyhow squeezing a few more mentions for a trio or more of selections you’ll find adoring its ferric housing, first up being ‘the willow girl’ by Matthew Edwards and the Unfortunates which I don’t mind saying has had us a tad smitten not least because there’s a ghostly melancholy courting about its tender framing that in an instant had us much recalling the alluring shadowy folk of Rhys Marsh in so much as evoking that self same poetic tenderness and frail winter toned head bowed classicist romance whose roots sigh to a lineage drawing back to Nick Drake. Previously unknown to us, Ben Reed serves up the quite delicious ‘maniac man’ which in truth happily bobs about casually buoyed a softly tingling and delicately spun subtle MOR pop motif which had we not any better would have suspected, had resulted from an evening studio lock in gathering oddfellows casino, andy partridge and the brigadier. And how could we resist not mentioning Citizen Helene’s ‘how can you find somebody to love’ here remixed and remodelled into an extended variant and given a slickly nocturnally chic toned club floor purring shimmy or two with the addition of some smoky glazing and an amorphous vapour-esque ghosting. Victoria and Jacob’s ‘Festival’ rounds out the set, this one being recut by Johan Hedberg and a result finding itself sumptuously kissed with a tropical spraying of love noted Balearic after burns. https://garedunordrecords.bandcamp.com/album/disques-dor-s-lection-gare-du-nord-wiaiwya-compilation
This wonderful slab of raucous racket is out about now through the esteemed Alien Snatch imprint, by Primitive Hands and ripped from a self-titled debut full length this is the garage punk-a-hula grooved ‘summer school’, a razor sharp up close and personal 79 second pogoing feral scuffed n’ scuzzed boogie is how you’d best describe it, the kind of coolly impacting day glo damage that the likes of Estrus used to run out with ridiculous frequency back in the day. https://soundcloud.com/aliensnatch/primitive-hands-summer-school
must stop this wandering around bandcamp and sound cloud malarkey, getting a tad ridiculous all the tracks we trip over, this is a release that was sneaked out a month or five ago, by Deafcult this is ‘rubix’ which should you want, and you will, is out and out via the wonderfully named Hobbledehoy imprint from an album entitled ‘auras’. One of those dream pop lovelies, fear not there’ll be more similar sorties a little later. This ‘un is ablaze in bliss kissed euphoric shooting stars, all vapour rushed siren sighs and celestial murmurs beautifully bleached in radiant showers of sonic sun burns of the kind you usually expect to find hurtling out of the esteemed saint marie imprint with a sting in their tail. https://soundcloud.com/hobbledehoyrecords/deafcult-rubix
Let’s not get fussy or sniffy about this, but I’m suspecting Trupa Trupa’s second full length, the impishly titled ‘jolly new songs’, due for release near the end of the month via blue tapes and x-ray / Ici d’ailleurs records, might if we bother to do one, find itself in the end of year best of listings. ‘coffin’ has just been raised from the set, think I may have said this on previous occasion, but no band does grandeur and majesty on such a divine slow burn as these folk, discounting that is Vukovar, who themselves are readying up to release ‘puritan’ shortly, copies coming I believe. Okay from what we can gather, ‘coffin’ is a strangely macabre love song lyrically speaking, delicately daubed in lazy eyed opines, think of a Butterflies of Love variant of the Velvets, the countrified mellowing tones crystallising dreamy to a relaxing what if sigh only to, at the 1.44 point, suddenly take a double turn and to the radiant spray of shimmering sonic fanfares a jubilant white light emerges and burns ever fiercer in intensity casting a tear staining rapturous finale before disappearing over the hill gone.
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/235387465″>Trupa Trupa – Coffin</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/user71710772″>Trupa Trupa</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Last time we mentioned them here they near blew us away, looks like matters haven’t changed. This is Landing with the simply sublime ‘tape’, admittedly it’s been out for a while but still a treat to hear, suspended in seduction, tripped in all manner of dissipating flutterby like flotillas all intricately sewn into a surrendering chill toned love note atop of which, angelic whispers flicker and flutter in the ether, in truth a demurring dream pop sweetheart breathlessly kissed in a woozy ghost like allure that’s sveltely nods equal in parts, elements of Durutti Column and Steve Reich. https://soundcloud.com/landingtryyps/tape
we were hoping to snaffle this on a rare visit into the metropolis to sample the delights of cassette store day at our local record emporium, alas the shelves where bare, just one tape release, which of course we snapped up, a later mention for that one. This however, caught our eye earlier in the week, one of two excellent releases from the spun out of control tape label, this being ‘quantum teleportation’ by Stefan Bachmeier from a release going by the name ‘Anomaly On Meadow Lane’. Certainly, plugging into the kind of kosmische trance tech terrains explored at frequency by the likes of Polypores and Pye Corner Audio, Mr Bachmeier harvests a wonderfully serene and dare I say, mesmeric star gazing sound spectrum whose locked looped murmuring motorik pulsars trip a future seeing vintage that’s acutely versed in the ways of a 70’s styled German electronic schooling. https://spunoutofcontrol.bandcamp.com/album/anomaly-on-meadow-lane
staying with the spun out of control imprint, been a while since worriedaboutsatan last troubled these musings, their long-held silence now broken by the appearance on our radar of ‘blank tape’ from off which, we’ve found ourselves a tad smitten by the track ‘forward into night’. Starts slowly, the spectral atmospherics initially emitting what sound like opining distress calls, soon delicately unfurling into a hive of activity almost as though the ice sculptured fragile stasis has been awoken by some kind of thawing process itself resulting in the unfurling of a fertile oasis from which what peels away is a beautifully trippy mosaic alive with a joyous cosmic earth beat threaded through by a dubtronic intelligence, quite alluring and transfixing in a kind of Plaid transplanted with a Biosphere mindset type way. https://spunoutofcontrol.bandcamp.com/album/blank-tape
another cassette release we were hoping to lay our hands upon, but now looks unlikely as they appear to have nearly all sold out, we were after the glittery one – damn, is from the Burning Witches imprint who admittedly we’ve been making a fuss off lately. Anyhow their much anticipated ‘Witches Halloween Brew’ has finally surfaced, a dark hearted affair attended upon by a nineteen strong gathering which by way of a quick flick through the tracklisting features a cut by Pye Corner Audio entitled ‘forbidden scenario 5’. A brooding monolith dreaded in the gloom glazed dystopian future visions of a cult VHS age, equal nods to Carpenter and Fiedel lurk amid its stone cold deathly stare as it crafts an imagining of Zombi thumbing through old school Fulci movies for source inspiration. And while we were just going to briefly visit the compilation and then go off in search with cap in hand for downloads, we stumbled upon Wojciech Golczewski’s enigmatically tear stained ‘get out’, a wonderfully sensitive lights going out kosmische symphony spliced through with the kind of alluring finesse that occasioned the grooves of Carpenter’s recent ‘lost themes’ series and here I’m thinking ‘utopian façade’. https://burningallwitches.bandcamp.com/album/witches-halloween-brew
Talking of Vibravoid (see last missive – Timemazine), here’s a little something from last year’s trip pill freak storm ‘wake up before you die’ – a copy of which we really must nail for ourselves or else run the risk of spontaneous combustion. This incidentally, is the title track, a reverb soaked astral ride to the oblivion, an absolutely stoned head tripping kaleidoscopic whirlpool navigating mystic psych terrains populated by the sounds of both hookworms and toy.
Would I be right in saying that these folk have been somewhat touched by the bliss kissed tonalities of My Bloody Valentine, I’d like to think so. These dudes, in case you are wondering, go by the name Infinity Girl and this be ‘but I’m slow’ – a single we believe heading out of the disposable America sound house, which on the evidence of this sly teaser tasting might be worth the effort in tracking down given that they seem to have married perfectly that cool rush of shade adorning classicism to find a middle ground between the likes of Ride and the Ultra Vivid Scene.
… and talking of brief teaser tastes, here’s a very ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ excerpt of forthcoming chill escaping from out of the Bored Machines sound house. From trio WK569, a homage to sound alchemist Marino Zuccheri. Indeed, a forgotten founding architect in the development of electronic music, a sound engineer at the forward-thinking Milan RAI Electronic Music Studio, Zuccheri has remained a name only known to the few. Information about him is nigh on scant, no make that very nearly non-existent, don’t believe, then type it into google and see what returns. He died several years ago, clearly sick and frail, he had been buoyed that the label die schachtel where planning to release his ‘parete’ opus, alas he would never see its release passing away shortly before its appearance. Determined to keep his memory alive, and no doubt bring his name into more common conversation, WK569’s homage is honed with that pioneering vintage tone, harsh, acute and unworldly, it emerges from the dark side of the Radiophonic Workshop in particular Daphne Oram though immersed with the technique of Stockhausen and Henry, much reminiscent it should be said, of the brutally out there soundscapes that backdropped the ‘Quatermass’ series, machine rock in its purest form.
Staying with boring machines, here’s a little something released last year by Punck, in essence Adriano Zanni, whose latest release, is prepped for feature next missive out – apologies for the delay Mr Zanni. But back to Punck, this is ‘Piallassa’ – a beautifully caressed rustic nugget whose delightfully dreamy cascades easily draw kinship with Gavin Baker – another apologetic delay who’ll be featured very soon, the tranquil bird song atop the rush of wave washes courting a reflective safe spot that’s found sitting alongside the eloquent and elegant sparse detail of Dan Haywood’s New Hawks.
‘about the journey….
we each have two things in common – we’re born and we die. what happens between those two events is entirely personal and unique. rather than race blindly towards the finish line, look around as you pass by, enjoy the scenery, experience everything. life is not about the destination, it’s about the journey’.
A sentiment to which we totally concur. Before you all start thinking I’ve gone all philosophical and deep on you, not my words, but the words that greet the latest from Yellow6. If you hold onto your hats a wee while, we will be featuring ‘about the journey’ in more detail later in the week. As ever, time restraints and other such nonsense mean that for now we’ve concentrated our ears on the bitter sweet beauty ‘death of nostalgia (further back)’. Possessed of all the usual Y6 tropes – poise, stateliness and majesty, ‘death of nostalgia’ is bruised in a reflective ghosting, its emotional impact slowly unravelling your defences. Moored between the more mellowed moments found on Montgomery / Heaphy’s ‘true’ set for kranky yet despatched with a slow burn demur that’s tailored exquisitely in the kind of personal haunting that comes to pass when night arrives and you find yourself alone with mind a wandering. It’s something that aside, much recalling say, Roy Budd, has been a theme running at the very core of Mr Atwood’s craft from day one only now maturingly so, in so much as his ability to not only create a cinematic skin that folds tenderly around his sparse arrangements, but his unique understanding of one’s own personal space and the reflective joys and spectres that emerge once in close intimate proximity. The set incidentally, a five tracker, is due for limited appearance via sound in silence, well worth investigating if only to hear the very Morricone-esque ‘last day’ – but more of that later in the week. https://yellow6.bandcamp.com/album/about-the-journey
Mr Atwood nee Yellow6 will be making a very rare appearance at the Champion Version presents Edition 1 gathering at the Iklectik where he’ll be sharing the stage with Rothko and the Darkroom, not all at the same time you understand, though that would make for an interesting spectacle. The event is to be hosted on 12th October and there is talk of very limited lathe pressings being made available for purchase by the Champion Version folk at the event.
Peel corner …..
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
End groove …..
the sunday experience 