Look what we sneaked online while you were sleeping… Transmission 42.0…. w/e 22/10/2017

Look what we sneaked online while you were sleeping…

Transmission 42.0…. w/e 22/10/2017

Revolutions of a 33 and 45 kind….

Opening grooves …..

… opening with this slice of fine-ness from Amon Tobin …..

…. well we’ve dispensed with the opening monologue / ramble introduced last missive out mainly due to the overwhelming lack of take up, so we’ll leave you by saying that this particular edition features quite possibly one of the finest electronica albums we’ve heard in years – stand up and take a bow WK569, a contender for single of the year – Helicon and something very special from the Fruits de Mer community and with that – er …. straight to the sounds then …..

…. features ……

Amon tobin, the virgance, john peel, schizo fun addict, the bordellos, WK569, club night, violet youth, papernut Cambridge, sykoya, Quimper, trent reznor, atticus ross, john carpenter, awma, antonymes, oh well goodbye, gallery six, sonic entrails – eye fund charity, the pink diamond revue, the belbury circle, folklore tapes, Suzanne Ciani and Kaitlyn Aurelia smith, 39^th and the nortons, yo no se, Edward penfold, Dubi Dolczek, Yan Hart-Lemonnier, eric feremans, demdike stare, Gerry and the holograms, Nadah El Shazly, the hare and the moon, jo lepine, dukes of scuba, our glassie azoth, Swansea laptop orchestra, spaceships over Deeside, helicon, Higher intelligence agency, midwich youth club, two sided agency, the caretaker, andy stott, death and vanilla, auramics, the implicit order, NeoElph, lunus, coals

going to make a small confession in saying that I swear I’ve seen press shots from Tiny Engines filling up our in box which due to mass email panic and shortage of time, we’ve thus far let pass us by. Let’s just say, if the quality of ear gear is as good as this here recently new thing from Club Night, then we will be sitting up with baited breath awaiting those missives in future. So while we rummage around in various mail boxes gathering up those errant press notes, as said, here’s Club Night with the rather spiffing and stupidly addictive ‘rally’, pulled from their ‘hell ya’ EP this effervescently angular nugget taps sublimely into that whole noise pop niceness that once upon a time seemed to be the privilege of labels such as marquis cha cha and art goes pop and latterly by say emotional response, threading a wonderful spiky blister kissed bubble-gum gem that in truth had us at times imagining the Go Team being detuned by a particularly impish Quickspace. https://soundcloud.com/tinyengines/club-night-rally

for a second there we thought this sounded a tad familiar, from Violet Youth this is ‘lucid dreams’ which featured on the quite eye catching modern sky 10 inch from a few months ago, mentioned here incidentally at https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2017/06/12/modern-sky-sampler/ – stilled sounds stunning by our reckoning and worthy of seeking out, think we mentioned in earlier passing that it put us much in mind of the psychedelic furs, we’ll still stick that those initial thoughts though add to equation the stately pop purring of Toy. https://soundcloud.com/violetyouthband/lucid-dreams-1

all things being well and there’ll be more of Papernut Cambridge popping up later this missive, that is if this intolerably paralysing migraine passes. For now, though, something that was sneaked out for the recent indie record market event at Paris, a dinky little 5-inch lathe cut featuring as far as we can tell two newly spruced cuttings from the creative green borders of Papernut Cambridge. Just 25 of these we believe, my reckoning being that if you ask the label nicely – the good folk over at Gare Du Nord, then they may be able to pitch you one, which in the case that they can’t you can always pick up a copy of a damn fine split cassette outing with WIAIWYA – think that’s the promotional side of things done and dusted. Okay because of the aforementioned migraine we can’t for the life of us read the label to tell you what the blighter is actually called, ho hum, our ears though, are I’m happy to say, unaffected and alert to the smokily lolloping rustic loveliness crookedly ambling its way amid the grooves, the track an early teaser of a cut set to feature on the next PC album, out next year, a distant cousin to Mungo Jerry’s ‘in the summertime’ given both appear to share the same kind of lazy eyed sun toning and wistful drifting, though here a tad delightfully wonky and chirped in French. Over on the flip, our favoured side all said, same track though rephrased in a deliciously dizzy dub dialect all accompanied by an inebriated parade of brass dissipates and off centred ukulele’s all joyously walking off into the fading sunny horizons fronting a sultry pied piper like calypso carnival.

in truth we here are a bit mortified to discover that we’ve so far omitted to trip across Sykoya’s rather bewitching ‘Strange Night’, indeed yes, it’s been out for about a year or more but still worthy of a little affection and attention, for here a purring soul noir seductively demurs, a nocturnal siren call ghosting atop whispering spectral electronica symphonics, very beguiling. https://soundcloud.com/sykoya/strange-night-radio-edit

must admit to enjoying these little dreamy distractions from Quimper, latest to the listening list ‘little legs for little eggs’ might well be the spaciest and most minimal to date. There was a sense over the last handful of releases, that Quimper was emerging into the light of pop radiance, though it appears here that there’s been an abrupt return to the shadowy hidey hole wherein contentment of playing peek a boo is abound. Four tracks found within, aside cut to a similar sonic cloth as though a family of ghostly sister sirens, display the kind of off centred playfulness and delectable strangeness that sits perfectly on the much-missed Soft Bodies spectrum. At once eerie and ethereal, certainly out of focus and somewhat out there, Quimper weaves a dizzy musical palette airbrushed in both the amorphous and the abstract with these mosaics seemingly tapping into the dream consciousness. Opener ‘Thomas egg has little legs’ instils an unsettling charm that’s woozily toned to a partly creepy lullaby motif while ‘shrike’ takes you further down the weird ear rabbit hole into airless dream states, the imagery and sounds blurred in a beautifully shape shifting dissolving haze. ‘cut below the knee’ revisits opener ‘Thomas egg has little eggs’ wrapping it in a tripping noir phrased carousel spooked with a comatosing glazing of night terror visitations. However, all said, for us at least, best moment arrives with the parting title track apparition, a macabre ghost light that had we not known better, might well have suspected had sneaked from underneath the spectral cloak of EMA’s bewitching ‘#horror’ soundtrack. https://quimper.bandcamp.com/album/little-legs-for-little-eggs

Not sure exactly whether this is actually heading out of Sacred Bones on physical format or not, but here’s Trent Reznor aided and abetted by Atticus Ross revisiting John Carpenter’s legendary sinister slash salvo ‘Halloween’. A sub 8-minute-long dark ceremony almost mass like in its macabre majesty, the originals tingling motifs ghosted with a chilling grace whilst gouged with a guttural detailing that’s howled by a persistent and tensely slick prowling beat.

…. and for no other reason except to say it’s quite perfect, a track from Mr Carpenter’s recent ‘lost themes’ series, this is the rather sublime ‘utopian façade’ …..

All things being well there should be a peppering of hidden shoal loveliness across these particular missive, if not later tonight, then certainly throughout the course of the week. For now, a little something we tripped across, from AWMA who I do believe we’ve mentioned in passing in earlier dispatches. This be ‘Sterling Hayden and the Great Nobility’ – something I guess you could rightly describe as a slow burning brooding titan, a nine-and-a-half-minute head tripping colossus freefalling initially into the hallowed terrains of Godspeed, the atmospherics shifting sublimely through the gears from a Montgomery-esque starting point to delicately press on the pedal and subtly surge into kosmick currents in a very Sennen meets Seeland via Dark Captain Light Captain way. https://soundcloud.com/hidden_shoal/sterling-hayden-and-the-great-nobility

not at all sure whether this is primed for hidden shoal love, but here’s an early earful of Antonymes, a demo no less of a cut prepped for his next album ‘the gramophone suite’, due sometime next year. This is the elegantly harvested ‘film 2’- as ever stilled, paused and poised in what’s becoming his trademark low lit intimacy, its gradual phrasings and melodic contouring, exquisitely capture a moment frozen that’s both emotionally torn and tailored in a delicately demurring noir classicism that aches and trembles with crushing reflection, its beauty soured and braced in a withdrawing regret. https://soundcloud.com/antonymes/film-two-demo

a little something, we tripped across inadvertently, whilst checking out the Antonymes track, been out a few months, still that oughtn’t to detract from its ear worth. This is Zeitfaktor with ‘corridor’ – a track prized from a free to download full length by the name ‘signals’. What first attracted us being its FortDax-ian dusting, but scratch a little deeper and amid the cosmically weaved futuristic tech, itself something of interest to those old school Boltfish loving folk among you – see Cheju, there’s an astute emotional artificial intelligence dreamily dazing here that slipstreams into the sonic consciousness of a super chilled Jean Michel Jarre. https://soundcloud.com/zeitfaktor/corridor

we suggest you find yourself a remote and quiet spot for this one. Heading out of Japan this Gallery Six with the divinely dreamy and sedate ‘hisomi’ – a track peeled from a recent album by the name ‘early green’. Now aside the peacefully calming effect this appears to bathe you in, what we really love is its delicate turn of expression in so much as its subtle curvature of sound, all very sparsely threaded and patiently minimal, not to mention elegiac, in many respects ushers in a stilled sense of spirituality, as though it was carved and crafted in a prayer garden. https://soundcloud.com/gallery-six/hisomu

in another age and another time, you might have rightly expected this to stumble into the light having been sent out by Factory records to defend itself in the big bad world of a dysfunctioning punk scene whose paths where splintering into post punk, art pop and new wave. Certainly has the shadowy northern overcoat vibe and if you didn’t know better, you’d have sworn you’d heard on a lost Peel show sometime around ’81, yet for all its Wild Swan-isms and hints of the Passage and is that the subtle souring of And Also the Trees ghosting throughout the grooves, we here found ourselves utterly smitten by a slow fuse brooding out of which, a closer ear reveals something wounded and very mournfully withdrawn in the much missed bruised beauty of the Workhouse with just the merest of ‘movement’ era New Order nods spectrally flitting throughout. This incidentally, is Oh well, goodbye with a new thing going by the name ‘and ease’.

Expect plenty of Sonic Entrails disquiet later in the week or possibly even tonight who knows, so much to get through blah blah blah. However, we have just taken delivery of two cassettes they released as part of CSD, more makes up for the loss of not nailing that essential witches brew tape or the paris angels one or in fact about five others we were hoping to hunt down. Anyway, they are for later sometime, for now a charity release in the shape of the four-track outing ‘Source Files for The Eye Fund Charity Project’. Essentially, as it says on the tin lid, these are source files for download, the intention being that musical folk will add / subtract or indeed completely rewire them into a new sonic species. All monies made from the downloads go directly to the Eye Fund, a most worthy charitable trust who give help and support to people suffering sight loss. It’s a charity very close to the heart of Sonic Entrails’ main man John E Smoke who is deaf / blind. Anyhow our radar has taken a fancy to the second track ‘Rods source file’ – possibly the lightest thing here and certainly the least oppressive, those subscribing to the recent Doxey Boggart outing will know where I’m heading from there. A snaking crystalline riff ghosts lonesomely, very much dreamily drizzled as though the forlorn fall out of a Tibetan retreat embarked upon by the Corrupting Sea and Yellow6. Yet this being a Sonic Entrails sortie, it’s not an ease road, for here pressed and scratching upon the radiant opines a menace watches from the shadows, its ominous presence casting a doomy chill of finality to the proceedings. https://sonicentrails.bandcamp.com/album/source-files-for-the-eye-fund-charity-project

Happy to say that there’s been a rethink in the Bordellos camp, last time we’d been told that volume 8 of their ongoing ‘underground tapes’ project would be the last of the year while they decamped to their sonic bunker to hatch more dastardly plans for world domination or maybe an album, the message abruptly cut out, so we were never too sure. Since then till now, there appears to have been a defrosting of, shall we call it, frustration, discontent or the threat of Liam Gallagher and Shed 7 records appearing in record stands again, to the effect now that there’s promise of a blitzing of releases between now and yuletide headed up by this here Volume 9 and the promise of a Christmastime special. Don’t know about you, but the Christmas lights are out the box and twinkling in anticipation. And so, Volume 9, as previously four tracks pulled from the vaults all on a pay what you like sortie, the set opening to the delicately moored 60’s spectral ‘manson bag’ by our reckoning the best thing here not least because it comes possessed with some sleek n’ darkly weaved Will Sergeant like riffmanship, the type normally found abandoned on b-sides of early Bunnymen platters here masquerading in a little psych torch. Trimmed in their hallmark sparse close touch toning, ‘persian princess’ really does sound like an Of Arrowe Hill ghost light here set up to freefall perfectly into the cold cool post punk shadows of ‘genre and gender’ – a cut gouged in an edgy austere alignment that drips pure anticipated tension. ‘kiss kiss kiss’ rounds out the set, a scuffed n’ scuzzed wiry blighter whose fragmenting playfulness veers into solo Barrett terrains. https://bordellos.bandcamp.com/album/the-bordellos-underground-tape-9

Many thanks to Andrea of Boring Machines for sending over finished copies of the labels latest release, a limited 3 track one sided 12-inch EP from trio WK569 entitled ‘omaggio a Marino Zuccheri’. Now we mentioned this in earlier dispatches at https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/wk569/ – an immense set paying respects to the undiscovered and under-appreciated talent of Marino Zuccheri, an early pioneer in electronic sound mediums. What sets this release aside from other abstract electronic experimentations of a similar ilk is its awareness of melody, harmony and conversation. While others delving into similar terrains hitherto ape their subjects in crafting sounds that fall between the out there, the abstract and the harsh of tone, WK569 instead apply their studiously vintage colouring to creating wonderfully symmetrical sonic algorithms that chuckle and chirp playfully in the somewhere else. Indelibly attuned with a retro phrasing, upon hearing the set, rather than the previously gleaned teaser sample, we are now of the opinion that our previous assessment that cited both Stockhausen and Pierre Henry as reference markers, whilst still valid and in play, might after all be a little touch off the mark. Sure enough there are moments here whereupon a recalling of say, tristram cary and classic era BBC Radiophonica – though more Daphne Oram as opposed to Delia Derbyshire, are hinted through the grooves, the warmth and vitality of the musicality over the expected remote atonal phrasings, points towards the craft of both Louis and Bebe Barron (‘forbidden planet’ is without question, a source of inspiration) and Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan with perhaps a smidgeon of the gloopy affection applied to record by Raymond Scott. As said previously, three tracks sit within, ’01’, ‘10’ and ‘11’ – listened together in one sitting they provide a stark and seamless dialogue of old school electronische in its purest form, almost operatic in effect and very clever with it, the individual analogue voices engaged in delirious diode exchanges cooled in a chamber like toning. ‘10’, the sparsest moment here, courts with a distant Mount Vernon Arts Lab vibe that very much taps into their landmark ‘the Séance at Hobs Lane’ set whilst similarly steeled in the alien landscapes sonically backdropped by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on classic Dr Who adventures of the 60’s. of course the influence of Sonic Boom in his EAR guise is never far. That said, those of you who subscribed to the recent CHXFX release via Castles in Space, might be minded to seek out the subterranic parting shot ‘11’, a positive hive of activity and life, trippily weaved into a wonderfully engaging and intricate palette of co-habiting synthetic flora / lifeforms. https://boringmachines.bandcamp.com/album/wk569-omaggio-a-marino-zuccheri

Suspecting that this might be on my birthday watch / wish list, new ghost box groove that finds long standing archival analogue alchemists the Belbury Poly and the Advisory Circle glued anew as the Belbury Circle. No doubt in limited form, there’s a cassette as well as the usual library looking vinyl and digital download to be had. The release called ‘outward journeys’ features the occasional guest appearance of a certain John Foxx, within a time tripping visit to a cosying 70’s vintage whereupon a minimalist mercurial mosaic of kool kosmische, library sounds and silver age electronica sweetly harvests a fondly affectionate pulsing polypop astral ride fused ever so delicately upon a hypno grooved retro hybrid flotilla of Jean Michel Jarre (in particular ‘heading home’), La Dusseldorf, Bowie, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and YMO murmurs. Affectionately catching our lobes, the kosmische waltz that is ‘forgotten town’ is ghosted in a Europa chic that shimmers to a sense of mystique and strange adventure. https://soundcloud.com/ghost-box/sets/outward-journeys

We really must pay attention to these folklore tapes releases, like the finest labels around, here I’m specifically thinking of A Year in the Country, they each take you down secret paths and onto sometimes strange (more often than not familiar, though hidden from view or thought) worlds. A label where both the design and packaging is as carefully cobbled together as the sounds themselves, in fact each compliment the other, often with the sounds brought to life by the accompanying inserts and storyboards. To borrow from the soundcloud title, a very apt description, these sonic ‘cuttings’ have been taken from a recent 31 track set entitled ‘the folklore of plants – volume 1’ and features names familiar – Jaycock, McPhee, Hayden and Belbury Poly amid a host of, so far by us at least, undiscovered talents, all gathered to celebrate the intrinsic relationship that we have with plants, the folklore, legend, mystique and of course the magical. Splicing spoken word cooking instructions, theories and fancies to a broad spectrum of sonic stylings that include at turns chamber, folk, field quirkiness and retro electronics, light and dark, the Folklore community weave a deliriously woozy and sometimes spooky woodland folly that stirs sleepily cosy toed in both enchantment and playful oddness. The set, limited in nature, comes pressed up on heavy duty vinyl and comes accompanied by a forty-page pamphlet, a twenty-eight-page pocket A6 booklet, links to the 16mm film ‘Pattern of Light’ by Mary and David and an envelope containing seeds all luxuriously housed in a unique plant relief printed hand numbered manilla sleeve. https://soundcloud.com/folklore-tapes/the-folklore-of-plants-voli-cuttings

Mentioned this a little while ago, here in fact https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/the-pink-diamond-revue/ – in coming sleaze seduction from the Pink Diamond Revue now in moving picture form ……

Back with folklore tapes, almost forgot about this, it’s actually been sitting awaiting listening. ‘wester ross folklore tapes – volume 1 – sacred island – the legend and magic of isle maree’ is a sumptuous looking outing, housed inside a colour fanzine sized pamphlet you’ll find all manner of loveliness that includes a patina coin keepsake and a flexi disc. Limited to just 250 copies. Embalmed in the lore, mystery and landscape of Isle Maree, this snippet arrives ghosted in the tranquil haunt of the region, spoken word visitations chalmed by bird song and harvested upon passages of gloomed primordial heraldry and the delicately soothed tones of pastoral airiness endow it with a flavouring of its remoteness and its undisturbed beauty. https://soundcloud.com/folklore-tapes/sacred-island-the-legend-and-magic-of-isle-maree

Here’s a little something beautifully intriguing which too much annoyance and embarrassment has somehow, thus far that is, managed to sneak beneath our radar. A quite alluring collaboration between Suzanne Ciani and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith released last year on wax by the RVNG folk. This be the meditatively murmured ‘closed circuit’ – a deceptively dreamy demur, its amorphous ambient toning trip wired upon a wonderfully head expanding hypno grooved palette, the effect very lulling and somewhat mystic in a kosmische tweaking third eye astral gliding way. https://soundcloud.com/igetrvng/kaitlyn-aurelia-smith-suzanne-ciani-closed-circuit

Heading out shortly on stolen body, we’ve just taken delivery of downloads for the new long-playing platter from 39th and the nortons, incidentally titled ‘the dreamers’, which despite not having had as yet a chance to hear, can admit to being mildly smitten by the teaser track ‘golden sands’. You can feel the warmth peeling off this, it’s smoky haloing of tropical breezes and its subtly soft melodic purring hinted in a mellowing and radiant after burn usher in a coolly coalescing pop crafting that finds a safe spot sitting distantly somewhere between gram parsons and the beachwood sparks.

Staying with the stolen body folk, stumbled across this, taken from a forthcoming album called ‘Soma’ this is ‘master’ by Yo No Se. now I don’t know about you, but I’m still a tad undecided whether these noise niking dudes are in the Sabbath camp or the Shellac / Jesus Lizard / Tar / Tad tent, perhaps a foot in both who knows. What I do know though is that had the clock been turned back several years, this would have found favour grooving it’s gouged grunge beatnik behemoth-ness on the much-missed Brew imprint. Still, does it for us as I’m sure it will for you.

absolutely no information about this, which on reflection might or then, might not be, a good thing. In the absence then of such press wordy fancifulness, we tripped upon this unguarded with no persuasive nudges, hopefully you’ll do the same, because this is seriously whacked out. A nifty slice of smoking and suave 50’s styled bubblegroove, see the Platters, the Four seasons et al that sounds as though it’s been reclining a little too long beneath the shade of a tropical tree and gotten all warpy and woozy in sun, seriously trippy as though a gathering of Superimposers and Monsterism Island folk had sonically spiked their fruit punch. It’s by Dubi Dolczek, it’s called ‘Laser Dojo’, it’s from an album through stolen body aptly called ‘dubi in space – part one – the emerald gauntlet’.

okay, by now you’ve probably gathered we’re having a stolen body record party at the moment, either that or they’ve held us hostage with pistol pointing to head. Anyhow before I start giving folk ideas, here’s a little something from Edward Penfold called ‘Betsy’s Linen’ from a near future happening by the name ‘Denny Isle Drive’. Hell’s teeth, doesn’t this just sound like a ringer for Syd Barrett, everything about it, the lazily foggy inclines, the soft psych phrasings and that strangely oddball wooziness and drifting casualness all cut with an elegant off centred eccentrica. This lackadaisical nugget sleepily weaves its strange entrancement all time drawing elements of both Oddfellows Casino and Nick Drake to its blurrily becoming bow.

We raided this from Mr Outram’s Facebook page, in truth we were checking to see if there was any sign of new horror pop sounds happenings looming, or worse still, had been out and we’d missed. It has after all been a while and well, our sound system is, I suspect, opining with neglect. But back to the nub of things, spotted this, like wow, almost surprised that say, Polytechnic Youth or Castles in Space and other such, aren’t about it like a rash. To say it’s like awakening from a short doze to find yourself back in the 70’s is an understatement. We refer of course to ‘L’âge d’or’ the opening track from a set by Yan Hart-Lemonnier entitled ‘Souvenirs de l’âge d’or’ which is getting a strictly limited vinyl pressing of just 200. Now this is quite something else, an echo from a lost decade, the vintage exquisite, the tailoring simply sublime arriving toned in a celestial chic, an oceanic lunar lost in beautiful isolation emitting love note transmissions into the galactic voids, arresting doesn’t do it justice. Equally drawing design on our affections, what we assume is the parting cut on the vinyl variant, ‘Un nouvel amour’ has the kind of playful snooziness that often adored the grooves of platters bearing the quality sound kite mark of Plone albeit here as though retweaked by a rather chirpy Minotaur Shock and a host of folk from the esteemed Bearsuit records sound shed. https://yanhartlemonnier.bandcamp.com/album/souvenirs-de-l-ge-dor

Fast approaching their landmark 100th release, the impeccably eclectic Finders Keepers have seen fit to invite a select number of folk to rummage around their jealously well-guarded vaults to cobble together some well-heeled mix tapes. The first golden ticket claimant being Demdike Stare’s Sean Canty who summarily finds himself locked in a dark place and refused safe passage out until he has returned forthwith with a list of sonic objects of desire, these being meticulously prepared into the strange sonic sack that is ‘Probes’. From that selection we’ve been most beguiled by the eerily weaved supernaturalia forming a ghostly web via ‘occultismo’ by Daniella Casa, a beautifully macabre spell crafting formed from chilling choruses. Elsewhere Eric Feremans classic soundtrack ‘the Antwerp killer’ is given a deserved airing, ‘prosecution’ finding itself cut in a mind fracturing isolationist paranoia, darkly insular shadowy ambience light years ahead of the coming trance / technoid experimentalists of the 90’s, while somewhere else, in truth quite frankly, we could listen to Suzanne Ciani forever, here in her more playful gloopiness for the impishly kookily snoozing ‘help, help, the globolinks’. While last for this brief mention, dare we omit to mention the clearly irregular and delightfully off their chops Gerry and the Holograms at perhaps their most immediate pop curious sounding with ‘increased resistance’, why then do I hear the distant call of Clinic infiltrating its groove space, answers on a postcard to the usual place, clearly marking entries ‘intriguing’. https://finderskeepersrecords.bandcamp.com/album/probes-volume-one

This came recommended to us by Cyprianus Augustus, who aside sending us a rather lovely note that had us much humbled also oversees the impeccable taste making the unquiet meadow mix cloud soirees. Trust me on this, stay with it and I guarantee it’ll feel by its close as though you’ve been sucked inside your own headspace and embarked on a mystical astral ride around the deepest reaches of the minds inner consciousness. From out of the Nawa imprint shortly, well November if you want precise, this is the opening track from Nadah El Shazly’s debut full length ‘Ahwar’, it be called ‘Afqid Adh-Dhakira (I Lose Memory)’. Blending shape shifting spirituals, woozed out bowed instrumentations and a general all-around bewitching freakiness, what emerges from the hazily haloed Arabic-edelic chamber fog is a most tripping cornucopia of fried delights, whose irregular arrangements shift like sand beneath you constantly having you desperate to find a footing. Out of the shadowy wood smoked dream daze, a sultry siren calling apparition weaves a snaking seduction infused by strangely dissipating jazz mosaics, a little noir noodling and oodles of seriously bonged out mystic murmuring. Stunning in a word. https://soundcloud.com/nawarecordings/01-afqid-adh-dhakira-i-lose

I promise, we will be back onto this later this week / weekend. Literally just dropped through our letter box, the latest, and from what we’ve heard thus far, the finest gathering of strange sounds from the A Year in the Country folk. Not sure when it’s out for certain, we’ve momentarily lost the accompanying press release, but safe to say that ‘All the Merry Year Round’ will set the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons, and have even the most casual fence sitting observer falling off their perch with wowing affection. As ever, this latest research finding, features contributions from all the usual AYitC community – see polypores, time attendant, pulselovers, sproatly smith et al, however, on this very brief visit we must admit an alarming love for the Hare and the Moon’s collaboration with Jo Lepine. ‘I’ll bid my heart be still’ is the formidable bench mark that the rest must seek to match, blessed with a church like serene, both reverent and majestic, a stilled grandeur forms from the spectral touching, a magical occurrence intimately brushed and in tune with the coming dark season, a ghostly ceremonial séance reaching deep through the ages instilling all in enchantment and beautified bewitchment. http://ayearinthecountry.co.uk/

Hitting our doormat this very morn, well noon-ish to be perfectly precise, the first issue of ‘Dukes of Scuba’ – a dinky little A6 fold out ‘zine shedding the spotlight on the lesser known musical gems straying far off the usual sonic radar. By way of a tasting, we here have been busy rummaging through the cubby holes of cyberspace rooting out some of these sightings ….

…. such as Our Glassie Azoth, who unbeknownst to us, have been sneaking out releases like billy – o these last few years. So while we drag out the tool box for a long overdue overhaul of our, obviously skewed and somewhat amiss radar, here’s their latest. Released a month or three ago, this is the near 18 minute ‘Sfy3_cyclereform’, a slice of crystalline disturbia that finds them tunnelling ever deeper into the voids of inner space, crafting the kind of oblique sonic remoteness we here might well associate more as a given from the Mount Vernon Arts Lab. This really is a precision lesson in controlled technique and isolationism whereupon moments of impacting field sound skree are pierced by the genteel and gradual gnarl of free form manipulation and frequency shifting not to mention periods of lucid lulls where all is sprayed in dream dazed airlessness. Alas you can’t dance to it, unless of course you be a toaster, but then I’m suspecting the more impish among you might consider it something of a promising call upon on those desperately long and dull Sunday lunches when the family descend to criticise and cackle. https://ourglassieazoth.bandcamp.com/

This is the frankly incredible Swansea Laptop Orchestra, who unless you haven’t already figured for yourselves, hail from Swansea and who are, less obviously, a trio. According to Dukes of Scuba, these folk act ‘in calm silence, smooth alien hands operating computers and triggering devices’ sounds very intriguing and in truth not far off the truth, like a strange puppet master drama theatre summoning up eerie sounds with each movement as though by trickery and sleight of hand, you have to watch the videos to fully appreciate. They’ve a recently released album called ‘loadbang’ from off which we’ve been a tad fond of ‘Gliché’. A playfully stark n’ gloopy manifestation, not a million miles from the type of awkwardly insular technoid grooves frequently fluttering by on the Mixing It playlist schedules, not quite Aphex or Autechre but certainly treading familiar terrains, in fact a lot like the recently mentioned WK569 outing for Boring Machines, in so much as there appears to be both, an acute appreciation of an electronische vintage and a strangely alluring melodic conversation at play amid the abstract and minimalist hatchings of alien sonic lifeforms. If truth be told the parting ‘two horizontal hourglasses’ sumptuously nods, with I guess a degree of tongue in cheek fun, to a certain Steve Reich. https://swansealaptoporchestra.bandcamp.com/releases

For fear of accusations of favouritism, shudder the thought, last recommendation from the Dukes of Scuba dudes, the wonderfully named Spaceships over Deeside, who I must admit, do a neat line in hypno grooved mind melting pulsar probing, at least that’s what we hear on the mesmeric ‘Electricity for health in the 21st century’ – incidentally the centre piece and longest track from their recently released ‘Heddiw yw’r diwrnod gorau’ set – available on a pay what you feel like deal. A bit like, one would imagine, sitting beneath the engineering mainframe of an at rest inter galactic mother ship, between you and me, I strongly suspect they switched on the alien sound settings of their digital software and crept out back for a crafty smoke, either that or they be fully paid up members of the Experimental Audio Research fan club. Whatever the case, there’s no doubting that there’s brain wiping trippiness afoot in abundance here. https://spaceshipsoverdeeside.bandcamp.com/

We don’t mind admitting to being so in love with this ‘un, new from Helicon, first single as it happens entitled ‘Seraph’ pulled from their forthcoming self-titled full-length platter, which all things being well, should be heading out of the esteemed Fuzz Club in early December. Now not wanting to talk out of turn here, I suspect this will be finding firm favour when it comes to scratching up end of year loves, a faultless slab of delicately weaved soft psych mesmerica, its sitar seduction dreamily dissolving into a whispering rush of sweetly hazed 60’s euphoria, its West Coast ghosting fusing joyously to peel away mushrooming into an expansive sveltely smoked love hymnal that purrs radiantly to a tripping and lolloping craft that had us fondly recalling a youthful Clientele. Sublime in a word.

Looks sexy, sounds sexy, is sexy. The lesser spotted Schizo Fun Addict round out the year and mark the start of Fruits de Mer’s 10th anniversary celebrations with an ultra-limited vinyl pressing of their acclaimed ‘the Sun Yard’ full length. Originally released digitally for free on Christmas day 2013, the album, incidentally by far their best to date, has slipped in and out of the collective consciousness garnering something of a legendary status due to its scarcity and of course, repute. Released in serious limited quantities on CD by FdM a few years back, it could be found, if I recall rightly, inside one of the label’s ridiculously generous gift bags made available to folk attending their festival gatherings. Of course, those well familiar with the lore of FdM will be all too aware that both the label and the band have a close longstanding connection, the Schizo’s having appeared twice on the short-lived Bracken label, the elder sibling of the extended FdM family tree with the band opening the newly peeled Fruits account way back in 2008 with a twin set of classic covers – ‘theme one’ / ‘ogden’s nut gone flake’.

As said previously, ‘the Sun Yard’ was originally released on Christmas day 2013 – in fact we mentioned it here https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/schizo-fun-addict/ – goes without saying it was one of the finest releases that year. To the nitty gritty, fitting then that the band open the 10th birthday festivities. To mark that occasion, a truly special release and a somewhat fanciful flight of extravagance from a label known for pushing the boat out. There will be four separate editions of the album pressed on vinyl, in an edition of 620. The first pressing on turquoise / green wax will given away free to long time subscribers of the members club (the legendary club which in recent years has given away all manner of cassettes – a very much prized and sought after outing among collectors – see discogs if you don’t believe me, limited CD compilations and the occasional Bowie covers release), each numbered – ours is #25 (I’m told the number is nearer 350 of these, though strangely our copy is /100 stamped) in case you are taking notes, each will feature a glow in the dark image on the rear of the sleeve – though some will come in bags (no sleeve). The next batch, pressed on red wax and limited to 150 copies will be given away at the labels 10th birthday bash in Glastonbury next May. In addition, there will be two further super limited editions of 50 each, again on coloured vinyl, these will be housed in handmade sprayed sleeves. There’ll also be competitions to win copies and all manner of other festivities – keep eyes peeled upon the label web page for info as it arrives and appears.

As to the actual album, bolstered by an additional previously unreleased cut titled ‘strange storm’ which the press release describes as ‘an analog electro moody intermission’. It’s a daydreaming sore thumb scowled in a stilled overcasting of interference beneath which a curiously fracturing chamber noir spectral playfully ruminates amid a disorientating weave of discombobulating musical tongues, very old school Stockhausen styling swimming to the far left of a classic 60’s Radiophonic Workshop arrangement. With its trippy baggy swing, ‘awesome lovin’’ is your second generation ‘Roses retooled and retuned through the smoking psychotropic lens of a ‘Vanishing Point’ era Primal Scream while in sharpening contrast the scuzzing n’ pogoing freak out ‘forest park bandshell renegades’ offers an acutely pointed nod to a more punked out mindset where amid its waywardness a fried and frenetic seasoning of Ramones nods. Somewhere else the wonderfully slinky and radiantly cooled sun pop of ‘the gaze point’ rubs seductively to the cutely hazed dream weaved 60’s mellowness that softly purrs from the grooves of ‘St Andrews’ – think woozy psych overtures cooked up by a gathering of Lake Ruth and Broadcast folk. Then there’s the uber cooling garage psych smokiness of the strutting ‘Pterodactyl’ it’s street sassy heat oozed in all manner of kaleidoscopic flavouring. All said, ‘dream of the Portugal keeper’, by our reckoning, still the finest thing the Schizo’s have pressed to wax to date, is possessed of a divinely airy pastoral peppering whose woozy lazy eyed lilts alluringly demur to an exotic lineage that’s sprayed in the delectable tonings of Beautify Junkyards and Camera Obscura.

The album is available for streaming at https://soundcloud.com/schizofunaddict/sets/the-sun-yard-by-schizo-fun-1

Stuff …..

John Peel corner ….

Interlude …. A little hauntology and related species …. Higher intelligence agency, midwich youth club, two sided agency, the caretaker, andy stott, death and vanilla, auramics, the implicit order, NeoElph, lunus, coals …..

Coals …