Singled Out - audio emissions and random musings from below the radar
Mickey Dread RIP - http://reggaetimes.com/wordpress/?p=253
Go to the listen again option via www.bbc.co.uk to hear Radio 4’s short obituary on their Last Word programme - the Clash’s ‘bankronbber’ which he famously produced….
also appraised on the same show the ‘5th’ Beatle Neil Aspinall who last week lost his battle against lung cancer - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7311581.stm
Album wise we’ve just taken delivery of the debut long player fro Captain Phoenix ‘life temper riot’ - here’s a little video taster of the spanking ‘pistols and hearts’
Also being much loved right now is Avenging Force’s ‘the avenging force’ via Liverpool’s Sea imprint - home of Mugstar, Static Waves and the criminally underrated Ambulance - www.searecords.co.uk
Elsewhere a spanking copy of the Black Angels second full length ‘directions to see a ghost’ has just mooched its way onto our hi-fi - opening cut ‘you on the run’ is worth the entrance fee alone - check out www.theblackangels.com
More videos - this time ‘the cavalier’ by Serafina Steer…..this is so gorgeous…..
Reading materials - can’t recall whether or not I’ve recommended this previously but there’s an excellent tome doing the rounds at the moment written by Alan Licht entitled ’Sound Art’ published by Rizzoli. Its an exhaustive discourse on the age old puzzle ’just what is sound art?’ - throughout a well researched and detailed (just under 300 paged) essay Licht examines the various concepts and ideologies of the mediums leading pioneers - La Monte Young, Cage, Calder, Stockhausen et al. Takes a while to find its feet - the initial 10 or so pages are extremely convoluted in such a way it makes reading the Wire a bit Janet and John, yet the beauty of Licht’s writing and undoubted passion is that it makes you consider music from a totally differing perspective exploring and considering various forms of aural appreciation such as architecture and placement, natural everyday ambiences, non sounds, noise etc….interspersed with portrait plates depicting various sound installations and exhibitions the book comes replete with a 6 track CD featuring work by Destroy all MonstersBill Fontana, Steve Roden, Richard Gall, Jean Dubuffet and Anthony Burr and Charles Curtis. A perfect reading resource for Alex Ross’ ’the rest is noise’ via Fourth Estate publications.
My space gubbins…..
http://www.myspace.com/peteardronsorchidstar - these lovely people got in touch with us a day or three ago having spotted us on Banco de Gaia’s friend list. We listened with baited breath hoping for similar sounds to shroud us in all their glory and mystery - and lets just say boy we were not disappointed. Lets just start out by saying that these tunes are something else. This London based DJ / mood weaving / dance / ambient hybrid collective are built around the talents of Pete Ardron and are the proud parents of a recently released debut full length ‘birth’ which comes replete with an additional disc of exclusive mixes by the likes of Youth, Tripswitch and Subsonar. The sounds are succulent and vivid, from the divine to the enchanting orchid star it seems have covered all bases that encompasses everything from super chilled amorphous electronics, down tempo, lounge, dub, soft psyche and panoramic ambience. Reference wise they feed from the dance cultures - reference wise think mid 90’s era Biosphere, early career Future Sound of London, Transglobal Underground (check out ‘passion’), Bill Laswell, Orbital, Apollo 440 and a loosened up Ozric Tentacles. The set opens with the frankly magnificent ‘wildflower’ - a gorgeously lysergically twinkling lunatic operetta, enchanting and ethereal its pulses and purrs lost in its snow globed nether world delicately wrapped in caressing folds of Debussy florets sugar tipped with noire-esque accents sourced from the early 90’s Bristol scene and yet deliciously scored with a beckoning majesty that finds itself windswept and carefree snaking like some bewitching invisible force across Brontean landscaped plateaus that for the best part call to mind Heather Duby relocated to the lush lovelorn pastures of Kate Bush’s ‘Hounds of Love’. The sultry and hypnotically transcendental mantra ‘passion’ with its delirious arabesque dialects is a swirling snake charming slice of desire laden mysticism longingly etched with Natasha Atlas like vocal visitations weaving amid arid eddies and terra forming horizons. ‘deep down’ is similarly tweaked though this time into a decidedly more loosely funky and dislocated ethnic beast with an succulent Australasian slant, this smoking babe encompasses arresting elements of early 70’s lounge / late 70’s white funk and mind warping sitar signatures into its delectably luxurious montage - best filed next to Edwin Moses. ‘mouse’ rounds up the set a lilting cosmically grooved slice of flirty dream pop bathed in sheens of smoked jazz sophistication and lightly sprinkled with flighty pirouettes of bachelor pad dimpled 60’s styled French pop amour smoothness a la Free Design and sumptuously cast amid swirling mirror balls of spectral string arrangements. Very very classy.
http://www.myspace.com/theparishmusicbox - hailing from Chiswick and numbering in five, the Parish Music Box who describe themselves as ‘lounge / country / acoustic’ have recently signed along the dotted line for No Carbon which we are led to believe is an imprint of the Universal Group while looming and mooching impatiently on the horizon is a self titled debut mini album. The sounds - well heartbreaking would I guess be the best way to describe them ‘all ways’ in particular with its pining steel guitar motifs is so utterly crestfallen and down cast that open heart surgery without the administration of anaesthesia would you’d gather be a less painful experience. Poking daintily around the edges of Nick Cave’s ‘murder ballads’. the imagery starkly vivid the melodies measured, enchanting and cast with a deeply engaging mellowing precision that makes a lie of their tender ages, the Parish Music Box operate from out of the same appealing terrains as the Tindersticks, Calexico and Lambchop, these four showcased cuts disturbingly delight and hurt with the same quiet grandeur as the criminally underrated Kelman whilst in terms of textures, tenderness and artistry are easily the best we’ve heard ruminating from the alt-country scene since Anna Kashfi’s near perfect ‘philokalia’. These liberated love notes cocooned in a timeless song craft and sprinkled with imported Nashville nuances glide sumptuously the smoking slowly burning bruiser ‘bring it on’ smoulders with sapping sophistication nodding at intervals to the quieter and more resonant moments found on the Verve’s ’Urban Hymns’ whilst finding itself distilled and slyly honey combed within a lilting dust covered porch setting. That said best of the set though by far is ‘sad apples’ - with its shimmering dulcet toned breeziness and tumbling pastoral cascades recalling in the main Johnny Marr’s delicately memorable application on ’back to the old house’ this gem in waiting manages to freewheel as though a prime time Smiths where shimmying up to Scott Walker upon a sparsely freckled frame arranged by a reclining Bacharach. Here’s the video accompanying ‘bring it on’ -
http://www.myspace.com/revolutioninsound - an off shoot unless we are very much mistaken from those excellent purveyors of psyche / dream pop over at the Northern Star imprint who in recent times have been wooing our turntable with their impeccable ‘psychedelica’ compilations. With plans already afoot to begin releasing limited runs of dinky 3 inch CD’s the idea and aim of Revolution in Sound is to act as a supportive genre bending resource for eclectic underground artists - there’s no real rules to adhere to just that the sounds have to ’be great’. Sounds easy doesn’t it - or so you’d think until that is you take a sneak peek at the competition you’re up against. Three tracks have so far been posted on their my space site each providing the scope of versatility applied by the collectives underlying ethos. Perfect Blue open the set - a trio (Maria, Scott and Rob) hailing from Wales who to date have tucked under their utility belts two EP’s in the shape of ‘the sunshine’ and ’a gift of sunshine’ as well as appearing on compilations for both Fourier Transform and Northern Star. Their offering here ‘sunshine’ provides for a nifty slice of sumptuously mind erasing lunatic dub hypnotism - in many ways recalling Sonic Boom’s face off with Sun Ray on ’dreamachine’ the looping drone waves usher forth like bliss laden statue-esque cosmic mantras at intervals pierced by moments of shade wearing psych clarity as the numbed and detached boy / girl scratch through the ether haze - very ominous and eerie at times and best described as trying to imagine Bang Bang Machine in some wig flipping studio face off with the Silver Apples. Nisei 23 is a slightly more removed ad hitherto challenging proposition - information as is the case with these things is a little thin on the ground though we have it on reliable authority that an EP entitled ‘Milenka’ is currently doing the rounds via the previously unknown to us Lona imprint of Hong Kong whose roster includes releases by the excellently named the painful leg injuries and torturing nurse. ‘C65’ features here and an elegant beauty it is, once the lunar-scapes clear something richly majestic comes to the fore in the shape of a classically turned piano suite lushly decoded and threaded by the merest touch of tear swelling string arrangements whilst simultaneously being clipped by subtle eruptions of frosted shards of crackling white noise underpinned by crunchy waltzing beats amid all this the vague sounds of a mechanical hum whirr away - its immense stuff even if it does give the impression of being recorded in cavernous ice tunnel fast defrosting due to exposure to global warming. Rounding up the set are Electric Mainline, essentially the work of Northern Star main man Scott Causer with a little help from friends, one EP under his shimmering star lit belt to date in the shape of ’All too much’. Scott is currently busy putting the finishing touches to an as yet unnamed debut full length due fairly shortly, ’all too much’ featured should give you an idea what to expect - a slight departure from their usual divinely acute shoe gaze trappings, this up tempo beast is a bollock dropping psych enhanced krautrock grinder freebasing amid a smoking haze of sinew straining mind altering lysergic lilts all cut apart by a snarling assault of crystalline rock semantics. That said those of pre disposed to Spiritualised styled loveliness may do well to check out the bliss grooved hymnal ‘let me drift away’ via his site at http://www.myspace.com/theelectricmainline
http://www.myspace.com/aquavulvaalbum - always guaranteed to get our undivided attention is to give your band a bit of a daft name align that to a few seriously spanking tunes and you’ve got it cracked. In this respect we wonder whether Ohio’s Nerd Table (who we’ve spied come from Columbus - home of the much loved Moviola) have either been reading our minds or cheating - or worse still both because kids - this is just what the doctor ordered - grizzled dumb fuck rock your ass off neatly raw and unrefined punk goo. An album is mooching ominously in all the coolest record racks entitled ’Aqua Vulva’ which aside featuring the art work of Melvins / Tool man Mackie Osbourne also has guest spots for Maxx Davies (Naserine Machine) and Toshi Kasai (Melvins). Mixing a rampant slam dancing sideshow of buckled and bludgeoned garage blues, fuzz, politics / sleaze and a contagiously skewed and impish view of life from the basement, Nerd Table’s grizzled slabs of barbed wit and antagonistic sarcasm sounds like its been fermenting in a swamp, references to the Melvins and Jesus Lizard (the latter though obviously toned down) are never far away from the thoughts though that said unless our ears deceive we hear the overbearing subtle drill of the Beastie Boys eking through our cans especially on the comically x-rated ‘tape of me’ which aside veering into the same behind the bike shed adolescent smuttiness of the Dwarves at their most impish (replete with orgasmic moans no less) is anchored to the floor by some seriously beatnik-ish Mudhoney dialects and laced with howls of harmonicas. The up and in your face ‘chicken farm’ bleeds hardcore with a distinctive grunge garage growl that had us digging out our copy of Daniel Johnston and Slow Death vs. the instant coffins ‘sinning is easy’ EP while ‘Seuss Combustion’ quite possibly has one of the most evil laughs ever committed to vinyl since Jello Biafra gave up being the advisory council’s most wanted via the Dead Kennedy’s and decided to up the ante several notches to go take all America’s bureaucracy face on. There’s something ominous and disturbed brewing on ‘let it all out’ which wraps up the set, frankly the best thing here - a hot wired Sabbath styled licks galore grebo lunging spiked mirror ball grinding across a pulsing and rampantly gnarled and fuzzed out funk floor underpin lacerated by snarling eruptions and a squalling finale. Well smart. Plans are already afoot to record with LA’s caustic sped freakers Deaf Nephews whose sounds you can sample via their site at http://www.myspace.com/deafnephews their ‘song for bad vegetarians’ is ruthlessly recommended.
Update - low key my space site at http://www.myspace.com/nerdtable
http://www.myspace.com/endfuture - every once in a while something comes along that literally leaves you dumb struck jaw agape. This is one of those moments. Let’s first of all put things into perspective and just say that this is exceptional. End Future is a resource (developing hopefully into a fully fledged label at some point) for new bands put together by an unnamed Singapore music lover who it appears devotes most of his / her waking hours just simply in love with sound and based on the evidence of the two bands showcased on his / her site - the more atmospheric and grand the better. there are hopes to make limited hand made releases available in the near future. For now though marvel at the cut apiece supplied by Sleep makes waves and Strayvoice The former an Australian based quartet who to date have released two EP’s one of which you can download for free by following the links on their site at http://www.myspace.com/sleepmakeswaves - ‘one day you will….’ is a majestically raging epic, a glorious speaker pummelling symphony of refined and tamed turbulence - think Sigur Ros’ mood evoking glacial plateaus set to work harnessing and orchestrating the turbulence of the bleakly strained wide screen sculptures of early career godspeed you black emperor. Towering stuff. Not wishing to be outdone Saingapore based quartet Strayvoice have it seems been around for a fair few years on and off, having released an EP in 2005 for the US imprint Standing Tall they promptly went back into hibernation only emerging recently were word has it studio recordings for a planned EP are afoot. ’future illustration’ (we think its called) is a gorgeously lonesome spectral slice of cosmic loveliness replete with pining string arrangements and celestial key corteges that unerringly coalesce caressingly to exude a desire for you to throw an supportive arm around it - beautifully bruised, introspective it makes for a tenderly sensitive and hurting orbiting symphony - go to http://www.myspace.com/strayvoicemusic for further info.
Update - we got a message from the End Future collective asking us to cast an ear over another two bands that they have recently been casting fond eyes over who as it happens go like this….
http://www.myspace.com/lostapparitions - Alex, Phillip and Tony - for it is they who are the Lost Apparitions - hail from Iowa and collectively gathered together make the most savagely primordial and grizzled brew that we’ve had the pleasure of hearing since the Avenging Force’s self titled debut for Sea. An aggressive, splintered, fractured and pummelling show of agitation, Lost Apparitions dispatch grinding oblivion with much impish aplomb into a bubbling brew that draws upon disparate elements of a freeform metal / hardcore / prog / grunge / math hybrid and weaves them into a caustically scalding and misshapen goo of distressed apocalyptic angst. Three recently posted cuts feature here brandishing the adoring tattoos of the likes Jesus Lizard, Shellac (their most likely reference point), Acid Mothers and Henry Cow - an uncompromising no prisoners taken aural assault the shard dispatching and manic ’pt 1 where all life ends’ that particularly shocks the hackles gritted as it is in all manner of edgy overtones - a sludge festering grizzled bastard of a cut riddled with momentary eruptions of white hot inferno like frenetic doom laced punitive attrition which neatly leads to the jig sawing motifs of the raging ’if we don’t make it off this island’. Frankly has to be heard to be believed, an unrepentant and viciously scavenging blister bomb scorched by stratospheric sky sign written Maiden-esque riffs all bedded upon quake laced bludgeoning underpins and a jarringly unsettling slow / fast / aggressive / passive dynamic of disjointed jazz informed freak outs And when their not dolling out shards of retribution and punishment they happily exude a sense of unease via ‘hypnagogia’ - which unless I’m very much mistaken is a form of sleep paralysis no less - no shit Sherlock. Anyhow this evil under the stairs slice of impending icy instrumentalism is I’m afraid one of those to be listened with the lights on in daytime moments - very eerie.
http://www.myspace.com/capgunsforarcade - hailing from North Wales numbering in four and describing their sound as shoe gaze / metal / post music that bridges the gaps between Eno landscapes, Isis and My Bloody Valentine there’s much to love about Cap Guns. To date they’ve released one EP - ‘day’ - with a second due any time soon entitled er - ‘night’. What can we say - colossal - is probably the best way to start. Capguns craft out epic wide screen montages - sometimes brutal, sometimes lilting and often apocalyptic, their sound a force of nature - an orchestration of moods that divides between the tormented and the turbulent to the tender and tragic hile quite possibly marking themselves out as one of the finest purveyors of sonic cinematic choreography since the Future Kings of England dispatched their awesome ’the fate of old mother orvis’. these battle scarred crusades flow in the same hallowed waters occupied by the likes of godspeed and mogwai, ’I am legion’ in particular is a festering firmament that taken out of its shackling of momentary eruptions of blistering power house pummelling pyrotechnics meanders, mooches and broods patiently waiting like a preying hunter weighing up its options for a swift but deadly surprise attack, unrelenting and incorporating lacerating metal dialects that at times sound not a million miles from the classic chop chop accents of Killing Joke whilst simultaneously revealing an inward kindred spirit with the roster of the Gringo imprint. ‘Atlas Flow’ is similarly touched though this time made ostensibly more malleable by the ebb and flow of the deeply hypnotic prog math motifs - fans of Workhouse and San Lorenzo will not be found wanting. Culled from a recent live session for BBC Radio 1 the dream popping bliss driven ‘tides pt ii’ reveals their more tender natured side - a gorgeously disarming feedback induced swirling lovelorn haze cortege that nimbly nibbles at the finite joins that draw together ‘Kaleidoscope’ era Boo Radleys, Ride and Chapterhouse while ‘Drift’ with its breezily bounteous braids of tumbling shimmying cascades idly freewheels in the lulling tides of post rock grandeur.
Also recommended for those not in a London public house were we usually find these things - the cute and handy Fly can now be accessed on line - and like yes I know woo woo big f**king deal - it was the graphics and software that took our eye allowing you to turn the pages back and forth (okay you may be thinking right like durrr what’s so good about that - but then we are in terms of computer gimmicks and actually being interested in PC’s full stop - several gene pools lower than the Ape) - alas you bastards for all our attempts and not I hasten to add through like of trying culd we make a feckin aeroplane or light a fag with it and we won’t even go into the bottom gags eh? Anyhow check link here - http://www.the-fly.co.uk/webmag.aspx
http://www.myspace.com/brett_spaceman - another way of getting mentioned in these pages is to send us a nice message the type of which makes us much humbled though consoled that someone out there somewhere actually takes time to read these musings. Brett spaceman - obviously not the name that he was lumbered with at birth writes for the Evil Sponge and Silent Ballet publications - both of which I’m ashamed to admit have somehow passed below our usually reliable radar but which you can bet we’ll be seeking out in the very near future. The site is fleshed out with numerous reviews and record recommendations - hell we’ve even noted down a few on our never ending wants list namely the Black Swan Lane album and as to the vexing question as to whether the Band of Horses look like Super tramp - good call though we worry about their Steely Dan appeal…brrrr.
http://www.myspace.com/hensel3000 - name checking the classically kitsch yet ahead of its time Gerry Anderson live action TV series from the early 70’s - UFO is always going to ensure a certain amount of fondness in our gaff to actually call one of your tracks ‘Ed Straker’ is tantamount to us leaping all over the shop wildly festooning the listening space with cosmic coloured bunting. Hensel 3000 is the lounge / bachelor pad / sampladelica / jazz inspired electronic alter ego of Frank Hensel a Gelsenkirchin based musician who was one time to be found occupying a third of the line up space that made up the Enemy Within - sad to say another ensemble who seem to have ducked beneath our radar. In between devising and planning sound installations and composing scores for short films he’s somehow found time to knock out 9 self released CD’s. Obsessed it seems with sci-fi, cult tv and all things space related, Hensel crafts out trippy mind altering odysseys wired sumptuously around vintage samples culled from the 60’s and 70’s all bathed in lunatic states of loveliness whose nearest reference points appear to be at given moments Depth Charge, early Lemon Jelly (especially on the devilishly tangy sprightly jazz montages of the uber cool ‘atan shubashi‘ with its disturbingly infectious John Lurie like framing), 90° South and the Grid, those much in love with the back catalogue of the Italian imprint SHADO will find much to admire here. From the kosmiche dub of the opening ’go for TLI’ with its subtle nods towards 70’s era Conny Plank directed Kraftwerk to the smoking Hammond drenched sassy sophistication of the aforementioned ’Ed Straker’ and its half cousin the nocturnally grooved ‘saucers over Tokyo’ which features an alluring array of lights out amour accents delicately dipping as it does into some strangely fused Studio 54 sublime soul dialects lushly laced and threaded by breathlessly tasty string sweeps a la Edwin Moses meets Emperor Penguin’s ‘mysterious pony’. Elsewhere there’s a short excerpt from ’berliner schule’ which if we didn’t know better we’d have been saying this was Zombi and Jean Michel Jarre onboard Kraftwork’s ’trans Europe express’ with Giorgio Moroder at the steering. Safe to say we need to investigate further……
http://www.myspace.com/badhandfilm - bad hand film is the alter ego of a young unnamed Manchester based film making duo Justin and Adam, the filmic montages are sparse and minimalist in texture partly informed by both the no wave collective of the late 70’s and the in house 4AD conceptual collages of the late 80’s - to date they’ve worked with the likes of Rothko, Yellow 6, Dollboy, Ken Peel (see below) and BLK w/bear who incidentally feature somewhere amid these pages via their remix collaboration with Long Division with Remainders - more about that in a second - for now though here’s a rather tasty of that promised Ken Peel video for ’Asleep’….
http://www.myspace.com/theblackbloc - getting daft this now - another spiffing and so far unsigned band this time hailing from Halifax and Leeds. The Black Bloc number in four and have recently self released a low key self titled 10 track debut full length which by rights should be getting hammered by the undergrounds clued up cognoscenti. The Black Bloc contest a curious hybrid of sounds - indelibly rooted in all things austere post punk their core sound mutates from an initial central point that references in the main lost children of the early 80’s the Passage (none more so than on ‘soul surveillance’ which surges with the same edgy majesty as though fused from the remnants of current loves Talk and the Playwrights), ’Sons of Fascination’ era Simple Minds and A Certain Ratio - the melodies riddled in mazes of softly distraught friction, austerity and paranoia it soon begins to entangle its roots into the cosmic climes of the shadowy regions of baggy, goth psychedelics and early 90’s club floor indie paying nods along the way to the likes of the New Fast Automatic Daffodils (especially on the fringe flipping wah wah wooziness of the cosmic trance funk of ‘the streets have eyes‘ with its delicious Ozrics side servings) and The Shamen (and here we are talking Shamen in the psychedelic pre ’En Tact’ period). Elsewhere there’s some stunningly oblique dislocated funk - tronics courtesy of ‘another hundred dead’ and the frantic controlled frenzy of the scarred ‘death of a culture’. Given a healthy supply of radio play ‘children of the sun’ could prove to be a hidden gem in waiting with its darkly manifesting take on the Stereo MC’s ‘connected’ though for us best of the set by some distance is the parting shot ‘of all the lies’. Honeycombed in all manner of low lit spectral shimmers speckled deliciously with lysergic lunatics that to these ears sounds like a seriously chilled out psych funk grooved re-wire of ’flowers’ era Will Sergeant shimmying with baggy psychadelicists My Jealous God, ’of all the lies’ is a smoking head swirling nugget counter pointed by Bush’s blissed out soul mantras lushly back dropped by tripping Doors-esque backdrops that coalesce sumptuously to ooze sleekly in to the nocturnal ether. The aforementioned debut album is in our sights earmarked for urgent attention.
http://www.myspace.com/farthingwood - if memory serves we covered their debut EP ‘Poirot, le Fisc’ I detail last time out - and hell how could we resist and though ‘Orleans Reinette’ from that set had us gagging and festooned in summer colours bunting with its deftly surging Teenage Fanclub buzz sawing west coast power pop we suggest you save your swooning for the near perfect ‘where owls dare’ an acoustically rambling aching corker of some measure from their ‘Hey Zeus’ set which to much grumbles we appear to have missed - darn.
http://www.myspace.com/homesic - sadly no information on this other than to say he / she / they are currently un-signed. Described as ‘IDM / electronic / emotronic’ two cuts feature here (well in truth the same cut just re-tripped twice) which should appeal to lovers of the back catalogues belonging to expanding, city centre offices, Morr and boltfish. ‘trees go ping’ - here found in variations of their ‘bright’ and ‘chill’ mixes is a gorgeously playfully willowy and whirling lunatic cutie dusted with all manner of impishly excitable beats, clicks, chatters and charms. Partly ever so cutely lullaby like and partly dreamy eyed reclining on a far flung alien promenade wrapped in symphonic corteges made up of affectionate shrills from a fleet of cosmic ice cream vans - there’s something desirably early career Warp about this beauty a bit like some shyly lovelorn studio blind date between landshipping, plone and fort dax found pouring over old 70’s TV theme tune cast offs - in short we need to hear more.
http://www.myspace.com/danielchester25 - in his about me section of his site Daniel enthuses ’for some reason I’ve deemed my music worthy of the public domain’ and we have a tendency to agree because these vintage rustic nuggets are quite breathtaking. Touching an array of elements both familiar and timeless Daniel Chester’s home spun acoustic folk blues taps sweetly into a rich genealogy that draws upon the spirits of Woody Guthrie, John Fahey (especially on softly radiating ‘let you down’) and Tim Buckley while weaving the mosaic strands to current troubadours Louden Wainright III, Charlie Parr, Adrian Crowley and David A Jaycock (who incidentally if memory serves we’ve just received an album by via Red Deer). Much here to be loved by those admiring the output of imprints Misplaced Music and Early Winter Recordings, Chester’s gorgeously charcoaled cuties are all at once the sound of the dusted delta and the pastoral green quilted landscapes of this fair isle,’an old house’ in particularly resonates with the same unerring warmth as Fence’s King Creosote while the banjo caressed ’ain’t got no mind’ with its pockets full of stardust succulently stirs, lulls and lilts as it idly rocks from its porch lit slumber. Best of the set though by far is ’love not lost’ which at times traverses along the same softly trod pastoral day dreaming paths as was once the lonesome folk trail embarked by a certain Nick Drake.
Further listening - check out the absolutely gem like ‘a new love song’ by David A Jaycock via http://www.myspace.com/davidajaycockmusic
Those wanting a little Early Winters action go to http://www.myspace.com/earlywinterrecordings and rip ‘temper no 5’ by label head honcho James Green.
http://www.myspace.com/longdivisionwithremainders - takes a little explaining this one - a conceptual suite in some respects or rather more a development of sound. Under the project title ‘14 versions of the same EP’ - the idea hatched in 2006 by husband and wife Helen and Justin Watson was to create a core sound collage and then pass that composition onto other musical acquaintances for them to work their craft to whatever purpose they saw fit whether that be applying remix duties or simply expanding or altering the pieces original dynamic. Each collection of variants is available to download at monthly intervals for free via the links on the site (there have been 5 so far). Once complete plans are afoot to release the project as a CD box set. Incorporating an assortment of styles - ambience, minimalist sound manipulations, noise, drone and deep electronica the venture has so far enticed the interest of Isnaj Dui, Cats against the Bomb, BLK w/ Bear and Sone Institute. The original mix by Helen ’version 1’ is an ominously sparse slice of abstract ambience, think Pimmon meets the Telescopes, brief and almost over before its begun these bleak binary transmissions are shredded and sandblasted by blisters of white noise a serious lights on experience even if it is daytime. Sone Institute is St Albans based musician Roman Bezdyk - http://www.myspace.com/soneinstitute - to date he’s released one full length in the shape of ’from a flaming satellite, a quiet voice’ while at present there’s a six track EP just released via the Three Towers imprint that seriously needs further investigation based on the evidence heard via ’dark forest’ with its off centred and crookedly psych tinged frosted symphonies and curiously disorientating porcelain pastoral corteges. ’version 2’ draws the original template to a different dimension endowing it into a wonderfully stirring serenade of celestial swells and swirling lunatic processions sweetly garnished by trippy featurette. BLK w/bear are a quintet hailing from Washington DC check out http://www.myspace.com/blkwbear and hook up in particular with their abstract sounding ‘burn in’ culled from their ’Fahrenheit_drafts’ set which to these ears offers up an unsettling passage into the same micro-verse as more commonly visited by Pimmon being that its awash with a curiously dark and sinister like low drone binary conversing pulse. Their rephrasing of the original template is cast within ’version 3’ - a bleakly brooding yet beautifully scratched and scarred slow pulse rate sonic sculpture of deftly stirring noire-ish cascades torn and pierced by washes of feedback scree. Cats against the Bomb is the alter ego of an Ipswich based noise fanatic sadly no additional material via his site at http://www.myspace.com/catsagainstthebomb though you do get treated to Advanced Lawmower Simulator’s cover of Elvis Costello’s ‘pump it up’ which here sounds like its been driven through the blender by an impish meeting of Devo and Ministry mindsets. Isnaj Dui bring things up to date - well for now that is. The alter ego of London based flautist Katie English who has already graced these pages and won our hearts for her rather spiffing ’amercing’ release for the dinky but wonderfully formed smallfish imprint (see missive). She’s just released a second full length entitled ‘patterns I rocks’ via fbox samples of which you can hear on her page at http://www.myspace.com/isnajdui - we suggest you hook up to the rather mournful but delectable pocket full of pining prettiness that is the fragile ’I should never’. ’version 5’ sees her utilising all manner of aural manipulations, drone sine waves and (what sounds like) backward loops, admittedly more fractured and out there than her usual trademark symphonic warmth but nevertheless equally engaging, sound wise sparse, metallic and by unworldly - English encroachers the micro universe more readily associated and populated by the lulling psyche trance of the likes of EAR, Delia Derbyshire and Vernon Arts Lab. Captivating stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/dustwindtales - stumbled across this site by a mixture of sheer accident via a friends link to Sone Institute and by the fact that we liked the sound of the name. Dust Wind Tales is an Essex based cassette / cd-r label run by Stephen Kent mainly as a outlet for his End Springs project - releases come pressed up on ridiculously limited numbers - anything from 50 to 100 - that are - judging by the photos - sumptuously packaged and frankly alone worthy of residence in any well ordered record collection on looks alone. Culled from the forthcoming ‘Dusty Tales’ compilation - (a 25 track compilation - one side given over to instrumentals the other to er - non instrumentals which is like spoken / sung things) - the night jar who it seems hails from Essex and beyond we know little else except that this unnamed track is rather beautiful. Minimalist and sparse - just how we like it - the honeyed rustic contours sleekly meander entwined with the shimmering spectre of John Fahey as it gorgeously radiates its soft woody calm - will appeal to fans of both the Gnac and Billy Mahonie man Gavin Baker’s erstwhile off shoot Meets Guitar. Next up throuRoof - again we come up a little short on the further information stakes other than to say he / she / they come from Italy - Prato to be precise and have to date released a formidable back catalogue on imprints such as rural faune, centre of the wood and resting bell. utilising improvisations, sound manipulations, feedback shimmies and drone frequencies throuRoof carve out sumptuously glacial cinematic voids - the unnamed cut here sounding not unlike a mid carer hallucinogenic mantra touched by the presence of a relocated to Tibet Flying Saucer Attack. French resident A man and a guitar is just that - the man being Bruno Duplant who armed with a guitar sometimes a double bass crafts frailly bruised and willowy affairs that whisper tenderly assuming a strange - as is the case here - and deftly DNA crossing of the Tindersticks, a seriously hurt Flaming Stars and Lou Reed whilst on the horizon word reaches us that there‘s a whole full length entitled ‘hate me tender’ rumoured to be kicking about in need of closer inspection. More Fahey caressed song craft this time from stateside musician Joe Lapaglia, again another untitled gem in the making that sensitively tweaks the dusty delta folk / blues dialects with some neat yet - we kid you not - ghostly sounding Simon and Garfunkel touches. Best of the showcased tracks though must surely go to the Golden Ghosts offering. This quartet hailing from New York do a neat line in Animal Collective meets the Knife handiwork, though on this particular cut there’s a distracted and homely oddball hoe down at play, part skewif part lysergic kinda Kimya Dawson doing Sarah McLachlan impersonations all at once deliciously powder puff and disarmingly affectionate. More please.
Further listening resources -
http://www.myspace.com/thenightjar - we suggest to get comfy, turn off the lights pull up a pew and listen closely to the dusty railroad ramble that is ‘lioness’
http://www.myspace.com/throuroof - ‘turn down’ my bloody valentine caught in a sonic wormhole sonic boom
http://www.myspace.com/amanaguitar - we suggest you rip the exceptionally wounded and distressed cover of Elvis ‘’love me tender’ - scarily good.
http://www.myspace.com/josephlapaglia - rip the devilishly lilting ’someplace for’.
http://www.myspace.com/heygoldenghost - rip the absolutely wonderful ’the orca and the Eskimo’ which apparently features on an ever so cute single via the luck number nine imprint which we’ll need to track down and call our own before we are any older.
http://www.myspace.com/distantnoiserecords - thought we’d best give this lot a mention mainly because we seem to have mentioned them in passing twice in as many days in these pages. Throughout the year this small but well formed label will be releasing a cd-r album a month in ultra limited quantities - like 100 copies - all will come housed in sleeves designed by Ben Curzon of Planet Mu and Make Mine Music fame. The label is the brain child of Tarl Broad-Ashman who a few of you may be more familiar with under his Innerise guise. To date the label has released three cd-r’s so far - Luga, Schengen and Televise - the latter sadly sold out at source (damn) - next up will be Absent Without Leave (see above) while in the near future outings are promised from Jessica Bailiff, Yellow 6, the Static Silence, Dawn Chorus Ignites, Romakid, Lighsway, Ben Curzon with the twelfth and final instalment being a special remixes collection. As to showcased stuff available here - Televise should need no introductions to patrons of these pages we’ve fondly shouted out their merits in previous missives. First coming to our attention via the limited debut for Club AC30 ’outside out’ (see missive 68) Televise is the dreamscaping / shoe gaze solo project of ex Slowdive man Simon Scott who these days appears to split his time working on remixes for like minded lunatic foot soldiers as well as collaborating with ISAN’s Anthony Ryan (Sea vault - who we happened to mention in passing at missive 148). Featured here ’flood out’ culled from the sold out ’secret valentine’ set is a beautifully commissioned slice of ethereal elegance replete with spires of spectrally charged heaven bound chorus’ longingly anchored by lonesome panoramic waves of glacially statue-esque ambience that to these ears sounds not to far removed from the early outings of Canada’s Kranky imprint - La Bradford, Stars of the Lid and Aix Em Klemm. Further Televise tuneage can be engaged via a new EP entitled ‘sometimes splendid confusion’ that’s kicking about that if memory serves we haven’t heard as yet plus appearances on a new Keshhhhhh compilation which will need to be sourced sooner rather than later. Absent Without Leave - we mentioned previously (see above) though we couldn’t resist giving an additional plug for the sweetly unassuming ’end of july’ cut pulled from his ’postcards from nowhere’ set. A delicate slice of lushly prickling sparse reclining beauty set to a corkscrewing looped rustic motif, lulling and introspective its softly shy amour recalling the slowly recoiling thoughtful mirages of early career Codeine until that is it begins to thaw mid way through and unfurl to blossom into a dew dropped fragile treasure. Touching stuff. Static Silence are Brighton based duo Rachel and Matt who between them have clocked up air miles for the likes of Eu Claire, Experimental Aircraft and the very excellent Air Formation). To date there have been sporadic and rare sound ware sightings of this elusive pair though first of call ought to be the Mass Transfer magazine who we are led to believe managed to salvage ‘lost’ or one of their cover mounts. The simply arresting ’looking for Light’ taken from their forthcoming ’the distant between us’ set is a tearfully bruised cosmic cortege of sveltely honey combed shyly lit star tipped harmonies caressed and bathed in lingering wide screen accented petrified drone waves that are all at once stately, amorphous and deceptively romantic - this purring peek a boo procession of pirouetting parades shimmers and serenades to unlock your defences and enchant your emotions. For further listening pleasures we thoroughly recommend you check out ‘set in starlight’ via their site at http://www.myspace.com/thestaticsilence - a slow burning ice forming celestial dream weaving cutie that to these ears sounds like a softly murmuring Cathedral-esque My Bloody Valentine chilling out with Flying Saucer Attack.
Mr Attwood really should need no introductions in these pages long have we held high regard for his Yellow 6 work, his release schedule has been to say the least exhaustive trying to keep up with. His finest work to date can be found encapsulated on the recently released double disc set ’when the leaves fall like snow’ via the Make Mine Music imprint. Future turntable treats are promised via collaborative outings as iamstringsthattrembleunderabow and council flat - see our review of the aforementioned ’when the leaves fall like snow’ release for more detailed information. ’Sthlm’ (or Stockholm) was - we think we are right in saying - recorded during the same sessions that materialised as ’snow’ therefore providing a neat append to the set - ’kulturhuset’ from that album (incidentally release number 6 of the intended monthly series) is a perfect introduction to Yellow 6 for those previously untouched by his mercurial craft. Delicate, emotive, thoughtful, fragile, longing and uniquely beguiling in its repose and resonance. The same motifs explored - loss, reflection and loneliness are deftly dispatched with an eloquent ease that clearly nods back to the more mellowing and tranquil chapters of post rocks prior history - namely Stars of the Lid and La Bradford (again) - in short awe inspiring jaw droppingly numbed majesty. First appearing on our radar via the absolutely gorgeous ’Nyplex’ 12” via the much missed Roisin imprint many, many years ago. Now firmly ensconced as part of the like minded electronic / ambient collective Make Mine Music (Yellow 6, July Skies, Portal, Epic 45, Avrocar etc….), Schengen are duo Nick and Ian whose applied know how to the language of electronics has always veered towards the eclectic and engaging rather than the obscure and awkward as proven by the impish ’Smashes’. Taken from their forthcoming ’CE Gill’ full length, this restlessly funky bug bitten cutie flutters and flickers amid subtle cosmically enhanced calypso swirls and rhythmically fidgeting skewif beat underpins that are devilishly decorated at intervals by Clangers styled night sky nocturnal noodles - erratic but endearing. Last and by no means least - one man Brighton based laptop tweaking enterprise Luga. There’s already a full length somewhere out there entitled ‘bound by indifference’ via the Belgium imprint Vu-Us which we’ll have to try and nail as our own, for now though taken from his ‘sending triangles’ set ‘interluding thoughts’ should go some way to wooing both the IDM and ambient communities. By far the best track showcased here, ‘interluding thoughts’ sounds for all the world like its been shipped through the ether, festooned in all manner of delightfully shimmering porcelain carved promenade motifs orbiting in waltz like whirling formations threaded by stuttering beats and gleefully glazed in lullaby like sheens of Fischer Price ice cream van mirages - need we say we wonder - quite perfect.
And that’s your lot for a day or two - hopefully there should be a very swift singles only singled out before the weekends out too many goodies to crack on about though you are advised to hook up to www.myspace.com/thesundayexperience for sporadic sightings of updates failing that contact points as per usual for snail mail check the footings of previous missives or else email mark@losingtoday.com - as usual thanks for all those who’ve made these ramblings possible - its much appreciated and humbling to know you care.
