http://www.myspace.com/quaggacurioussoundsandoddities - mentioned this imprint loosely in passing just a second ago when we happened across Norwich noise niks Zebra Mu on the Love Torture my space player. Anyway both Zebra Mu and Quagga Curious Sounds are headed up by Michael Ridge who describes the label as thus -
‘Quagga Curious Sounds is a micro DIY label currently based in Norwich, UK. The focus of Quagga is releasing very limited runs (at present between 10-25 copies) of mainly noise, ambient and power-electronics in the spirit of American Tapes, RRRecords and Turgid Animal. Each release is lovingly made to the highest quality possible. The intention is creating hand-crafted, bizarre and horrific CDRs and tapes‘.
Okay any questions?
Well to date there have been some dozen or so releases - most appear long since sold out (in fact about 90% of the catalogue all told) and much to the furious sounds of gnashing teeth appear to have passed us by. Don’t fret though because releases by Audiocum and Carl Kruger are still available (just) both looking handsomely packaged with the former coming replete with a brass bullet shell which for those of you - like me - into your inserts and weird packages is surely a thing of desire. We here are thinking loads of head drilling ear gear here for all you admirers of all things Kylie Minoise, At War with False Noise, Kovorox, Tayside Mental Health and the such like. Five tracks loom large on the player of death opening with an excerpt from what we assume will be a forthcoming Splinter Vs Stalin split, alas no information on this lot though safe to say they make the kind of sound that would peel paint from walls and no doubt bend metal, an unrelenting no prisoners taken slab of squalling white noise sand storm that frankly sounds like its going to implode and disintegrate on itself any second soon as it pushes through the frequency tolerances. Described by Mr Ridge as ’harsh as fuck noise’ Audiocum do indeed push the ante with their acid bath aural atrocity, brutal and blistered this wilfully aggressive attack upon the senses and lobes is as ferocious as they come all served up as searing splinters of pummelling skree storms which despite their initial acute abruptness sound quite lulling and mesmeric once that is your head has retuned itself to the seizure stricken melee entailing within. Mind you nothing quite prepares you for the all out blitzkrieg of the sonic warring undertaken by Carl Kruger, culled from his ultra limited ‘the state is violence’ set which is apparently based on the book ‘Anarchism is American‘ - Kruger hits you square in the face with his attrition based aural contortions, a menacing spectacle of grating mayhem and butchered ad hoc time signatures jettisoned at speed and revealing itself all at once as a cacophonous carnage of circuit bending cruelty to which admirers of Hijokaidan will do well to seek at your earliest inconvenience. Sadly Chefkirk refused to play ball as did the Dead Wood track but then I guess you get the general idea of what’s afoot here.
Pocketbooks ‘footsteps’ (how does it feel to be loved?). Faultless.
We were tempted to leave the review just so, but then we felt some of you record buying wallflowers might just need a further nudge and a tad bit of coaxing to get you wandering in the general direction of this cutely tweaked bundle of shy eyed effervescence. Mentioned with much affectionate fondness in these pages when their ‘waking up’ EP had us all a swooning in the aisles. We’ve a slight suspicion we may have already mentioned this cut (and well if we have and you didn’t take note the first time of asking then shame on you) which should be adorning the finest record emporiums very shortly just ahead of their debut ‘flight path’ full length which dearest hearts has been charming the birds out of trees around our gaff of late much to the amusement of the house cat. Anyway enough of that, this babe tingles and purrs with such beaming sunburnt radiance that we here swear we’ve gotten a tasty little tan just for being near it, adorably cute some twee tweaked candy pop, all at once demurring, flighty and flirty, bright eyed and bushy tailed, still calls to our minds the chirpy cosiness of Heavenly and the willowy hushed innocence and romance of Belle and Sebastian’s ‘tiger milk’ whilst simultaneously found on this occasion nodding ever so slightly to Martha and the Vandellas and the Supremes ‘you can’t hurry love’ albeit relocated to a quaintly English afternoon dimpled with summer showers. Be warned though may cause light headedness and impromptu out breaks of hip jiggling and foot tapping. www.howdoesitfeeltobeloved.co.uk
There’s a video that goes a lot like this…..
http://www.myspace.com/psychogeographical - got a message from this lot simply saying ‘hello, thought you might be interested’ - and well curious souls that we are we decided to venture for a little peek, and indeed what we heard was most interesting causing our well oiled radar to wobble and tingle excitedly. The Psychogeographical Commission - great name for a band - agreed - not unlike something you’d expect to appear on the Ghost Box imprint, hail from the North East and various parts of Scotland, to date there’s been just one solitary release - the nine track debut ‘genius loci’ which by all accounts comes housed in an attractive limited issue ‘map book’ styled sleeve from which three cuts thereof you can find featured on their showcase player. We listened intently, drawn to the creaking moon shone back dropped labyrinth like ghost riddled back lanes, the fleeting apparition of a disembodied narrator acts as your journey’s guide into this solemnly bleak and drizzled wasteland, the mood an ominous one fractured by a minimalist drawn pensive edge that mooches eerily amid a chilled atmospherically woven underpin of spectral electronic chatters and twitters and the undulating loop of a sparsely treated riff montage much reminiscent of Roy Montgomery and the less noise based aspects of a mid 80’s New Zealand scene. Again the Ghost Box references are no accident the vibe ushering in a detectable feel of the Vernon Arts Lab, ’have you ever’ is particular found drawing swords to the more mellower and glacier moments of Giant Paw’s ’the stars are ours’ debut (which as though you need reminding you should have firmly ensconced in your record collection if that is you don’t already) as well as tonally skirting the trimmings of Gnac‘s earlier outings. ’Fires of London’ is despatched with similar candour, hypnotically weaving spell charms drift and seep the surroundings with a chilling funereal grimness blemished by the distant pangs of death which give it a veritable spiritualist motif much recalling it has to be said - Coil. That said the sets best moment for us (notwithstanding the fact that the blighter shudders prematurely to a halt at 2.10 despite and in spite of the variously applied tools of persuasion at our disposal) is the parting ’spare thoughts’ - possessed of an subtle and edgy psychosis, the ice dripped atmospherics (which it should be noted make exquisite use of the space provided within as they saturate the voids) married to the ether strained incantations endow it with an unearthly dread that we here are thinking labels of the likes of Beta Lactam Ring should be eyeing fondly. Ultimately its disturbingly wiring dark psyche folk and with that wholly recommended - for daylight listening enjoyment of course. In the meantime we’ll try and nail a copy of the album for further acclaim.
http://www.myspace.com/susannamagical - mentioned in previous dispatches - that’ll be missive 140 for all you note takers - whereupon we passed much impressed comment regarding their cover of Joy Division‘s ‘love will tear us apart‘ - which incidentally you can still find peppering their showcase music player. Well word has reached us that Oslo’s finest duo Susanna and Morton are about to release their debut full length in August entitled ‘melody mountain’ from which ‘palpatine’s dream’ will proceed as a taster single. Agreed it is adorable in a seductively fractured and monochromatic way blending hushed and starry eyed minimalist nocturnal tweaked funk motifs upon landscapes more readily associated by an early 90’s Bristol scene but it’s the cut entitled ‘believer’ which in our humbled opinion should be getting your erstwhile attention and again something we mentioned previously. A tragic parting love note of sorts treated to a touching epitaph like graceful glassiness which aside being numbing will melt the coldest of hearts with its hollowed intimate ache, possessed of a hurting hymnal resonance finitely set upon the most frail and fragile of spectral signatures - fans of Low will swoon to a crush. Mind you now that we are here we may as well mention both ’time’ and ’crazy crazy nights’ - the former sounding to these ears not unlike a forlorn treated prime era Broadcast shimmying tenderly with Plone and their toy electronics under the influence of Joe Meek while the latter is indeed a cover of the max factor donned codpieces and big hair demi dudes Kiss’ MTV rucking rocker here arrested to the merest of a murmur and which young folk really has to be heard to be believed. These souring serenades are absolutely touching, one suspects in there company many a tear will be shed, if not then we reckon you’re on special pills - in which what are they and where can I get them from.
And here’s the video accompanying ‘palpatine’s dream’…….
Update - copy and pasted message from Susanna which - maybe its just us - sounds like a telling off with a very curt thanks at the end - just can’t please some can you - mental note no more mentions……
‘ I think you have gotten some facts wrong there...... We are releasing our THIRD full length album in August, called "3". Our second album was released in 2006 called "Melody Mountain", and we just recently played that album in a church in Oslo.
Palpatine‘s dream is the single from the coming album.
Love Will Tear Us Apart is on the album "Melody Mountain", which consist of only coversongs. Our new album will mainly consist of original material.
Our debut album was released in 2004 and is called "List Of Lights and Buoys".
A new book that you should be getting your mits upon if only spruce up your living rooms book case and provide a comment passing centre of focus are a by all accounts excellently researched tome about the Eric’s venue which for a few short years during the punk / early new wave period was the cultural / social epicentre for a re-emerging Liverpool music / arts scene and the disparate underground scenes that had been stilted by the subsequent fall out from the Beatles demise. Titled ‘Liverpool Eric’s - all the best clubs are downstairs everybody knows that….‘ it’s a massive 500 page time capsule collecting together memories of a most crucial period in Liverpool’s rich heritage giving insights into the pre Eric’s landscape as well as a brief analysis of what came after and most importantly why it was so unique and such an important cultural icon. Our copies being ordered as I write so expect further discourse in future missives.
For now here’s a taster video type film trailer - be warned there are Mick Hucknall moments and crisis dressing…..
Shirley Lee ‘dissolving girl’ (missing page). Did he really say the ‘c’ word. Indeed he did sir and several times along with the occasional ‘f’ word thrown in no doubt for added effect. We are of course talking about the exclusive cut ‘restless soul’ that features on this forthcoming three track outing from Spearmint front man Shirley Lee. Swear words aside don’t let such minor details detract from what is an irresistible pop minded talent at work. Featuring two cuts culled from his recent self titled debut full length and available shortly as one of those download type things in order to coincide with the delayed publication of ’this is a souvenir - the songs of Spearmint and Shirley Lee’, Mr Lee is of course said head man of 90’s indie inspirations who if we’re recalling rightly - are currently rooted in the studio recording a new album due for September consumer consumption. But to the case in hand - Shirley Lee - blessed with an impeccable ear for a catchy well drilled shimmer shaking pop tart or two is our Mr Lee, ‘dissolving girl’ fizzes and softly burns cast adrift in a delicately tendered bitter sweet hollow that’s distilled and threaded by a radio purring radiance that slyly numbs, swoons and swirls about your head like some love sick folly struck and strained by its own self doubting introspective recoil, throw in some buzz sawed fuzz laced slices of done to smouldering power pop accents and you have yourself a tearfully teased treasure. Tastily treated to the skipping braid of summer toned breezy drifts and sounding admittedly not unlike a distant half cousin of Aztec Camera there’s a lazy eyed sheen applying to the softly turned ‘Spiralina Girl’ amid the weaves of the light headed spring crisp riff pines and the lolloping cascades of a starry eyed romantic inclining late 60’s folk scene a becoming gem is rising shy eyed into focus. Last up the aforementioned and dare we say insidiously infectious ‘restless soul’ - deliciously dinked in Wilson-esque harmonies and the succulent lilt of down tempo library motifs - is a melodica never can tell - which it has to be said immediately give it a glowing cosmopolitan 70’s vibe not unlike that found on Ashley Park’s debut opus from a few years back, mind you as expletive riddled as it is its still blessed with the kind of acutely trimmed pop flair that was the hallmark at one time of a certain Ian Broudie before of course he made that national anthem for oiks nonsense - pitiful - ‘three lions’ that is not ‘restless soul’ which is by contrast rather smart. www.shirleylee.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/20thcenturytokyoprincess
Race Horses ‘cake’ (fantastic plastic). One of several releases found to be teasing our turntable for the best part of the day is this - the debut release from lysergic Welsh loons Race Horses. Both culled from the bands forthcoming debut full length ‘goodbye falkenburg’, ‘cake’ slyly nods to the Ankst records roster of yore with elements of the usual suspects Gorky’s and SFA never far from recall, though scratch a little deeper and you’ll find a strangely becoming soft psyche brew fermenting between the grooves as though passing for some long lost soundtrack for a throwaway first generation Brit wave hippy chic flick from the late 60’s as laid down by a quickly drilled studio session shimmy between Traffic and the Chocolate Watchband, mind you award yourselves bonus points if like us you’re on more than one occasion throughout this cutie alerted to images of the Rutles doing the Who. Better still looms over on the flip - ‘cacen magmu’ which according to the press releases was meant to have been conceived as a bad trip, apparently a tale of a young boy who gets possessed by the evil spirit of his Gran who ultimately blows his brains out because his life is so cack - that’ll be cack not cake - though we are thinking perhaps we were right the second time of asking - bad trip / cake - I’m bloody wasted me. Anyhow better than your usual trite and mundane boy meets girl live happy ever after tra la la la sickly happy pop affair, though admittedly this nugget does have a touch of haunted house / hall of mirrors / freak circus macabre about its wares - military brass bands, backward loops and hallucinogenic motifs if we didn’t know better we’d be saying it was some acid dropped gathering of mid career Kinks types and Alan Price. Goes without saying that its much deserving of hi-fi hammering - and on Fantastic Plastic to - the erstwhile home of pristinely baked pop gems. www.fantasticplasticplasticrecords.com
The Capitol Years ‘you can stay there’ (SOE). still no sign of their UK debut full length ‘dance away the terror’ as first mentioned last time we had the honour of making much fuss of these Philadelphian’s dudes when upon we cast a fond eye over their ‘revolutions’ single at the turn of the year. For now it seems the blighters are seemingly intent on peppering your lug holes with the finest of delicacies of breeze driven honey suckled trims of softly burnt MOR there is to be had in order to tease and whet your appetites. ’you can stay there’ is a certifiable gem of some measure, embracing the finitely tuned pop glossed wide screen elements of a mid 70’s era Beach Boys albeit as though refracted through the acutely trained shades of Mercury Rev and Neutral Milk Hotel add to that becoming brew the succulent piercing of the kind of softly simmered power pop calibration more redolent of say - Todd Rundgren and have it framed upon a smoked swooning purr whose deceptive charm sumptuously intoxicates the listening space as though on some kind of slow release mechanism. As with the previous release - our favoured moment is found on the flip side - ’1,000 guns’ is a glowing sun drenched slice of panoramic operettas, exquisite swirls of soft centred crystalline riffmanship that’s succulently welted with the most subtle of lysergic bows adorning west coast washes peppered with fading countrified tones and all set upon a tripping kaleidoscopic carousel of sound that imagines some made in heaven studio meeting between the Beatles and the Beach Boys. A must. Deputy single of the Missive. www.capitoltyears.com
The Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club ‘parrot’ (this is fake diy). Hands up those who were around the first time and heard Adam and the Ants ‘prince charming’ and ‘Ant Rap’ - admittedly pretty much staid affairs these days, but at the time there was something not so much subversive but loosely dislocated and unhinged about Goddard’s mutant regal pop junk funk and okay yea rap if you must, but I’m talking about the rhythms here. I only say this because I’m midway through the first hearing of the Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club’s welcomed return to the fray after what seems like a criminally neglected age (hi, how are you, where the hell have you been) and there’s a definite nod towards the dandy prince of pop pantomime restlessly bending the rules amid the groove space of this one track 2 minutes and 16 seconds promo. But then perhaps the sun has scorched my senses, nah it’s definitely there we’ve played it again. Mind you it could be equally said that there’s a wholly insidious way about how it manages to contort and cross wire echoes of Bolan and Glitter with the Animal Collective and Black Dice, not forgetting its skewed time signatures while its occasional Dadaist mantras are indeed duly noted as to are its atonal no wave tonalities and its general all round fractured freeform dynamic. Pop Jim but not as you know it. Impish rascals the lot of them. An album of more weird and wired insights into their collectively scrambled mindsets is threatening on the horizon in the shape of ‘love on an oil rig’ due September - we suggest the wilful badgering of your local record emporium retailer. www.thisisfakediyrecords.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/thebsides - slinky and sassy 60’s calibrated Farfisa drenched garage beat pop gold from Athens based female fronted quintet the b sides who have recently released what sounds like a swanky toe tapping slab of tastiness in the guise of their self titled debut full length platter sample cuts from which you can rip yourself some floor cutting shapes courtesy of their showcasing music player, the sounds so primitively authentic and raw that they could have whipped straight from some must have Pebbles compilation packed to the rafters with bands so long since gone and obscure that even they would be able to pass each other on the street with the faintest glimmer of recognition, recommended cut here is ’it’s a crying shame’ - not I’m assuming the garage fuzz classic laid down by Dallas’ the Gentlemen but rather more it seems a reply of sorts laced in all manner of organs cut with teasing struts and damn fine hip shimmies - buggering hell now just where are my shades and winkle pickers when I need them. Classy stuff.
And that’s it for a day or so - the promised Lupen Crook single will be on the next missive - a little belter it is to plus there’ll be loads of other stuff of which we haven’t decided as yet what’s what though we suspect the occasional Scotch Tapes / Frequent Sea release to make an appearance, may even be some Bot Records action - know this because we are listening right this minute to polymorph or maybe that‘s the name of the track - anyway its damn fine stuff, also some Louis Gordon which will naturally bring John Foxx into play plus a few new cuts by Antonymes who you may recall we featured in this very place a missive or two ago.
As always kindest thanks and eternal gratitude to all who’ve somehow been involved in ramblings whether it be bands, press reps, labels or anyone sending encouraging messages - I’m always touched by your kindness.
As to submissions - ha ha - we’re still buggered on the email front - haven’t had time to sort it - but it will be shortly. Therefore please redirect messages to surroundinsound@aol..com
For review updates please check out www.myspace.com/thesundayexperience - its had a spring clean and a face lift as is sporting the latest play list….
As to snail mail -
105 Shaldon Drive, Morden, Surrey, SM4 4BQ, UK - should see it arriving safely - be warned we are on the move again though not for a month or so - I’ll update you as and when.
All that leaves me to say is thanks for taking the time and take care of yourselves.
