John Court At Spacex

A new and quite breath-taking exhibition is happening at Spacex Gallery in Exeter (Devon) right now and through to November 24. I recommend a visit.
Bromley born but Lapland based visual artist John Court is showing his first ever UK solo exhibition : The Work Between the Lines. The exhibition includes videos from John's past performances, sculptor and drawings, and on the final day of the exhibition John will be performing an eight hour piece in response to his time in and to the architecture of Spacex Gallery. (10am start - admission is free).
John is severely dyslexic and his drawings of letters on blank paper are absolutely enthralling, I got lost within the pieces - they look like primitive cartography, like heat photography and brass rubbings..but they are thin lines, letters, words, statements all combined and layered. Fascinating. Very rarely do I look at a "piece of art" and go "wow", but it was happening to me yesterday at Spacex. I recommend you all getting a copy of the book "John Court Drawings" published by the Arts Council of Finland and FRAME.

I must admit to have never knowing of the work of John Court before this exhibition, what drew my attention ws the appearance of performance artist Andre Stitt. Andre was to appear in conversation with John .. and a fascinating insight into the world of the artist John Court it was. A lot of the folk in the audience were taking notes, I would have loved to have taken notes too...but I was to busy listening. I did jot down the phrase "It's harder not to do it" which John said in relation to his performance work and it is a statement I totally harmonise with in relation to my sound work.
Anyway. Andre Stitt. I'm a big fan! I met Andre 25 years ago after seeing him perform at Manchester Cornerhouse. A week of "Confrontation" if my memory serves. We also appear on the same compilation cassette "ND 7" that was released back in 1986 (I think)? If anyone has a copy of this cassette release please get in touch! So meeting him (again) was great fun. I showed him my copy of ND #5 (from 1985, with the Andre Stitt tract) and he gave me a copy of his book "Substance". We chatted about the Manchester performance. It was a threatening piece, well, confrontational. Andre remarked that it was when he was drinking and had a mullet! Scary indeed. I was surprised to find that Andre is now a Professor and lives (nearby) in Cardiff. Both artists websites are worth a visit. www.johncourt.info/ & www.andrestitt.com

Please visit the exhibition at Spacex if you can, you will find it well worth your time.

Pictures.
1: Spacex Gallery. Preston Street. Exeter.
2: Cover of Spacex Gallery pamphlet.
3: Video documentary from performance.
4: A "doodle".
5: Interactive sculpture piece "Work".
6: "John Court Drawings" book cover.
7: Exhibition poster.
8: Andre Stitt and John Court "In Conversation".
9: Myself, Andre & John.    

Dieter Muh Im Berlin

Dieter Muh will be performing alongside Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim + Allseits at the NK Projekt, Berlin on Friday 15 February 2013. More details to follow .....

Petals #2

Just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest release from Petals. "Whether To Drown" is a two track 3"CDr released by a new Leeds based label; Sheepscar Light Industrial.
I do like 3"CD's, I have a pile of them - there's a great series of them released by Grey Park on the 287 Lattajjaa label. Small, compact and none of them lasting over 25 minutes. I can't go a month without playing the Genesis P-Orridge/Hafler Trio "Slave Priest" 3"CD! I would love to release one myself. Anyway, but I digress.
I have been listening to a fair amount of Petals lately, I have been liking a lot of what I've played so when I saw this release being advertised for 30 bob I knew I had to have it. I equate the sound of Petals to that of Plurals, Baraclough and Astral Social Club. Drone Music. This release does not disappoint; "Calm (Before A Storm)" is a layering of heavy keyboard slow drone. There are oscillations in there, synthesised noodles breaking through the drone wall, but mainly it is heavy (organ) keyboard drone. Hues of Popol Vuh and then again a smelting of Rick Wakeman. Progressive/Modern Progressive? Now I know some folk out there will say "there's nowt wrong with Rick Wakeman" - but I am here to tell you .. "Oh yes there is"! The track morphs and melts into a lovely surround of tonal bliss.
The track must be a live recording, the levels do go a bit awry in places...it may not have been mastered.
"Viaduct For Two" is the reason for listening to / buying this 3" CDr. (Superior Viaduct - A little nod to our Ohio readers there). The sound of bowed and stretched violin strings with an ominously low throbbing underbelly. Glorious.  
With releases so far from Petals, Aqua Dentata, Midwich and Daniel Thomas Sheepscar Light Industrial is becoming a nice monitor for the experimental subculture of DIY electronics in the UK.
Pay a vist to www.sheepscar.blogspot.co.uk there's a link to buy this release.

Lettera 22 #2

Have just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest release from Italian project Lettera 22. "Native Waters" is a 7" / Tape release superbly packaged in a box with an interesting insert.
I have mentioned Lettera 22 before, I saw them soundcheck at the Broken Flag Festival in the summer and they damn near blew my ears off, then I got the "Lack Of Attention" CD which left me slightly disappointed after the blistering live sound - not that "Lack Of Attention" is a poor album...just a little "patchy". This release came to me out of the blue and contains some of the freshest and most innovative sounds I have heard in the noise realm for a long time...with this release I coin Lettera 22 "Noise-Concret". 
All pieces on this release are either "untitled" or have the same title "Native Waters"..it doesn't matter. The tape contains two fifteen minute pieces a side. Side A starts with a steady and controlled build before plunging into noise chaos. A battle royale of effects boxes, home built circuitry and amp-noise. Shades of very early Whitehouse and Government Alpha, before it all fades to leave a claustrophobic and disturbing slice on musique-concret. Scraping, chewing, projecting objects and slamming the furniture. "A piano falls from above". This piece has masterful editing with full on echo and reverb effects. Lettera 22 are two chaps on top of their game....Side B rumbles along like an unmanned underground train on the Northern Line. Radios are tuned and detuned, cavities are drilled and amps are turned up to eleven. A fifteen minute masterpiece of spliced and diced noise-concret.
I have been playing the vinyl at 33rpm, there is no notification to tell me otherwise. Side A is a remix or re-recording of the latter half of Side A on the cassette - this is what you get when you don't title your pieces! Sharpening knives, objects thrown in frustration breaking into a slice of japnoisesque madness ... which is where Side B begins. An MB, M;S;B;R, Masonna & Mauthausen Orchestral style attack before breaking down into contact microphone style scrunching and knob tweedles. A fine example of noise-concret. 
This release is essential, a great document for where experimental / electronic / noise music is now. The release is limited to 100 copies and available direct from Second Sleep. (www.secondsleep.org) And whilst you are shopping there - bag the Rumination "Weight" release too.

Strangely enough, I bought the Swedish magazine "Fordamning" a couple of weeks back, a lovely little A5 30 page tract which has an in depth interview with Matteo Castro of Lettera 22 / Second Sleep, a fascinating read. Matteo also records under the name of Kam Hassah and Endless Sea ... more sounds to discover - excellent! "Fordamning" can be bought direct from Release The Bats in Sweden, well worth the Euros. Go to www.releasethe bats.com - I think Peripheral Records in the UK have copies too.

Pictures.
1: "Native Waters" Tape.
2: "Native Waters" Vinyl.
3: "Native Waters" Box Cover.
4: "Native Waters" Insert Art.
5: "Fordamning" Cover.

MuhMur (SoundArt Broadcast 20/09/2012)

Last night was the first "MuhMur" programme on SoundArt Radio (102.5 FM). Also available for listening live at www.soundartradio.org. Thanks for all that did lend an ear, and thanks for the positive response that came via a plethora of E Mails this morning. I am not the only one in this house who likes pampers.
It was a great experience and great fun and I'm looking forward to the next programme on October 4 at 21:00 hours GMT. Here is last nights playlist.

1: Fiene Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim : "Unterhose Totalphimose" (Zoharum Records) 2012.
2: Gerechtigkeits Liga : "Introduction ; Lysis".
3: Gerechtigkeits Liga : "Volkermord Parts 1 & 2"
   (Both tracks from the 1985 LP "Hypnotischer Existenzialismus (Side Effeckts Records) - Re-Issued on  CD by Isegrimm Records).
4: Gerechtigkeits Liga : "Shot Back Since 5 O'Clock" (Vinyl On Demand Records) 2008.
   (From the retrospective double LP & 7"EP set, this track was recorded in 1981).
5: Gerechtigkeits Liga : "Schamanischer Zyklus In Der Nacht" (Zyklus Records) 1984.
6: Gerechtigkeits Liga : "Evolution And The End"
7: Gerechtigkeits Liga : "The End And The Evolution"
   (Both tracks from the "Hypnotischer Existenzialismus" CD re-issue on Isegrimm Records).
8: Gerechtigkeits Liga : "Dynamometer" (Zyklus Records) 2011.
   (Track from the "Dystopia" LP)
9: Gerechtigkeits Liga : "Hagstice" (Unreleased piece - exclusive to "MuhMur").
10: Krank : "Drain Sounds In The Well" (Silken Tofu) 2012.
   (From the compilation cassette "Epicurean Escapism").
11: Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim : "Klabusterbeeren der Todestrinker" 3" CD. 2005.
   (From the 2x3"CD on White Rabbit Records).
12: Liquidated Error : Engine Room" (Self-Released) 2003.
   (From the self released CDr "We Want To Believe").
13: The Room : "Waiting Room" (Box Records) 1980
   (The first record in the regular feature "This one's a classic from the new wave era", it is an item that will feature in every show).
14: Troum : "Dhren" (Transgredient Records) 2001.
   (From the CD album "Tjukurrpa:Part Two - Drones).

Big thanks to Dave The Engineer who sailed the programme through the rough parts and advised me not to speak too much! I have the programme on a memory stick and will endeavour to download it onto this computer then upload it onto the SoundArt broadcast archive files for your further listening pleasure.

*** Programme uploaded on mixcloud: www.mixcloud.com/Muhmur/muhmur-20092012/ ****  

Pictures.
1: The Studio.
2: I am a DJ!

Soma Sema

I'm sorry, I'm sorry (as Tanz Der Youth once said), I have been a little slack on the "blogging" front over the last few days (great band). It's not for the want - I have received a lot of great sounds through the letterbox over the past couple of weeks. Stuff by Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim, the great 3x7"&CD box by Esplendor Geometrico, a package from Belaten, Emil Beaulieau's Self Abuse LP, Land Observation LP&CD, Thorofon mini LP, Knurl tape and releases from the Lithuanian Terror label, Amph/SSRI and Circulation Of Light tapes, Small Cruel Party CD set from Harbinger Sound as well as results from a shopping spree at Rooster Records in Exeter last weekend - it's just taking care of Baby Edgar and the others and preparing for the inaugural MuhMur Radio programme (tomorrow night at 21:00 GMT) has shrunk the time for listening to sounds .. and I'm usually tucked up in bed by 10pm knackered.
So, I'm sorry, but as Baby Edgar (and Tamsin) are sleeping more throughout the day time is becoming available.....
Have just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest release by Soma Sema. I first heard Soma Sema on the compilation cassette "A Somatic Response-A Mixtape Curated By Soma Sema" released earlier this year by Swedish label Belaten. Their track on that tape "Dream Baby Dream" is good enough to win Eurovision.
A lot of bands/artists I listen to (nowadays) claim to be influenced by SPK. SPK as in Surgikal Penis Klinik or Sozialistiches Patienten Kollectiv not SPK "the Nettwerk years". Soma Sema have a sound of SPK circa the "Gold And Poison" album, there is certainly a ghost of the tracks "Crack!" and "Breathless". To me it sounds like 80's synth-pop, technological and motorik. I think it is now called Cold Wave (?) I could be wrong, and the sound (here) is really warm so the tag doesn't fit ... but I think you'll find Soma Sema filed under "Cold Wave". Anyway, their latest release is "Artificial Heart" a great slice of 7" vinyl on the No Emb Blanc label. It has me and the kids dancing and moonwalking across the room every time it is played - it has caught the zeitgeist of Hartop Towers.
Soma Sema are a (pop) duo consisting of vocalist Clara Hall and Swedish musician Th. Tot. I received this 7" with a trio of cassette tapes on Belaten, the bijou label operated by Thomas Ekelund of Trepaneringsritualen fame. In there was the cassette "Kalla Rytmer Att Dansa Till Ensamhet" by Ekman. I have no idea who Ekman is or are. The sound is very bare bones techno, drum machine, bass line, synth melodies - very basic two (maybe four) track recordings. It reminded me of the early Detroit Techno sound, Cabaret Voltaire, 808 State and Underground Resistance. It's a strange little tape (a C18) that had me tapping the table and picking up the guitar and trying to "funk along" - I kid you not! I am liking the output of Belaten, it is sounding fresh and variant and pleasantly surprising.

Both Soma Sema 7" and Ekman can be bought from Thomas at Belaten. www.belaten.se

Pictures.
1: Ekman Tape Sleeve.
2: Soma Sema 7" Sleeve.
3: Soma Sema "Artificial Heart" promo video.

Tinnitustimulus

Have just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest release by Tinnitistimulus, the superbly titled "Aluminium Gly". The release is a C30 cassette tape and self-released. Pro dubbed and available through the Tinnitustimulus blogspot.
Aluminium zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly is a neurotoxin millions rub on themselves everyday as a way to block their pores. Deformation of the brain for a social etiquette. That's what it says on the "promo blurb" .. sound sources for the album include eaten tape and broken machinery and was all recorded under sewer water. Interesting. The tape opens with a mutated piece of chamber music and it does give the experience of listening underwater. (An underwater experience would come in handy). The mute-tated sound slowly grows into low rumble and controlled amp noise...this then layers and slowly grows into chaos. The piece ends on what I thought sounded like a Jamacian steel drum band on LSD. It is an interesting sound that I have played a few times over the past couple of days..Side two starts where side one left off with treated metal and found sound being thrown about the speakers. Again (like side one) there is a slow build to a wall of concrete noise, fast flowing sonic noise - like being thrown into a wind tunnel and being asked to listen to The New Blockaders, there are Mnem records from the 1990's that sound like this. After a slow respite the wall is rebuilt with wailing siren feedback and shifting scree. Scraping the bottom of the sewer?

Tinnitustimulus is the solo project of Tom Bennett, a noise/performance artist from Bath, New York. This is my second experience of Tom's sound (after the split tape with BBBlood) and I'm growing to like a lot - a 7"EP is (hopefully) the next step. "Aluminium Gly" is well worth a listen, and if you like the work of Cheapmachines or Duncan Harrison or The Rita then this tape will be a must.
www.tinnitustimulus.blogspot.co.uk

MuhMur To Hit The Airwaves #2

Muhmur blog goes live on the airwaves on the 20th of this month. Available in the Torbay / South Hams area on 102.5 FM or by pressing the "listen" button at www.soundartradio.org the show will then be archived and downloadable through the SoundArt website via "Mixcloud".
The first show will have a Teutonic theme with a feature on Gerechtigkeits Liga (including "exclusive" material). I will put up the programmes playlist up on this blog spot a few hours after transmission.
The show will be broadcast fortnightly with show #2 being a Harbinger Sound Records Special.

Liquidated Error

In the beginning there was Gerechtigkeits Liga, in the late 1980's they disbanded, at the turn of the millennium founder member Till Bruggemann reformed GL as a two piece with Berlin based artist Ragnar. Recently I have been playing alot of GL in preparation for the upcoming "MuhMur On The Radio" escapade. Back in the mid 1980's I was living in Manchester and on a Sunday afternoon there used to be this excellent programme on BBC Radio Blackburn hosted by Steve Barker called "On The Wire", he played some pretty experimental stuff (including Carnifex Recordings tapes) as well as being a great show to hear Mark Stewart and ON-U Sound releases ... hence "Lee 'Scratch' Perry On the Wire" track. I really want to call my upcoming foray into radio "MuhMur On The Wire" but because there is now a poor publication with the same name and folk may misconstrue and think of association I am stuck (at the moment) with "MuhMur On The Radio".
Anyway - I digress.
Ragnar resides in Berlin and performs as a solo artist and DJ, as well as being active in a variety of projects..one of those projects is Liquidated Error. "We Want To Believe" is ten years old, recorded in 2002 and released the following year in a limited edition of 193 on their own label. 4 pieces all with an extra terrestial concept/theme. The album starts off with "Tunguska 1908" (the sight of a comet/spaceship landing?), and the random electronic sounds do make the feel very Soviet. Experiments with early synthesizers creating alien landscapes. (The kind of thing I would have heard on an evening round at John Everall's house 20 years ago). "Roswell 1947" follows, at 20 minutes in length this piece is more cognitive in construction (but then again not necessarily so) with vast sweeping synthesizer sounds - deep space, desert landscape moving into communication style electronica...pulsations, bleeps etc. "Roswell 1947" is the main beef of the album and a damn good track. "Engine Room" follows. A short two minute or so attack of pulsating alarm with grinding, gyrating and exploding machinery surrounds.
The final piece "Never Come Back" is built around a rhythm, a rhythm where sounds drift around constructing and deconstructing. It doesn't quite work - it ain't a good rhythm .. the last thirty seconds where the track dies and disappears is perhaps the best moment ...

Liquidated Error is Ragnar and fellow Berliner Matt Eno.

Liquidated Error like Gerechtigkeits Liga and the solo project work of Ragnar need to be discovered, I'm having fun doing so. Visit the Liquidated Error website for downloads and physical product. www.liquidatederror.de

Pictures.
1: "We Want To Believe" CDr artwork.
2: Liquidated Error. (Picture from their Website).

Births, Deaths And Marriages #3. 2012.

Into the world at 23:43 on the 5th Of September came Edgar Richard Cammack. Weighing in at 7lb 8oz (old money), both mother and baby are doing fine ...
Blog may slow down for the next few days!

When We Have Each Other We Have Everything

Here's a strange cassette I picked up the other day. I didn't know of its existence until I was browsing the Kinit Her discogs listing and came across this "tribute" compilation cassette. I am a collector of all things Kinit (as mentioned throughout this blog ... anxiously awaiting delivery of the new Circulation Of Light tape) so thought I'd chance my arm and ear with this.
I am partial to a little Death In June, I know that in some folks eyes that makes me some kind of fascist or Nazi sympathiser ... but I can live with that. They came from the mighty Crisis and their first three singles and their "Nada!" album are classics. I gave up buying Death In June when I bought the "Born Again" 12"EP in 1985, at that time I had a friend who lived up on John Nash Crescent - "Little" John Price (unfortunately he has passed away) and he bought into Death In June and their "Brown Book" and "The World That Summer" albums and the Aryan Aquarians LP, I just couldn't get it myself so left Death In June alone...but I recognise the titles of a couple of tracks on this compilation and I'm keen to hear other folks' interpretations.
A lot of the artist names on this tape are new to me too, in fact I have only heard Ragnar and Kinit Her before - and Ragnar as a member of Gerechtigkeits Liga and not as a solo performer, so I can't help with information on most stuff here - Discogs doesn't really help either.
Side A kicks off with Death Of Abel covering "Runes Of Men". It's all acoustic guitar and glockenspiel. Those familiar with early cassettes put out by Deleted Records back in the 1980's may find this track has a similar sound. Digital Leather cover "She Said Destroy" - virtually an acoustic karaoke cover by a chap with an annoying voice .. it has heavy synthesized strings at the end trying to be all apocalyptic. La Fete Triste sound like Swans, a band trying to sound like Swans doing a Death In June cover. I was beginning to think by now that this is a tape of straight forward covers, no re-interpretations or how I imagined a "tribute" project would be approached, but in comes Ragnar with a wall of guitar feedback covering a haunting cello and singing with one of those "black metal" growls - at last, something interesting.
Kinit Her open side two with a slow funereal paced acoustic folk song. "Hail The White Grain". I have no idea from where this song comes unlike "Fields", a classic number from the 1984 "Burial" album. Black Vase make this track electro EBM - I can see myself shuffling along to this on the Slimelight Dancefloor, the cassette has picked up again. Southern Sadness provide "Ku Ku Ku" opening with some David Duke type ranting moving to playing the DIJ track through a couple of distortion boxes and tweaking an effects pedal. A Rise version of "Fall Apart" ends the cassette. This track is awful. (I am sorry).
The cassette is released by German label Aufnahme & Wiedergabe (Recording & Playback) in an edition of 200. It's professionally copied with foldout sleeve and is a C30 - which in this case is a good thing.
Like I mentioned at the start, a strange cassette and if I had been asked I would have supplied an interpretation of "Black Radio" .. my favourite Death In June track.

Pictures.
1: Cassette Cover.
2: Cassette Cover Folded Out.
3: Cassette Inner Artwork.
4: Promotional Postcard.

Five Or Six

I am not a big fan of the "greatest hits" / "anthology" CD releases as a rule, I would rather get the original (vinyl) release. In this place it is vinyl first, cassette second and CD's only when necessary. I have a few "double-ups" where I bought the CD re-issue of a vinyl LP I already have, but that's so I can play it at work or in the car. "Strange Kicks" by ATV and "Ha! Ha! Ha!" by Ultravox! spring to mind. But "Acting On Impulse:The Best Of Five Or Six" CD by Five Or Six on Cherry Red Records is a must have, especially as it is being sold for around a fiver on various Internet shops.
Back in the day (1981) Five Or Six released one of the best post-punk singles, ever. "Another Reason" on Cherry Red Records. It is a single that has never been out of my collection. Recently the song has been covered by a band called Death In Vegas and used on a Levi's Jeans advert, and they claimed copyright - so law suits were filed and now Five Or Six have their song back. The B-Side is an avant-garde piece constructed out of amp noise and drumbeat with a voice over. Very Dome / Gilbert & Lewis, the single was produced by Kevin Coyne...who I learnt the other day auditioned for vocalist in the Doors after the death of Jim Morrison. There are tapes apparently!
Back in the day (1981) Five Or Six carried on releasing stuff, but being in Lincoln their stuff was very hard to get hold of, despite being "signed" to Cherry Red Records. In 1981 Lincoln had lost its' two decent record shops; Sanctuary Records and Rods and we had to make do with Prides ( a proto HMV) and Tracks (not as good as Sanctuary, but they did try), I'm not going to mention the short lived Express Records shop...I'm not!
Five Or Six were an experimental pop band. I put them in the same category as The Lines, A Tent and Plain Characters. They never had great media coverage, sort of ignored by the like of NME, Sounds and ZigZag so it was very hard to keep up with releases. In 1981 they released the 12"EP "Polar Exposure", not as immediate as "Another Reson" but still harbouring some great songs. This was the last Five Or Six release I bought, apart from a split 7" Flexi-Disc with Gang Of Four on the Dutch Vinyl label. I never knew they put out two albums and another 12" in 1982. Despite being signed to Cherry Red Records there stuff was given to European labels to release, then had to be found on import in the UK. The Belgian label Frizz Bee put out the album "A Thriving And Happy Land" and that was followed by the Spanish release of "Cantame Esa Cancion Que Dice, Yeah Yeah Yeah" on the Edigsa label. No wonder I couldn't find them in Lincoln!
So now Cherry Red Records have put out ten of the best Five Or Six songs from 1980-1982 on CD. Well worth the hunt because now the old vinyl releases are going for "big money" as Max Bygraves would have said. (topical). I saw "Another Reason" going for £25 on Discogs! I shall (one day) have a full Five Or Six vinyl collection but in the meantime this CD is indispensable and totally necessary. It is a great example of UK post-punk...the DIY experimental ethic when indie meant indie, not corporate trying to sell indie as a pre-packed style. I cannot describe the sound but if you like Felt, The Lines, Robert Rental, Wire, Eyeless In Gaza, Dangerous Girls etc this CD is worth getting.
One of the great things about the re-issue CD's is that most of them carry a great back story / history with pictures in the accompanying booklet. They have the "I didn't know that" and "Oh yeah, I'd forgotten all about that" factor. The booklets that come with the This Heat collection "Out Of Cold Storage" and The Homosexual's "Astral Glamour" are fantastic reads ... but they are sort of box sets I know, but the same can be said sometimes with the single CD. Think "Stamp Out Normality" by Pseudo Existors on Overground or "Floodbank" by The Lines or "Storm The Reality Studio" by Dead Fingers Talk. "Acting On Impulse" has one of those fold out to A4 size sleeves but is full of relevant information about formation and band members etc. Perhaps the biggest surprise to me (apart from the releases I knew nowt about) was that for a while Dave Knight was the guitarist in Five Or Six. I never knew that. Dave Knight was a founder member (with Five Or Six member Ashley Wales and Karl Blake) of Shockheaded Peters ... this much I knew, but I never knew he was in Five Or Six. I have shared the bill with Dave on a few occasions, got to know him (a little) and always enjoyed his company .. but I never knew he was the guitarist in one of my all time favourites! We sat together for ages waiting to soundcheck when he was with Amal Gamal Ensemble at the second Salon Event in London 2003 and we even shared flight and "taxi/lift" from Leipzig airport to the WGT Festival hotel in 2006 when he was part of Lydia Lunch's backing band - he never said a word! Dave know records and releases as Arkkon and is well worth searching out and discovering. The Five Or Six story is a fascinating one, well worth the read - so I won't ruin the ending (the butler did it) and it does catch up with all band members and there 21st Century activities.

Essential.