It's D.A.R.K. at Night

Out of the blue I received a 'phone call from Mick. Mick McDaid. Sir Michael. I hadn't heard from Mick in quite a while....
Mick used to operate a record label called Outsider Records. Hearing Mick's voice made me think of Outsider Records and I dug out my 7" vinyl copy of the Project D.A.R.K. EP "It's D.A.R.K. at Night" (OUT 005. 1997). I honestly had not played it in roughly ten years. What surprised me was that this is an early (to me) example of "turntableism", something I had not noticed before - I just thought of it as "constructed noise" - but all the tracks are built from sampling D.A.R.K. 7"'s and lock grooves and even licking the turntable stylus (needle). It's brilliant. It's a work of bloody genius.
I was first exposed to the work of Project D.A.R.K. by a guy called John Everall. In the summer of 1997 I was crashing at his (and Theresa's) house in Nottingham. John was enthusiastic about most things - but he was (that summer) in love with the LP "Excited By Gramophones" by Project D.A.R.K. I can't remember whether he had the vinyl or a copy on cassette, but at that time he was predicting big things for them. When I moved from Nottingham (back) to Lincoln a few months later and shared a house with Mick he had loads of Project D.A.R.K. releases - tapes, singles, 12"'s etc...They were (or seemingly were) everywhere.
Project D.A.R.K. was a side project of Ashley Davies & Kirsten Reynolds from the group Headbutt. Headbutt to me can be classified/filed next to Splintered, or Dying Earth period Ramleh, or Skullflower when they made decent albums....I had a vinyl LP by Headbutt "Tiddles". Bought it cheap in York in 1997 - sold it for lots on EBay 10 years after.
So - what happened to Project D.A.R.K.? A quick google search shows them active until 2003 and then ... nothing. I met Ashley a couple of times in the early 00's. He came to some Dieter Muh gigs in London, but I thought he was just doing D.A.R.K. stuff. In the mid 00's turntableism became big. I went to two shows in Exeter with the likes of Martin Ng, Otomo Yoshida, Lepke Buckwater and Jin from the Homosexuals. Excellent stuff and I did not realise that Ashley and Kirsten were there years before....

Outsider Records only released a handful of 7"'s and one CD. The label was eclectic to say the least. The CD and first 7" was by Delphium. I am not (and never was) a big fan of Delphium. There was a 7" release by Lincoln project Cacophony '3.3' called "Kangorama", of which I thought I had but I seem to have mislaid. A split 7" of SR Meixner + Band Of Pain which is by far superior to the split 7" that Black Rose released a couple of years back and the final release by Contrastate, the 7" "Extract No.10".
By 2000 the label had finished and Mick and I went on to create the CDr label "The Mouth Label" with ultra limited releases by Column One, Government Alpha and (naturally) Dieter Muh. A few months later and I had moved to Devon.....

Important label Outsider Records. Thank You Mick.

Cementimental

One of the gifts for playing the Ivy House last weekend was a 3" CDr by Cementimental. Apart from a few seconds blast from his MySpace site I must say I hadn't heard any of this project. From what I can gather Cementimental (excellent name) is the solo project of Tim Drage, noise maker extraordinaire and manic noise board forum poster.
3 tracks @ nineteen minutes. "Module Oakery,Module Foci" opens and sounds like a Putrefier track of old, something from the "Simulated Vapours" era Putrefier. Random electronics, noise splurges and EQ Wizardry. I think it is called "circuit bending" - but don't quote me! A random burst from an outraged Clanger made me smile. The next 2 pieces: "Ping Titan Wolves" & "Pigum" are more in the solid wall of noise vein. Think M:S:B:R. Govt. Alpha and still retaining that Putrefier vibe. What it reminded me of was like a sonic recording of someone experiencing a luge ride in the Winter Olympics....(If that makes sense)? A contact mic' in the helmet type of recording.
I played it loud. It's a good listen. I don't have much stuff like this and this was very much appreciated on a wet Sunday afternoon. Limited to 50 copies on the (new to me) Jeshimoth Entertainment label. (American). Well worth hunting down if any of the above names mentioned are your bag.

Dieter Muh#40

At the beginning of February I was asked by a chap called Max if I was interested in playing (as Dieter Muh) a small venue in South London. Low Key / Low Fee. I agreed, mainly as I saw this gig as a chance to see what I could do as Dieter Muh as a one-man performer and whether or not it was going to be worthwhile carrying on in the future. Also was the fact that Plurals were going to be part of the evening too.
The venue was the Ivy House in Nunhead - or Peckham Rye depending on which "Pub Guide To London" you google. At the back of the pub is this small "Victorian" theatre, its' main use being a comedy club. Dominic Holland was on the night after Muh. It is a great find, a lovely venue with a good house PA and lighting rig but it is off the beaten track. Off the circuit. Not on a bus route or underground line, and about a fifteen minute walk from Nunhead train station. Overland train from Victoria to Dartford. In London terms I would say ... remote. Friday night was a wet miserable night too and obviously not for the adventurous Londoner. I don't know how Max (and his organisation "Transient Constellations") advertised the evening. He mentioned Facebook, and some how I doubt he stuck posters and flyers around the record shops, book shops and cafe's of the capital. But, this was only his second foray in to gig promotion and I was hoping for a small audience to try my virgin material on.
Schuster mailed me a 23 minute spine to work around. Dave giving the diktat last year that I could not use any "old" Dieter Muh material - no greatest hits tour...sorry! "It doesn't matter what you have done; It's what you do next" being my mantra, I worked around samples of scraped strings and metal to two rhythms from my newly acquired Electribe. I really enjoyed it. Really. Even dropped out the spine a couple of times and whispered words in to the microphone. First gig in 31 years of gigging as a solo performer and I really got into it! The guy behind the mixing desk did a great job. Tim Drage from Cementimental.
I am now ready to continue as Dieter Muh. New recordings shall begin.

The show ran late. Even by the official doors opening time only myself and Plurals had soundchecked. I simply line-checked as the clock was ticking. Rajinder fully soundchecked and half of Lion Lies Down turned up half an hour after doors opening time and then they did a full soundcheck. Incredible! Shades of Skullflower at St. Giles here. So after spending 30 odd minutes listen to two folks soundcheck we had to endure their full sets. Strange ritual but I think Max was unconcerned. Rajinder was a solo guitarist who seemed to play the same "riff" but through varying effects. He reminded me of a rhythm guitarist in a desperate need of a band. Lion Lies Down started off OK. Electric violin and synth drone. Images of Zos-Kia in their Nekrophile stage. And then something happened. They went very "funny" with some Stooges song (Maybe not the Stooges but it sounded like "Raw Power" to me) then some drumming. I have a feeling it was their first gig - it was a bit all over the place. Poppy Jackson I just didn't get. Sorry Poppy. And then. Plurals. Three members went on stage, plugged in their various electronic machines. The PA fizzled and popped and with a bang their set ended. Maybe 15 maybe 30 seconds in. One of them shouted "Fuck It" and it was all over. Something blew. I shall now have to wait to see/experience a Plurals live show. I think because the evening was now running ridiculously late they couldn't be arsed to sort the problem out.

For me. A good night out. But if I were Max. 1: Get a different venue and 2: Keep up the Veganism. 19th March 2011 we're going to do it all over again.

Pictures:
1: Poster.
2: Dieter Muh Live. (Thanks Simon).
3: Plurals with Tim Drage (second from left).

Praying For Oblivion

Another day, another parcel. This time from Andrew Seal (AKA Praying For Oblivion). Enclosing a collaboration CDr with Insomnia and the latest PFO album on new Finnish label Obscurex. A nice surprise too. I saw an advert for the Obscurex CD on the web a few weeks back and added it to the "to get" list...cross that one off then....
Had to play the new album straight away.
"Turm Schweigen" (Silent Tower) comes packaged in a slim DCD case and is limited to 200. 7 tracks culled from the Oblivion archive ('98-'07) and remastered in December last year. Track 1 "Invocation" is a great opener, full power electronics with vocals - a bank of screaming electronics with Dando style vocalisation. Next on is "PaleGreyShadow". I know this track from the 2008 mini CD "Euthanasia Institute", unfortunately I think this the weakest track on that release. Sounding like a poor mans Slogun, or at least very American.
I saw Slogun live in Leeds a few years back at The Fenton Arms and I almost pissed myself laughing....but as they used to say on "Tales Of The Riverbank": That's another story.
The next 3 tracks meander into noise territory but as soon as track 6 began my ears picked up. I stood up and had to listen carefully. Excellent PE. Think along the lines of Soldnergeist and Thorofon, I did on hearing "RuneFilledMind". Excellent stuff and the final track "LeichenKeller" (Cellar of Corpses) is the best of the album. Praying For Oblivion are best when sticking to the hard electronic rhythms and instrumental tracks.
All in all an excellent album. I shall cherry pick whilst playing (tracks #1.6+7) but I shall be playing often.

I was fortunate to meet Andrew last December in Lille. The nomadic travelling famalie Cammai spent a few days as guests of Stephane and Sylvie of Nuit Et Broulliard and Andrew was in town too. On a walk from the old town of Lille back to Stephane's apartment we had a great chat on the state of play and the way of the world. Hopefully we shall meet again - I would love to see Praying For Oblivion live.

Pics:
1: "Turm Schweigen" CD Sleeve.
2: Praying For Oblivion sticker.
3: Myself + Andrew with the sleeping Isabel (back row) at the Nuit Et Broulliard HQ. Lille. December 7th 2009.

Grey Park

Got a package through from Hyster Tapes yesterday. Always a pleasure. A batch of Grey Park CD's, a couple of Hyster Tapes releases and a Jan Borno CDr. With a break in work I settled down to the CDr "Live In Mielikuvia 2" recorded live in Jyvaskyla January 2009. The performance took place inside the Ilokivi, a small studio theatre situated in the University grounds. An excellent venue. I know - I have played there too back in 2000, the year I met Grey Park.
Here's what the letter says: It pretty much sums it up:
There are four people on the stage: One sits on a chair alone with acoustic guitar wearing hat and sunglasses. Three other people sit around table that has all sorts of electronic gadgets on it. People around the table start to play the gadgets, they play for 23 minutes of improvised drone-noise-ambient and then quite suddenly stop - then the guitar player, that hasn't done anything yet, been just sitting there, starts to play immediately after the drone -noise has withered out. The three people leave the table and the stage, guitar player continues to play for some 10-15 minutes and then stops and leaves the stage. Applause.
Rather like the Hyster Tapes release of Grey Park live at Ko-Ko the actual meat of the sound - the Grey Park live bit is excellent. Low hums and drones, punches, sequencers, shortwave radio etc all build and veer off in to different tangents, cracking stuff indeed. But the last ten or so minutes of solo acoustic guitar is just awful. Nice idea - badly executed.
It is like one of those parties I used to go to way back when. Not a party I would have chose to go to but that's where the evening was ending up and it was where the wine, women and whizz was. Let's say (for instance) a party at Itchy Dave's on Robert Adam Crescent....The host denies the existence of punk and the night is spent either in one room listening to Asleep At The Wheel or Joni Mitchell or in the other room where a twat in a hat is slumped in the corner with an acoustic guitar he cannot play but insists on letting everybody know it. That is how the CDr ends. Well done for getting the applause!
The Grey Park section reminds me of Contagious Orgasm.
If I was ever to be asked to curate an evening at the ICA or do one of those Meltdown things at a Butlitz on the South-Coast (and let's face it chances range between 0 and -1000,000) Grey Park would be the first name on my list.
If you are unaware of them, Google them, write to them, buy their stuff!
Pics:
1: Grey Park CDr.
2: Inside Programme Notes for Grey Park.
3: Concert Programme Cover.

Beequeen, Haytor & The Birthday Party (well picnic actually.....)

Late 2000 or early 2001 I bought a copy of "Long Stones And Circles" by Beequeen. A 3" CD on the Staalplaat label. I got it in the sale at These Records in London. They were closing down. The first Beequeen release I bought was the "Nouen" 7" Flexidisc, I got that from Bad Records in Leeds. It was in the sale...they were closing down. Both items cost me a pound. A shame these shops closed really as in both cases I had just discovered there whereabouts. I found Bad in 1991 whilst I was living in the Vale of York, cracking shop where I bought cheap (in the sale) Smell + Quim, Intrinsic Action and Merzbow stuff. Just as I moved to York (in 1990) the Red Rhino Records shop closed its' doors. (Die Form 3LP Box Set for £3.00)....Bad timing. Then in 2000 a friend in London says "Meet you in These Records near the Elephant & Castle". I never knew it existed. The next visit I made and they were having a closing down sale.
Anyway. For a pound I bought the Beequeen 3" and fell in love with it. Encased in some leathery type sleeve sewn together with black thread - I had to unpick it to get at the disc - with passages of text written by Richard Long on the sleeve. Track 1 is a reading of "100 Tors" where a Dutch vocal reads 100 tors of Devon. The sound swirling about is organic drones - sounds of insects, birds, church bells. Clever stuff. I love the vocal. All these names meant nothing to me (Vienna) until in late 2001 I moved South to Devon. Firstly Exeter and as of now Saint Marychurch.
Dartmoor is about 15 miles West of where I live, and from where I work and from my (works) window I can see Haytor. I have watched Haytor (almost) daily now for the past seven and a half years. To me it is like a visual magnet. I also have to see the sea every day (which makes travelling and staying inland non-temptful). I haven't seen more than half of Dartmoor but of all the Tors, Haytor is my favourite. Stand on top of Haytor rock and you can see the sea, killing two birds with one stone there - take a telescope and you'll see Hartop Towers-by-the-Sea!
To celebrate the first birthday of Isabel Frances we decided to take a picnic on Haytor. Cheatin' Turkey sandwiches, Mozzarella and cucumber sandwiches, Hula Hoops, bananas and lashings of Coca-Cola. (And veggie Spag Bog in a jar for Isabel). Crackin' stuff. This was Isabel's first visit to Dartmoor (OK we camped in Lustleigh last August when she was 4 months, but this was Dartmoor proper - the wind chill factor taught us that) and she smiled and chatted the whole time, hopefully it will enter her blood as it has Tamsin's and seems to be entering mine.

13 years after it's release and being limited to only 500 copies I see that the Beequeen 3"CD is still available for £3.50 - £4.00. My advice to all is BUY IT!

Pics:
1: Beequeen "Long Stones And Circles" (Staalplaat) 1997.
2: Haytor Rock, Dartmoor.
3: Oscar, Isabel & Tamsin prepare for the feast.
4: Isabel post-picnic.

Andreas Brandal

Just got a package through from the excellent German label Licht Und Stahl, amongst the tapes and CD's was "Shipwrecks" by Andreas Brandal. Spun this one first as Andreas is a new name to me and after reading his biog. I see that I am (as ever) a little behind the times. Andreas being active for about 20 years and COE of the Twilight Luggage label. (Of whom I have heard but posses nought).
Recorded towards the end of last year, what we have here is a concept / ambient album. There is no story or reason why Andreas has recorded an album based on shipwrecks enclosed, but ... the sounds are evocative of the sea. With distant bells and the sound of creaking wood and sea-lapping shores all in the mix it does become pretty obvious. The Camberwell Now did a similar thing with their "Meridians" EP. But I played this very loud this afternoon and it is a pleasant listen, the title track itself being a long acoustic guitar loop with shifting sounds coming to the fore and retreating to swill around the room, quite cosmic stuff.
Another fine release from Licht Und Stahl, a label that is becoming highly collectable due to quality of their output. I shall keep an eye out for further Andreas Brandal releases.....
Recommended.

Pics:
1: "Shipwrecks" sleeve.
2: Andreas Brandal.