Haunted Waves, Moving Graves

Just spent a pleasant while listening to the new Current 93 LP "Haunted Waves, Moving Graves" on the Coptic Cat label. Picked up a picture disc copy at the London show on Friday night.
A haunting sound, all to the sound of the sea - one side with looped piano and the other with violin. Excellent ethereal stuff.
I very rarely buy Current 93 releases. I bought the first two, and then nothing until "Lucifer Over London". One of the reasons being that other folk always bought their stuff and taped it for me, and their releases are "hit & miss" (and bloody expensive) at the best of times. This one though is definitely a "hit" and will get many spins....if only they had done material like this on Friday night I might have stayed 'til the end.
Limited to 666 copies - and essential.
If any one out there has a copy of the 7" made from the October gallery recordings and wants to sell - please let me know.

Secondhand Record Shops #3 : Camden, London.

Secondhand vinyl shopping in London is, generally, a waste of time. A lot of the stock is either way over priced or fairly priced (rarities etc) but when in London I'm not going to spend £70 on a record and lug it through the streets of London for goodness knows how long and not have enough money for beers on the train home...am i?
That said, whenever I go to London I rarely come back empty handed. The best I have found are The Record & Tape Exchanges, and because of its' locale I usually end up at the one in Notting Hill. Last trip I found an LP by Eddie & Sunshine, and this time a copy of "The Album" by Eater. (£6). This journey though I was visiting North London, so a trip to Camden was on the agenda. I hadn't been to Camden for about eight years. A sunny hot day and the streets were full of tattooed, pierced, studded jacket wearing Mohican Punks - the picture postcard sort, that and casually dressed skateboard youth.....Not ideal but I did find a Record & Tape Exchange I had forgotten existed. Found a copy of the 1993 CD Re-Issue of "Snappy Turns" by Mark Perry. (£4). Very Nice. Pleasant chappie at the counter told me of another secondhand place on Inverness Street (virtually opposite) called "Out On The Floor". This is a typical "London" vinyl shop with everything over priced. Stuff I would be paying a pound for in Barnstaple or Truro is a fiver in here. Blondie singles that a 5 for a pound in most charity shops down here in Devon are £3 - £5 a pop in this shop. (Not that I would ever buy a Blondie 7", but you know what I mean. OK, replace Blondie with The Stranglers then). A fair amount of records in the shop but I left empty handed.
Then I found Resurrection Records on Camden High Street (just next to the T-Shirt market). It's snook away underneath a Retro Clothes shop, and well worth the visit. Specializing in Punk/Goth + Industrial and nicely priced. I bought a Portion Control Demo 7" ("Raise The Pulse") for £3 and grabbed a handful of Punilux postcards! Could have spent longer in this vinyl basement but money was to be saved for the NWW/Current 93 merch' stall later in the day.....

I still prefer the Record & Tape Exchange in Notting Hill and the one in SoHo over any of the shops mentioned in Camden. I am certain there are more decent shops in the Capital - my search is an endless one.

Pictures:
1: Out On The Floor. Inverness Street.
2: Resurrection Records. Camden High Street.

Preparing For The Nurse

Off to see Nurse With Wound tomorrow in London. They are playing at The HMV Forum in Kentish Town as part of Dave Tibet's 50th birthday celebrations. I am quite excited. It's not often i get to go to "gigs" these days. Living in the remoteness of Devon, bands / artistes just don't make it this far South - and when they do they bypass The English Riviera heading instead for the Marine Barracks and student infested venues of Plymouth. They didn't used to - I remember being down in Cornwall in 1978 and just missing out on a Wire gig in Penzance and going to see Sham 69 in St. Austell (which I never did because I got fed up and slightly scared and caught the last train back to Newquay). Apart from the Muh gig in London back in March the only gig i have been to this year is Tim Vine at Babbacombe Theatre. Damn funny it was too: "Pen behind the ear, Pen behind the ear" (one for Vine aficionado's there).
So, off to the capital we go. I have been preparing myself by spinning a lot of Nurse With Wound sounds when I've got the chance. I haven't got that many releases...but a collection has been building up over the years. Over the past few months the Vinyl On Demand Box Set, the Zero Mix book and Klangallerie 7" have set me back nigh on 200 sovs.! My favourite Nurse With Wound has to be "Soliloquy For Lilith", I fell in love with this album on first hearing. It shall remain an all time favourite.
Back in the early days my introduction to Nurse With Wound was via Sean Rorke. We shared a squat in Hulme, Manchester and he bought everything that they put out from vinyl, cassettes and appearances on bizarre compilations, if it wasn't for Sean I would never have wanted to be a registered nurse and summertime would not belong to me. Thanks Sean. I love the VOD Box - essential, especially for the LP made up of compilation appearances, that brought back great memories. That and the NL Centrum gig. We used to bury ourselves in drugs and cocoon ourselves with Nurse With Wound.
I buy Nurse With Wound in splurges. Apart from NOW the last time I got in to NWW was the early/mid 1990's and the Rock N' Roll Station stuff. I was living in York and become friendly with Colin Potter. Colin produced the first Dieter Muh LP and "supported" us on a couple of occasions in London.

I did actually meet Steve Stapleton once. Back in 1984 in a strip club called "The Fantasy Club" in Digbeth, Birmingham. Nurse With Wound (Or "Nurse With Wind" as Graeme Revell called them) were to support SPK at this gig. The building used to be called "The Tin Can" a semi-famous punk/Goth club, I honestly don't think that the people who booked the gig had realised that the club was now a strip joint....Anyway. Back in 1984 I used to travel the road with SPK. I did in 1983, and now in 1984 I did the same. I was a sort of free hand. I humped, I babysat the kids during soundcheck, I made sure the sound was good at the back etc. So, in 1984, on the 9th of November I was in Birmingham to "support" SPK on their "Junk Funk" tour. It all went titsy skyward when the Fairlight broke during the soundcheck. Graeme lost his temper and myself, Dave Kenny (live mix) and Steve Stapleton found ourselves sat at the back of the club waiting for things to be fixed. Then.....Dave Tibet and Annie Anxiety show. They were doing a benefit gig in another part of Birmingham and popped in for a chat type o' thing. A crate of bottled Holsten Pils appeared in front of me. (Kismet: I am drinking (tinned) Holsten Pils whilst typing this). I remember Steve Stapleton asking me why I liked SPK and I said that I didn't - well, nought after "Leichenschrei", I was there as a friend of Graeme's.....
The (non) soundcheck dragged in to the evening and the promoter (Brummie Strip Joint Owner) was getting pissed off and opened the doors to the club. Graeme was even more infuriated because they hadn't had a decent soundcheck, then Steve Stapleton kicks off because Nurse With Wound have not soundchecked at all. He packed up his tape decks and violin case and with Diana Rogerson in tow headed off back to Brighton. Annie Anxiety, Dave Tibet and the drummer from Flux Of Pink Indians filled in as support. (One for the SPK archivists there).....I don't remember much as I was the only one drinking the bottles!
So tomorrow I shall see Nurse With Wound live for the first time. 26 years later!
I've seen Current 93 live before - we shared the bill a few years back at The October Gallery in London.
I'm also meeting up with some friends from Helsinki that I haven't seen since a fucked up crazy night in Mantsala ten years (almost to the day) ago. Should be a good night out in Kentish Town.

Picture:
!: NWW that got played today!

Devo

Just finished reading the Devo book "We Are Devo" by Jade Dellinger and David Giffels published by SAF. I've had it for a month and read a bit every day. An excellent book, and fully recommended. This book has interviews and insights with all the original members which is good - too many biographies these days are overviews and paper clippings, this book is the meat. Good stuff. It also covers the music "scene" of Akron and Cleveland in the mid 1970's with members of Pere Ubu, Tin Huey, Chi Pig and Dead Boys etc all chipping in their ten cents worth. Read the XTC biog. "Chalkhills And Children" or the Hugh Cornwall autobiography and realise what a bloody good read this book is.
Also, it is a fascinating story starting in the early 1970's with the Kent State University shootings and the birth of the idea of Devo/lution. Jerry Casale and Bob Lewis' writing in the mid 1970's. The Mothersbaugh brothers attempt at being a teenage rock group at the same time and the music "scene" in Akron at the time.
At this point I found it really funny that no matter what bloody book I am reading about punk rock/new wave - call it what thou wilt - the name Chrissie Hynde ALWAYS pops up. I could be reading about the Roxy Club, or Jah Wobble's autobiog. or Slits book or Julian Cope's autobiog. and Chrissie Hynde's name is always there. She turns up in this book as brother of Terry Hynde, saxophonist with The Numbers Band and vocalist / girlfriend of Mark Mothersbaugh in 1975 or something. I dread writing my own autobiography...I wonder when I'll meet Chrissie Hynde.

I loved Devo when I first heard them. Could have been John Peel, could have just spotted the 7" "Jocko Homo" in the 7" singles box on Sanctuary Records counter back in 1978 and bought it on the power of the name/sleeve. I can't remember. The pictures in the music weeklies were working too. True industrial, my cup of tea! The next 7" "Satisfaction" coupled with "Sloppy" was the bollocks of the dog, I was sold to Devo. Unfortunately (for me) the LP did not cut it. After hearing the rawness of the singles, the LP was this too much produced smooth approach. Over produced. I have re-bought the first LP on CD (with a bonus live album tacked on) but I still don't like it, I'll stick with the Booji Boy singles.

So. We have the story of Devo. A band that ran out of ideas and got swallowed by behemoth that is the "music industry". Their ideas were based on tracts / pamphlets that they found in secondhand bookstores by Dr. B.H. Shadduck and Oscar K. Maerth. The idea of Devolution. Take in stuff like "The Island Of Lost Souls" movie where the mutants chant "Are We Not Men?" and we have the birth of Devo, the "rock" band. From the start they were asking for help from Akron musician Joe Walsh trying to get their tapes played in the "right ears" of the "right people". They moved to Los Angeles and stayed with Iggy Pop and jammed with Neil Young.....(I've seen it on You Tube). Devo were desperate to hit pay dirt. I'm surprised they didn't ask Ted Nugent to play guitar! The two major members - Jerry Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh come across as a couple of right cunts. Users. This is why the book is such a good read. They use people for their own ends and they just want to be "rock stars" - the original Devo manifesto is left behind in a haze of cocaine, alcohol and court cases. It is very easy to see how Devo went pants very early on. This is where the book becomes unputdownable. I really recommend it, if you see it on the bookshelf of your local book shop.

The book hasn't ruined it for me listening to Devo - unlike the Slits book "Typical Girls" - even though the main characters are highly unlikeable people, in fact I want to hear their final LP just to see/hear how poor it is....

Whip it/Whip it good....

Pictures:
1: "We Are Devo" book cover.
2: Devo. 1978. (Outside the shop where Chi Pig got their name from).

THO-SO-AA

It has been a quiet week by all comparison here at Hartop Towers this weekend, so a time to delve in to the piles and play some stuff I hadn't heard in a while. I am preparing for the Nurse With Wound gig on Friday at the moment and spinning a lot of old Nurse when the chance arises. But today i went with Tho-So-Aa. I cannot remember how I came across this project - I have a feeling it was Mick McDaid - he probably had a cassette or two when we shared the house in Lincoln, but then again I've a promo copy of the 7" on Drone Records from 2005 with a little note from Stefan Knappe saying "I think you may like this". The memory is blurred.
Tho-So-Aa is a great name. It has a magickal ring about it. It must have been the name that attracted me first and Tho-So-Aa is a great name. Enochian. Apparently stands for The Other Side Of AADOM. AADOM being the project Luke (who is Tho-So-Aa) was involved in before this one....(I was told this by a source in Germany.....2006)...
The 7" on Drone is superb. Dark ambient. Very sinister sounds over disturbing vocal samples about stealing children. Excellent stuff. I then found the CD "Enrielle" on German Label "Art Konkret". This release was from 2002 - three years before the Drone Records release. Packaged in A5 with "Gothic" photographs...i.e. Angels in cemeteries, this LP is nothing like the Drone 7". That is not a bad thing, but came as a surprise. The album could be Klaus Schulze or Terry Riley. It has it's moments of unease but is a synth keyboard based album. An excellent CD to do the housework (or read a book) to. It becomes a wash - a pleasant wash but a wash non the less.

2006 and Dieter Muh are invited (by Tesco Org) to play WGT in Leipzig. We jumped at the offer. The last time Dieter Muh had played in Leipzig was 2000, we were playing an independent fringe gig to the fest' in a venue called "Zoro" with Putrefier. This was part of the Muh/Putrefier/Harbinger Sound Travelling Circus + Freak Show tour of 2000 which I am not too sure I have recovered from. When I am sure....I'll write about it.
Anyway.
Typically, we (Dave and I as Dieter Muh) had no idea who else was playing the WGT. We were booked for 3 days in a very nice hotel on the outskirts of Leipzig and we were playing on the Sunday night.
We arrived - chauffeur driven from the airport with Dave Knight - an old friend who was guitaring for Lydia Lunch on the opening night and Jim - Lunch's drummer an ex-Gallon Drunk sticksman. So - opening night we went to see Lydia Lunch and within seconds were walking out of the venue to watch a group of Schoolchildren play the songs of ABBA on accordion in a small Market Square. I checked the programme to find that Tho-So-Aa were playing in the middle of the afternoon the following day in a place called Sixtina. I had to be there....
Sixtina is quite easy to find, near the Train Station. I love Leipzig train station. That, again, is a story that goes back to 2000 and watching England play football on a huge screen above the platforms trying to drink lager whilst not being arrested and the others just wanting to get back to blighty to be with their partners...but that is another story as they used to say on "Tales Of the Riverbank".
Dave and I made it to Sixtina in time for Tho-So-Aa, the problem being we could not find where he was playing....We walked in to a courtyard full of European Goths drinking Absinthe. Sixtina is an Absinthe Bar. We sat and watched a lady read poetry in German whilst getting our bearings. There were three bars all serving absinthe. A guy set up in the courtyard, synth a-plenty. I settled for the Tho-So-Aa gig. Unfortunately I was watching Shava Sandhava and it wasn't very good. After his set I approached him (Shava) and asked whether or not he was Tho-So-Aa! Whilst I was watching Shava, Luke was playing in the cellar all unbeknownst to me! Gutted.
I bought the CD "Salon Decadence" from Cold Spring. A document of the Sixtina during that day I was there! Tho-So-Aa track is a killer. Shava's contribution is the worst on the CD! Sods Law. Still, Sagittarius tracks on there are excellent and we arrived after they had finished.....

WGT was not wasted on us. Besides not seeing Tho-So-Aa and walking out on the atrocious Lydia Lunch. I saw Spiritual Front - who are a really bad Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds tribute band and a really good Robbie Williams tribute band (from Slovakia) play in the main town square - we were sharing the same hotel (bar) and you have to show solidarity over the Continental breakfast...

Pictures:
1: THO-SO-AA Drone 7".
2: THO-SO-AA "Enrielle" Cover.
3: "Salon Decadence" CD Cover.
4: Myself at the Sixtina, searching for Luke, finding Absinthe and Lager.
5: THO-SO-AA.

First swim of 2010

A glorious weekend of sunshine here in the South West of England. Took the opportunity to soak up the sun in Sidmouth. Sidmouth is a small town in East Devon, just over an hours drive from Hartop Towers. Nice little town - pebbly beach and enough little curio shops (charity based) and veggie cafes to keep the day tripper happy. I was only there for a couple of hours on the way to watch a cricket match in Tipton St. John so didn't pack the ol' swimming gear. Jealous of those basking in the sea I thought; Right, tomorrow I swim!
Hartop Towers is minutes away from the beach. Albeit a sink estate habited beach this time of year. Tattoos, baseball caps and Brummie accents being the popular choice - oh yeah, and personal soundtracks on mobile 'phones. Still, I had to swim in the sea. The first swim (in the sea) of 2010 and it was glorious. Now the family has a car hopefully I'll get to swim in more pleasant Devon beaches.
Bigbury Calls!!

Pictures:
1: Myself in the Sea. 23/05/10.
2: Sidmouth - and Oscar doing his Genesis P-Orridge face.
3: The family on Sidmouth Esplanade.

New Shoes

Now it is official - Isabel Frances is a "cruiser".
So we thought it appropriate to get her first pair of shoes. This was celebrated by the shoe store "Clarks" with great reverence. They chose socks to highlight the shoes of our choice and then took pictures of Isabel, presenting us later with a congratulatory card and a "Clarks Growing Feet Record Card" and a tract explaining the infant foot.
Simply buying a pair of shoes is a thing of the past! Should we have organised a "My First Shoes" party? Baked a cake in the shape of a mule? Are we now hooked in to "Clarks" shoes and have to buy there for Isabel's childhood. There'll be reminders in the post I'm sure...
But - Isabel is cruising. She can walk approx. 10 steps unaided before falling on her backside and laughing at the futility of it all - but low lying furniture is her best friend for the now...

Isabel loves her shoes. She sits on the sofa whilst wearing them, staring intently and moving her feet in a clockwise motion.
Life is beautiful.