Illuminated 666 No. 1

With the Broken Flag Festival coming up next year in London I thought it was about time I dug out some old tapes to refresh the ears and get used to that old 1980's noise sound again. I dug out Kliestwahr's "Myth", but wasn't in the mood for the chorus pedal/phaser sound. I played the compilation release "Harsh Ears Now!!" the triple cassette that Midas Music released but after 3 sides I found it hard to listen to. Nice tracks by Kapotte Muziek, Club Rialto and S*Core, but a lot of poor stuff even from the likes of Tools You Can Trust...hunting out Le Syndicat's "Rectal Struggle" I found the compilation "Illuminated 666 No.1", a C22 from 1984 (I think) on the German Illuminated 666 label. Le Syndicat'll have to wait....
The tape starts of with Ltn. Murnau, a project I know very little about. French? (I know I am thinking of Lt. Caramel here....are they related)? "Rumort-Random Excerpts" is an instruction on how to use a power drill; DC whilst mobile, AC whilst hooked up to a generator. It is the sound of a power drill. The beautifully named FaLX cerebRi follow. FaLX cerebRi was the project of mail and sound artist Karsten Rodemann who ran Graf Haufen Tapes. Back in the 1980's I used to trade tapes with Graf Haufen Tapes. Here FaLX have stood the test of time with two pieces. "Thee Orgaasm (femaale)" is classic industrial music. An electronic throb over/under/around a female German voice going through a digital delay. Side two has a long piece by Mauthausen Orchestra. "Block 10". A great symphonic noise. The sound is "muddy" in parts and sounds like it was recorded live on a 2-track, but it still has power and that is what is important here....sounds like Esplendor Geometrico around the same period. I am now going to work through the"Gravitational Arch Of Sex" box. I am not too sure but I think Mauthausen Orchestra are playing at the Broken Flag Festival. Certainly a crowd puller for me! The tape finishes with a short Non like piece from Synthetisches Mischgewebe (AKA Das Synthetische Mischgewebe). Excellent sharp sound loop. "Illuminated 666 No. 1" is a great release. I have no idea if there was a "No. 2" or what happened to the label.

Trepaneringsritualen

Sometimes I see a name of a band / project and I know I just have to hear what that name sounds like. Praying For Oblivion, Blod, Pestdemon have all been such names in the (recent) past...and now Trepaneringsritualen. Excellent name. I have been too late to get some of the releases - ultra limited tapes, just last week I missed out getting the "Veil The World" tape on some Polish label limited to 40 only...so I was overjoyed when I managed to get a copy of the tape "Martyrium" on American label Small Doses. (Snapped up the new Kinit Her CD album at the same time). The cassette is a C40, packaged in a fold out sleeve, it comes allegedly with a 10 sided fold-out insert with artwork and info....but my copy didn't. The release is limited to 136 copies.
Are Trepaneringsritualen as good as their name? Hell, yes! Research tells me that Trepaneringsritualen is the solo project of Thomas Ekelund formerly of Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words...which (let's face it) is an awful name. Still, I saw a band called How Much Wood Could A Woodchuck Chuck If A Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood listed on some noise site the other day...bloody awful name. OK, it's a Herzog film...but it's still a bloody awful name.
The tape starts with "Death Reveler" (I'm getting titles from Discogs). A pounding bass and base rhythm with distorted vocals. Metal percussion leads the track into madness. The sound is immediate and grabbing. "The Blood Of the New Covenant" has a more claustrophobic sound. An infested pulse beat and swarming insect sound lead us into a flat field. A voice tape evokes old school power electronics, Genocide Organ etc. It all ends on the sound of sharpening knives. Like track one "Plague Of Persecution" reminds me of Hunting Lodge. Not a bad thing. This track (the longest on the cassette) is built around low frequencies meeting electronic rumblings with controlled feedback. We're in a dark ambient place here. "Eucharist Of Piss And Shit" ends the tape. A short blast of throbbing noise and shouting, with metal percussion thrown about for maximum pleasure. Cracking stuff. I knew a band / project with such an excellent name wouldn't let me down.
If you can find any Trepaneringsritualen releases my advice is to get them.

Pictures:
1: Trepaneringsritualen Logo.
2: "Matyrium" Cover.
3: "Matyrium" Inner Artwork.

Mark Stewart : On/Off

A couple of weeks ago I was asked by a fanzine to list my top ten "essential" releases. Not desert island discs but records/releases that had influenced my way of life. Politics, listening, approach, attitude etc. I thought about this a lot and if I had been asked for a top 11 then The Pop Group's "Y" LP would be in there.
I have just got a copy of the Mark Stewart documentary "On/Off" on DVD. It is an excellent film. Back in the 1970's The Pop Group were a marmite band, and I love marmite. Shameless sloganeering set against cold white funk, angular free form jazz and punk all rolled into one. Fantastic. "Y" still sounds fresh today. The CD re-issue includes the 7" "She Is Beyond Good And Evil" and its' B Side "3.38" (which always sounded like Wire's "Former Airline" to me - or was it the other way round?) and is well worth hunting out.
The film starts off with Mark at home with his mother in Portland, Dorset and Mark talking about his life in Bristol in the early 1970's. Mark is a very chatty chappy and therefore makes the film come alive. His two brothers are included talking about life in the Stewart household. Punk and The Cortinas stirred Mark and his friends into action. Gareth Sager, Dan Catsis and John Waddington all give their accounts against promo footage and live performance footage.
....back in 1997 I showed my friend (at the time) John Everall a video clip of The Pop Group live on Dutch TV, he in turn told Mark who then rang my parents' asking if I could "dub" a copy for him and mail it to his home in Dorset which I duly did. I got a lovely thank you postcard a few days later...this clip appears in the DVD, although the director could have sourced it from elsewhere it is exactly the same 17 second clip of "Rob A Bank" I mailed him.....
Nick Cave, Fritz Catlin and Janine Rainforth are all talking heads in this section but strangely not Simon Underwood or Dennis Bovell. Mark then talks about the artwork that accompanied the records and how after they had toured with "For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder" LP he got bored and left the band. Promo videos for second LP tracks I have never seen before litter this part of the film.
I never did see The Pop Group live, they played close by at the Porterhouse in Retford with The Good Missionaries and Linton Kwesi Johnson but for some reason I never went...I did see Pigbag at the Porterhouse a few years later though.
The film is 88 minutes long and the split between The Pop Group and his solo work is roughly 50/50. After The Pop Group split I followed all the immediate splinter groups. Pigbag, Maximum Joy, (my favourite) Rip Rig And Panic and Maffia. I think the first LP is the better of all Maffia albums, it captures the early 80's zeitgeist beautifully. The film has some great live footage of Maffia performing "Jerusalem" in Bristol.
There is no mention of Mark as part of New Age Steppers or his work with Gary Clail and The On-U Sound System.
Enter Mark's second stage as performer and enter LeBlanc, Wimbish and McDonald. The film keeps up the energy with an enthusiastic Mark and Adrian Sherwood and members of Massive Attack (and Chicks On Speed) but my liking of Maffia has now all but disappeared. "Hypnotized" being the last Mark Stewart release I bought. After that it all sounds very "samey" to me.
"On/Off" is an excellent film and a necessary story told really well. Mark Stewart comes across likeable, lovable and really fascinating...like an old English eccentric. Any "fan" of The Pop Group should own this DVD. There are 70 minutes of extras - live footage and gallery stills and a set of postcards with the first 1000 copies.

Picture:
1: DVD Cover.

Ashtray Navigations

Just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest single by Ashtray Navigations. "Three Rockets Thicken" on Trensmat Records. Earlier in the month I saw the Ashtrays (as we call them at Hartop Towers) live at the Wysing Festival in Cambridgeshire and they were the hit of the day for me (besides Preslav Literary School and Astral Social Club and Disinformation), OK they were the surprise of the day for me. I liked the sound so much I bought this EP there and then.
13 years ago I played on the same bill as the Ashtrays in Nottingham, and that night had tainted my ears somewhat to their sound. They seemed to play for ever that night, a sort of improv. of zither and acoustic guitar. I got hold of the album "Four Raga Moods" but it did nothing for me. That is why, on this night in Cambridgeshire they hit me between the eyes with a great live sound.

The EP has three tracks, three short jams. Not extracts from longer pieces (something that I dislike) but three pieces recorded specifically for this 7" release. They have beginnings and ends.
"Monkey Music/Throw Money at the Monkeys" has an awakening of guitar and synthesizers. The sound is not too far from Section 25 and their "Key Of Dreams" LP. The synthesizer rush blossoms into....krautrock, moments later tablas work their way around the drifting guitar. It is beautifully uplifting. "Dinshan F Ghadali" is a short piece of floating guitars and keyboard drone. "Rocket Dust Slipping Out Of Your Mouth Some Afternoon" is a fantastic instrumental piece. It is 1970's prog rock sped up a few revolutions. The works of Greenslade came to mind whilst listening to this beauty. (is that a bad thing)?
How long have the Ashtrays sounded like this? Is their a full album of this material? Can anyone out there help?

Buy from www.trensmat.com or http://ashtraynavigations.wordpress.com you will not regret it.

Pictures:
1: "Three Rockets Thicken" Sleeve.
2: Ashtray Navigation live in Cambridgeshire, September 2011.
3: Flyer from 1998.

Lyme Regis

"Crossing the border....Changing the menu" (Dome).

In the interests of research, my endless research in finding and reporting on secondhand record shops I travelled across borders and into Dorset and the coastal town of Lyme Regis. Sad to report that there are no secondhand vinyl emporiums in Lyme Regis, but there are plenty of pubs, fish & chip shops and a great secondhand book shop (at the bottom of the High Street).
Lyme Regis boasts to be the gateway to the Jurassic Coast which means pebbly beach. There is an artificial beach further down the coastline, if you're prepared to walk. Lovely soft sand and (today) the sea was swimmable. If you're after a pint and a great view of the Dorset coast, Lyme Regis is the place...just a shame about the secondhand record shops.

Pictures:
1: Old fossil on Jurassic Coast.
2: Oscar being a sand-angel.
3: Isabel F. (Reverse Ostrich...she buries her feet in the sand).

Cheapmachines

There seems to be a penchant for labels to be re-releasing / re-packaging old material from the 1980's and 1990's these days. Stuff that was ultra limited when it first came out now rediscovered and presented to a new audience...and a few of the old audience who have lost their originals or are on a path of youthful rediscovery. I am not complaining, personally I think it is great, especially when it works. (I am thinking of Harbinger Sounds' release of old Olympic Shitman recordings and live work). Second Layer Records have put out a cassette of the early recordings of Phil Julian, AKA Cheapmachines. The recordings were made 17 years ago; that's before HNW. 1994 when all noiseniks were Japanese crazy. There is no doubt that "Kept:1994-96" is a noise album. Blistering noise recorded and presented at a blistering pace. Side one is loud decay. "Damaged Electronics" as Phil puts it. Quite often the sound verges on implosion, a collapsed wall, but it is always brought back from the brink for another attack. A scholar from the legendary school of Putrefier. Side two starts off with a denser sound with hidden vocals in a morass of distortion. This is more Power Electronics than before. Track two is Musique-Concret. Durgan Country. Tape spool manipulation and kitchen implements contact mic'd through effect. Luc Ferrari. Excellent stuff. The second half of side two brings us back full circle and the sound / style /approach of side one. (No track listing here). There's a track with lyrics..not vocals, but lyrics. Can't tell what they are as they are masked by static noise surges and distortion but I'm certain they are lyrics. The tape ends on a tinnitus loop. Classic.
The cassette is gold and housed in a Richard Rupenus designed glossy sleeve. I'm not to sure of the edition run..probably 100 and available from Phil at www.cmx.org.uk and Second Layer Records.
Buy!

Pictures.
1: Kept Sleeve.
2: "Gold" as Tony Hadley once said.
3: Kept Inner Sleeve.

Tears Of Ochre (Unune)

Have just spent a pleasant while listening to Tears Of Ochre (Unune). In July I wrote my thoughts on an old compilation cassette release called "Power To Destroy" on the Lebensborn label, one of the bands on there was Agony For Pleasure whom I likened to Konstruktivists and whose track I like very much. Transpires that the guy behind Agony For Pleasure is still recording but under the moniker of Tears Of Ochre (Unune) and Agony For Pleasure has gone from project name to project label. Googling Tears Of Ochre (and I suggest you do) brings up loads of video footage on You Tube. Through this I contacted Mr. Ochre (aka Stephen Hopkins) and received this CDr album shortly after.
The album is titled ""An Eternity In An Infinite Flash Of Grey". Track One: "A Tenuous Link In Thee Endless Knot" begins with oscillations, random bleeps and synthesized sweeps. The sound of communication amongst machines. A great opener. slowly paced and leads into "Arable Grazing For Parable Sheep" perfectly. A sense of Coil is building with varispeeded and effected voices and a slow dragging beat. The mood / style changes with "When Things Fall Apart", repetitive loops / locked grooves provide an annoying track - could be a style/genre called glitch. Will have to check that out! Track 4 is the Tears Of Ochre (Unune) magnum opus with "Harmony/Disharmony/Illusion/Disillusion/Urge/Demiurge". The track sounds like a Novocaine nightmare with its angular synth attacks, sharp and piercing and floating around the speakers. Power surges and rumblings complete the sound. Sucks you in beautifully. "Revenge In The Spirit Realm" sounds like looped EVP Recordings accompanied by floating electronics. "Blood Comes In Spurts" plays like a homage to Monte Cazazza's "Kick That Habit Man" with a strong pulse beat and distorted vocals. The Novacaine nightmare returns with "Cerebral Incursions", madness in the vocals and keyboards. With "Fatal Romance (Judas As Homosexual)" looped electronics create a dancing rhythm which bounces around superbly. The sound phases and modulates to create a sound pattern not too far from what Neil Campbell produces. "A Subconscious Repercussion" slows the sound down. A slow wall of sound. (SNW as I call it). The album ends on a slight "novelty" track called "Under My Skin (Like Rabies)". Guitar, lyrics and cardboard drums.
An eclectic album, but I think one that was compiled over a period of time, maybe years, (Could be wrong) but as a taster to the sound and talent of Tears Of Ochre (Unune) it makes me want to discover more. Hopefully Stephen will create an Agony For Pleasure base soon.
Recommended.

Pictures:
1: CDr Cover.
2: Tears Of Ochre (Unune) art work.
3: CDr Back Cover.