Astral Social Club #9

I have just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest release from Astral Social Club. The CD "Magic Smile" on Japanese label WonderYou. The album is compiled from old material remixed and new recordings. "Rubber Logg" kicks off the album, beginning all Japanese like with the sound of a Koto or Kugo being played by a waterfall (serenity) and finding its way to a North Yorkshire disco dancefloor. Astral Social Clubbing Music. Nearing the end of this 13 minute or so masterpiece celestial wailing takes it all a level higher before dropping straight into track two and "Mach". Let it be known that there are no gaps in this album, it plays like one long piece. "Mach" is a rework of the cassette single track "Ach" that came out last year, limited to 37 copies. It is all random sequencer patterns and "highland" sounding guitar ... but don't think Stuart Adamson. The titular track "Magic Smile" is a lament with phased drone and strumming guitar, it even has lyrics. "Multiple World Speed" is a track that does what the title suggests. It is a high speed guitar noodle piece (GNP) with space synths and a throbbing bass. Does anyone remember Bleep & Booster? "Och" plays like a soundtrack to one of their stories. Alien communication, tapes stolen from the Arecibo Observatory perhaps? "Och" was originally released as the B-Side to "Ach".
It is back on to the dancefloor everybody with "FRWRKX RWRK". The industrial dancefloor that is, with a motorik beat and freestyle guitar noodling (GNP). This is another 13 minute piece that two thirds in breaks down..the beat disappears. Police sirens wail, glasses are smashed, a helicopter circles overhead ... we are left in a void of reverse pulsations and electric panic. Bloody clever stuff. "Tempo Rubber" closes the album. Loops of Tubular Bells chime and fade into a melancholic organ affair bringing it all to silence.
There is a bonus track on the album. "Rubber Logg (Kufuki Remix)". Earlier this year Kufuki released a CD with an Astral Social Club remix and here the experiment is reversed. "Rubber Logg" still has the Koto sound before moving into high octane synth noodling (HOSN) and Japanese Temple music on half a gram bag of speed......we are back in the Astral Social Nightclub where Sticky Foster's wailing is replaced by a beautiful Japanese voice. An excellent end to an excellent and worthy release.
Packaged in full colour digipack style and a must for all. Check Norman Records + Volcanic Tongue for UK distribution, or contact Neil Campbell himself to bag a copy. www.astralsocialclub.wordpress.com

Korev

Took another journey across the border (well, the Tamar Bridge) into Cornwall the other day and found a lovely little lager from the St Austell Brewery.
Korev. It may sound like a Lithuanian power electronics outfit or a Polish midfielder from the 1980's but it is in fact a traditional Cornish word meaning beer. (Pronounced cor~eff). It has (apparently) taken the brewers of St Austell 160 years to perfect this lager using ingredients only grown locally, and it is probably worth the effort! A very fruity and smooth drink with a hint and hue of honey. Goes down very smooth, and only 4.8%. A 500ml bottle goes for around the £2.20 mark so if you're down this way (the brewery has pubs and inns littered across Devon & Cornwall) just lean over the bar and check if they have a few bottles of Korev in their fridge, you'll find it worth the look.
Alternatively it can be bought via their website www.staustellbrewery.co.uk but who buys beer online?

Column One "Records" CDr

Last July (July 2011) I bought an album that I never thought I would own, such is its' rarity, scarcity and price beyond worth. That album was the compilation LP "East" on Dead Good Records. This July (July 2012) the same has happened again. I have bought two releases by Column One that I thought; 1: I would never see and 2: That if I did, I would never be able to afford. But I was wrong thanks to a generous chap that saw I had the two releases listed as "wants" on Discogs and offered them both to me at an incredibly reasonable price.
So this weekend is Column One weekend at Hartop Towers, a marathon Column One weekend of Olympic standard.
"Records" is a 40 minute CDr released to accompany a live performance at the 2002 "Argos Festival" in Brussels, Belgium. Column One were there to perform on the closing night. Here is an extract from the 2002 programme:

Column One
26 okt 20.00/ A.B. Club

The audio-visual collective Column One, founded in 1991 in Berlin, is shored up by its ideological basis: their aesthetic approach critically enlightens on topics like (contemporary) Western icons, societal structures, political points of departure and the media. Earlier the core members René Lamp and Robert Schalinski had worked on film shorts; as Column One the two allow themselves to be accompanied – depending on the nature of the project – by Andrew Loadman, Jerôme Soudan (aka Mimetic), Wojcek Czern (aka Zia Siodma Gora), Jürgen Eckloff (Kein Zweiter, Kino) and Leo Solter (Kein Zweiter and Tornow). The film and video work of Column One devotes – not infrequently via cut-up techniques and synchronised montage – a lot of their attention to sound. In this way the group decodes the audio-visual ‘reality’ of for instance advertising, animated films or video clips in their work, and re-mounts them within a new context. As a result the original dialogues, phrases or treatments are mangled and recast as music. As founding influences the group points to the pop terrorism of Psychic TV, but then also combined with the radical constructivism of the author Paul Watzlawik and a string of film makers including Derek Jarman, Ingmar Bergmann and Alexandro Jodorowski. Next to videos Column One also produces music, a sonorous output where electro, noise and robot-pop interface. At the closing party of the argos festival 2002, the group (represented by René Lamp, Robert Schalinski and Jürgen Eckloff) will be presenting a new audio-visual work. Their performance gives both commentary and ironic critique on the theme of the concert series and exhibition ‘Pitch – Mutating Turntables’.

The CDr is released by 90% Wasser and limited to 20 copies, hence the reason why I never thought I would see or hear the album. The CDr is 40 minutes of turntablism. Creations built / constructed from lock grooves, run-out grooves, needle drops and jumps etc. Beautiful and textured dancefloor electronics, hypnotic and when listening to I get locked into a world of my own making - peaceful and very happy. The sound of Column One is multi-faceted, for 20 years or so they have never remained stagnant in sound and/or personnel. Not every release is immediate as this one, but every release is essential. My first hearing of them was the Tochnit Aleph double cassette "Live Im Hybridraum" released in 1998 and limited to just 25 copies, my old friend Mick McDaid had a copy - we both loved it so much we put out a bowdlerized version on CDr via our The Mouth Label label. This was the other release that came this weekend that I never thought I would see again.

Anyway, Column One = essential. If you do not know where to start please try there "No One" Box set. 3 CD's and 3 LP's with a booklet, all in one beautiful box.

Pictures.

1: CDr Cover.

2: Inside CDr artwork (extract).

Dead Wood / Phantom Heron Seas #3

Back with another Hairdryer Excommunication release and the C21 (I think) cassette by Dead Wood & Phantom Heron Seas. Since their first collaborative release , the 7" violent blue lathe cut flexi-plate on Dirty Demos I have become all ears for these two projects. Here we are presented with two new pieces. Side A gives us "Boundary Feature", a delicate and lonely piece with a nautical feel (a similar sound can be found on their "Microbes" 3"CDr on Dead Sea Liner Records). A small organ drones like an intro to an Ivor Cutler poem, before the sound of running water, a babbling brook enters. Dull chimes and small percussion rattle in the breeze. A soundtrack to a small seascape painting. File under "Music For Installations". Side B is entitled "Near the Tired Skies". Ten or so minutes of resonance and vibrations with contact microphonery - surface interference and irritation building to a mighty crescend moment. Micheal Muennich's "Zum Geleit" piece was brought to mind - the sound of hard rain on perspex and glass. File under "Music For Performance".
Another fine release. Adam and Alan (Dead Wood & Phantom Heron Seas) deliver the goods once more. The cassette comes encased in an oversized case in its' own plastic tray with insert. Limited to thirty copies this tape is available for £4.75 in the UK. Well worth it! Try www.hairdryerexcommunications.wordpress and follow the instructions.

Pictures.
1: The Cassette.
2: The Insert.

Petals

Have just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest release from Petals. "Preconcerted", a C20 (at a guess) cassette on the Hairdryer Excommunication label. Rather like the aforementioned FRKSE I have come late to the sound of Petals judging by their entries on the Discogs site. Duncan Harrison did recommend them to me ages ago, but I have never done a thing about it, then two wonderful cassette releases arrive from the wonderfully named label Hairdryer Excommunication.
Petals are (or is) the solo project of Kevin J Sanders, an anarchist type living in Huddersfield. (Big "A" or little "a")? He is also the proprietor of Hairdryer Excommunication.

"Preconcerted" contains two untitled pieces. Side A is a raw recording of a Hammond keyboard sounding like a church organ drone - perhaps Kevin has sampled a church organ, several layers of sound surround the drone before electricity is added, synthesizers, oscillators and thriplers swell the sound to produce an all consuming pulse which distorts to an end. Excellent stuff - I must add here that the tape comes packaged within an old library book of slides entitled "Extraction, Conservation And Pollution". The slides have exciting pictures with titles like: Shallow Open Cast Mining Exposes Iron Bearing Strata. Corby. Northamptonshire and Air And Sea Pollution By Coastal Industrial Plant. Workington. Cumberland. There's 24 of them and if I had a slide projector I would show them with side A as soundtrack.
The untitled piece on side B is a ten minute slice of turntable DaDaism, with a slice of cassette trickery. Loops made with old 78's played at various speeds with the dusty stylus and indispensable vinyl crackle. A:M:K, Severed Heads and Smegma all brought into mind before a collage of found sound on old tapes is brought into the mix, spoken word, classical piano and Petals own drone.

Two sides of Petals sound, beautifully packaged and presented. I do not know how many of these tapes are around, but please take a look at the Hairdryer Excommunication website; www.hairdryerexcommunication.wordpress.com There are downloads on there as well as a full Petals discography and an excellent "Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape" blog written by Kevin himself.
In with this release was a cassette by Dead Wood&Phantom Heron Seas....that's me made up then!

Pictures.
1: Hairdryer Excommunication sew on patch.
2,3,4+5: "Preconcerted" cassette.

FRKSE

Just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest release from American artist FRKSE. "Scholar Drugs" is a C31 cassette released by (the excellently named) I Had An Accident Records label from Annapolis MD in the USA.
FRKSE are a new name/sound to Hartop Towers, I saw the cassette mentioned on the Troniks Forum Board and liked the look of the tape, so I went for it - and damned glad I did. The tape is split into two pieces. Side A is "Scholar Drugs:Diagram 1 (Stereo)". The track starts off slow with a single beat, a slow bass drum through plenty of echo and reverb...a slow single oscillator drone accompanies...a snare offsets the beat on random occasions, oscillator knob twiddling happens building, slowly building. Excellent stuff...studio recording playing / sounding like an old Inade demo. The echoes get deeper, the knob twiddlings rise and fall, the echoes get louder and after 12 minutes it becomes celestial. Downside is the end of side A where for a few seconds it all speeds up...but still it left me eager enough to grab another can of lager and turn the tape over.
Side B is "Scholar Drugs:Diagram 2 (Mono)" and obvioulsy a live recording. It has the same beat but this time is more excited, more urgent and "on the edge", the electronics fill the space more. I was reminded of Hunting Lodge circa "Exhumed" and Last Few Days when they part of the Final Academy. Really enjoyable listen. Again it has a 12 minute mark where this time the sound slows down and collapses and drags on a bit....but still is OK - the come down to Scholar drugs (I suppose)?

FRKSE are a new project, and I know nowt about - they (he) seem to have a few releases listed on Discogs...and I love to hear them all....but with so much coming out lately, I'll have to start my collection here and try and (slowly) catch up on the back catalogue. I recommend you give them an ear - and that of I Had An Accident Records...the jiffy came stuffed with pens, stickers, flyers and a six inch ruler from the local pharmacists! The cassette is limited to 41 copies with artwork by Final Church.
Buy from : www.ihadanaccidentrecords.com or www.divergentseries.info

Pictures.
1: FRKSE "Scholar Drugs"
2: FRKSE. (Looks like Pete Bardens in 1975)!

Duncan Harrison #2

Have just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest release from Plurals main-man Duncan Harrison. "Sleepers" is a cassette limited to 30 copies and released by the Canadian label Poor Little Music.
To bastardize an old Gary Clail lyric "fi-how lo can you go"? This tape is lo-fi in extremis, but (in a strange way) I think it adds to the sound. There are words being spoken at the moment on the Troniks forum board about badly dubbed tapes, old tapes from the mid 1980's being sold as new and in the day of digital enhancering and re-mastering onto CD / digital format folk just aren't prepared to put up with tape hiss...fair enough, I bought some cassettes from a label called Strange Rules recently that were really badly dubbed and it hindered the sound ... but here (I think) Duncan uses the fact that the recordings are to be a cassette release and uses the medium perfectly. Side A contains two untitled pieces. The first has a drone, a hum with occasional pots and pans as percussion. There are sounds of broken leads, bad connections - the sort of snap crackle and pop that makes you think that the tape machine is on its' last legs...the second untitled piece has resonance. Chime bars amidst the murky swill. There are voices in there too. There was a point where I thought, jeez - this label will release anything the recording is so bad and then there's the sound of a dodgy connection, muffled and inaudible spoken words like reading the pages of an old dusty tome and it becomes brilliant. Perfect. If it sounded "clean" (or digital) it wouldn't work, it wouldn't be so disconcerting or haunting. Why make films in 3D?...is football better in HD?
Side B starts with "Jealous People". A glorious murky swill where a bass rumble acts as glue, sticking the M25, whale sound, stretched tapes and EVP together. It all ends suddenly. The tape ends with a 2009 live performance in Westhill. Where the fuck is Westhill? It is an audience recording - sounds like a live performance of side A condensed into 15 minutes. There's a master drone, metal percussion and tempered feedback. Voice is used to add to the haunting ... did I say haunting? I meant performance. It ends on a ghostly breeze..unfortunately the tape ends before the "wild" applause. This piece just makes me feel like I have to see / hear / experience a live Duncan Harrison performance before I die!
Buy this tape.
Poor Little Music is a label operated by Fossils member Rob Michaelchuk from Ontario. Bizarre as the CDr I was "getting in to" before endlessly spinning this tape was the Altar Of Flies/Fossils split CDr on Hasten + Korset. Go to www.poorlittlemusic.110mb.com and bag this beauty.