Don't Dance....Collide

Just finished reading "Independence Days (The Story Of UK Independent Record labels)" by Alex Ogg. My second Ogg book after "No More Heroes". Excellent book that for the last two months has been unputdownable. Excellently written, researched and set out in a chronological way that it all makes sense, this has been my favourite read for quite some time. Alex covers the history of the independent label from the birth of vinyl through the 1940's - Joe Meek in the 1960's and the birth of Virgin and Island Records all in a couple of chapters before he begins the "real" story.
The story begins with Chiswick Records, home of two of the finest; Johnny Moped and The Stukas....well there was also The Damned but they never released ought decent after the "Music For Pleasure" LP on Stiff. (Mmmmmm...discuss). Then comes Stiff Records - which is where I come in to the story really because I got "New Rose" 7" on release. Stiff did have other fine releases like Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World" and "Stateless" LP by Lene Lovich - which I bought in Toronto a couple of years ago and still love - and Ian Dury (of course), but they were never a label to collect unlike Rough Trade, Small Wonder, Mute Records, Factory Records, Crass label and Fast Product. the stories of which are all covered + in-depth. Back in 1978 when all I had to rely on was John Peel and the weekly inkies like "Sounds" and "N.M.E." collecting the output of labels was a necessity. The early (or mid '70's) independents didn't have much of an identity, not until the likes of Mute, Factory, Rough Trade etc came along. It was a case of - if it is on Rough Trade I'll buy it. There was obviously the dip (Silicon Teens with Mute springs to mind) but I did use to buy label releases. What I love about this book is that it also covers the really minor labels like Heartbeat, Fried Egg, Industrial Records, The Label etc. All fascinating stories.
So where did it all go wrong? It seems to be when the "major" independents tried to act like major labels and create their own distro and cut out the majors. Try and get their goods in Woolworths and WH Smiths. My thought ... If you want the type of person who buys their vinyl at Woolworths, WH Smiths then you're obviously making the wrong record! Still. Also the set up of The Cartel is where business men came involved, Folk who did not like the product they were doing business with - music - just folk who wanted to make money, and basically they ruined the scheme of things. There is one label that comes out of the story with shiny boots and a big smile on their face and that is Cherry Red Records. (Just go and put the kettle on whilst I check who published this book....ahhhhh, Cherry Red).
The book also mentions the like of Deleted Records, Fuck Off and Mole Embalming and kind of dips a small toe in to the cassette "scene" that sprang up in the late 1970's.
It really is comprehensive and a necessity!
With the recent death of Malcom McLaren and the obituaries that say he invented "punk" etc - nice story, but "punk" was not the story of Sex Pistols and The Clash etc. They both signed for thousands of £'s to major record companies. If anything - the people we have to thank are the likes of The Desperate Bicycles, Daniel Miller and Buzzcocks. (OK - they signed to a major but not until after "Spiral Scratch").
There are no pictures in this book - just filled with information. At the start of the year I got the "Last Shop Standing" book - the story of the independent record shop, I had to give up on this book as it just didn't do what it said on the jacket! If you want to read about independent labels, shops and the people/bands involved then get this book.

Back in 1979 I began my own independent label. "Don't Dance....Collide". It lasted for one promotions night and one compilation cassette release.
Back then I used to follow my Brother-In-Law's power punk band Collide all over the dives and crypts of Lincolnshire. Sunday Night residencies at Nottingham's Hearty Goodfellow supporting Medium Medium, Tuesday Night residencies at Lincoln's Cornhill Vaults with The Void to (even) supporting The Fall on their "Dragnet" tour at Retford Porterhouse. I went from uberfan to live sound engineer, even went to Playground Studio in Wragby to watch them record a "professional" demo. Still got the tape! What Chuck Warner would give for that now, eh? Any way. The Collide demo got rejections, so i decided to put it out as a cassette release and created the label Don't Dance....Collide, the phrase coming from how John (Head Collider and said Brother-In-Law) used to introduce the band. 1980 saw a huge home tape label boom in the UK. I became part of it. As a label introduction I compiled the first release also featuring North Hykeham punk band The Exitz and my project ESP Diskord.
The Exitz featured Mark Collins (an old school friend) on guitar and future BBC Radio Lincolnshire DJ Shaun Peel on vocals...although he doesn't like you mentioning that.
ESP Diskord was myself and Dave Uden. There was a third person involved; Rosemary Ingleton but I don't think she made it on to the cassette release, but I could be wrong.
So the label was set and cassette was ready to go on sale. To celebrate I hired a venue to put on a release party - the sports hall of NKS School in North Hykeham. Not quite the glamour of Retford Porterhouse or even Lincoln's leading venue "A.J's" - but cheap! Problem being now was that Collide and The Exitz suddenly split. Ceased to be!! And we couldn't play because Rosemary was on holiday with her Mum & Dad. (Greece I think). So Dave and I held a promotion "party" with non of the "acts" that were on "Don't Dance.....Collide". We had Sinking Ships and The Cigarettes from Dead Good Records, The Void and Shaun Peel's latest group Vox Populi, all going through Collide's P.A. A good night out. So next was the cassette release.
Taking complete inspiration from the Fast Product "The Quality Of Life No. 2" the cassette came in a clear A4 plastic bag with lots of pieces of paper, lyrics, artwork, and even a badge. (homemade). All for £1 including P+P. I only advertised in "Sounds" but as a stroke of luck John Peel mentioned the cassette on his show. I never heard it myself but the drummer from The Exitz (whose name I have forgotten) phoned Mark Collins who phoned me to tell me! I remember getting a letter from a punter saying that they had heard the tape mentioned on "Peel" and that "John Peel had said that he thought ESP Diskord sounded like Buzzcocks". High praise indeed - if a little off the mark. The cassette sold about 15 or 16 copies. I had a bank account with the TSB at the time and some Norwegian guy had mailed cash in an envelope, so I went to get the money transferred to £ sterling and it cost me more than the note was worth to get it exchanged....Then came a couple of letters of disappointment from folk, strangely enough liking ESP Diskord but not The Exitz or Collide.
The next Don't Dance Collide release was to be a 10xC60 cassette box. My mother worked for an opticians at the time and the boxes that compact lenses came in were ideal for a 10xC60 release and to me they were free - but t'was never to be..both Dave and I lost interest in the admin - then...we split up!! (for a few months).
The label got a mention in one of the greatest books ever published. "The International Discography Of The New Wave" by B. George. The cassette was also mentioned in the "ZigZag Small Labels Catalogue" - I think Mr. George got his info from there but I did get an invite to the book launch party at Heaven Ultradisco in London (late 1982) - S.P.K. + Virgin Prunes live!! Didn't go........ About 10 years ago I gave the book to Steve Underwood - would kill for a copy now of course.

I don't have a copy of the "Don't Dance.....Collide" cassette. It is on my "desperate wants list" along with the cassette "ND7" (with I.B.F.). If googled the cassette turns up on other folks "wants lists" too.....There must be copies (or A COPY) out there.

Pictures:
1: "Independence Days" cover.
2: E.S.P. Diskord artwork. (1980). (Steve Cammack).
3: E.S.P. Diskord artwork. (1980). (Steve Cammack).

Cloama

This year I have been getting "back into" the sound of Cloama. I have been attracted by two 7" releases I spotted on the Internet.
I used to follow the releases of Cloama up until about 3 / 4 years ago when I got the Grunt/Cloama CD and the "Revisionist Knowledge" CD, both Freak Animal Records releases. These two were (exciting as they sound) quite disappointing and standard fayre, and as the world is full of "standard fayre" ... and I can listen to only so much in what is a very shortening lifetime, I decided to leave Cloama alone. It was in the Unrest Productions catalogue that I spotted the "Death Certificate" 7"EP and both the title " Rat With A Human Face" and the description "Cloama Unplugged" grabbed me. I liked the idea of Cloama "Unplugged". The 7" is excellent. "Rat With A Human Face" is acoustic. Scraped and beaten percussion over the vocal. The B-Side (2 tracks) contains "Death Certificate" - a return to Cloama of old, guitar driven and very powerful. Old school Power Electronics - if there is such a thing? The 7" is limited to 250 copies and well worth the money.
The latest acquisition is the split 7"/CDr with UK based Mutant Ape, and on the Turgid Animal label. Last year I was talking to someone (physically chatting as in face to face not Internet chatting or e-mithering) and I can't remember who but we got on to the subject of Turgid Animal and this person said it was a shit label releasing shit. I didn't cut in and mention I've a couple of Dilloway 7"'s and a Culver 7" on the label that I think are fine releases, just let the person carry on and nodding politely. I wish I could remember who it was as it is bugging me now! Anyway. Turgid Animal, a label ran by George Proctor AKA Mutant Ape. I met George once in London when he was co-promoting the Dieter Muh / Skullflower gig at St. Giles In The Field church. Big lad with a lovely Yorkshire brogue. True, Turgid Animal has put out some things that (on paper) look poor, but what I have on the label I'm very happy with.
The Cloama track "Procedure Dementia" is a lovely piece of old Industrialia. It does sound like early SPK. Excellent pointy guitar loop/riff with garbled voices and a bank of distorto noise. It is like Cloama of old. The excellent LP on Blade Records or the 7" on Cipher Prod. Lovely stuff. The Mutant Ape track is OK, and the accompanying CDr is pretty disposable. The CDr "Dementia" is a 27 minute remix of both tracks which takes me back to the Cloama of "Revisionist Knowledge" etc. I think the 7" is limited (again) to 250 copies and if seen cheap (mine was a fiver) then buy it for the Cloama track alone. There is a full CD on Turgid Animal to follow.

I was introduced (literally) to Cloama in 2000. We played on the same billing at "Kaos Ex-Machina 1" in Mantsala, Finland. Cloama is the side project of STROM e.c. member Jasse Tuuku. Previously I had been listening to a lot of what is now known as Power Electronics. Stuff like Genocide Organ, Soldnergeist, Drape Excrement, Einleitungszeit, Putrefier, Con-Dom etc. After spending a long time not listening to music at all, then hearing a lot of stuff that was catagorized as "Jap Noise" - which (with me) did not always hit the nail on the head - then hearing the likes of the aforementioned it was like a natural progression (in sound) of late 1970's "industrial" music. STROM e.c. where in that group too. On that night in Mantsala Cloama did a set with Mikko Aspa on balaclava, oil drum and vocals, and STROM e.c. were blinding. I was a convert to live power electronics.
I saw Cloama live again in Leeds 2004 where Jasse made mincemeat of The Bongerleros (could be miss spelt) and US comedy act Slogun. Grunt were also on the same night making the same kind of mincemeat.

I shall keep an ear out for the Cloama album on Turgid Animal, I suggest all to do the same.

Pictures:
1: "Death Certificate" 7" Sleeve, Freak Animal Records. 2009.
2: "Dementia" CDr artwork.
3: "Dementia" 7" Sleeve, Turgid Animal Records. 2010.

The Sound Of Lithuania #2

Received my second package from Lithuania last week. A trade off with the magazine "Terror". As the world waits for the magazine "As Loud As Possible", two magazines dealing within the similar area/topic/genre (whatever) have come out. Mikko's "Special Interests" and "Terror" from Lithuania. Both magazines are A5. Packed full of interviews and reviews and has such small print that I have to strain my eyes to read even wearing my glasses! "Terror" features interviews with projects with silly names such as The Hum Of The Druid, Clew Of Thesus and Molester. I also note that most of the projects featured perform or have their pictures taken wearing masks and/or hoods. One chap even poses with a pair of black tights on his head. That made me smile... I've been dipping in and out of the magazine over the past few days and although none of the interviews have made me think I must hear them I have enjoyed the read. Extensive reviews and I have learnt that there is a Survival Unit double CD called "Fentanyl Martyrs" that I want. I will buy issue #2.
Also in the package was the latest cassette release by Lithuanian noise/power electronic project Pogrom whose split release with Oorchach I really enjoy. "Liberal Cunt" on Suomi label Filth And Violence. This full release is a little disappointing. Two long untitled pieces a side, side 1 starts in the USA PE vein. It sounds like Slogun. And Slogun, to me, sound like a poor man's Con-Dom. It ends on a high note of "old school" industrial style metal percussion and noise. Side two is the sound of violent sex and child birth with synth noodling and the odd cries of a baby. Yeah, that's what I thought.....Throbbing Gristle managed it to perfection with "Oltre La Morte/Birth And Death" on the album "Journey Through A Body". (1982).
Also in the package was a promo CD of Girnu Giesmes called "Sau Krastas" (roughly translated means "Yourself Crust"). Girnu Giesmes is a project from Lithuanian artist Laurynas Jukonis who began making sound in 1996. (This CD was released last year). Only 40 minutes long. Five pieces of deep ambient electronic drones. Very bleak, cold feeling sounds. Very spacial. I played it loud and enjoyed - a good discovery. I think it is on sale via Discogs for 4 Euros or something as daft.
There was also a Budrus CD in with the package, all in all good stuff - I await another package soon!

Pictures:
1: Cover of "Terror" magazine.
2: Cover of Pogrom cassette "Liberal Cunt". (Filth & Violence).
3: Laurynas Jukonis.
4: Cover of "Sau Krastas" CD.

Not Now...Norman...

As a sad addendum to the previous post. I bought the Helm LP from the mail order service - Norman Records. (I think they are in Leeds). I was going to get the LP from Unrest Prod. but was swayed towards Norman Records as they were also selling the CD by Neil Campbell & Campbell Kneale. The 2003 New Zealand release which I thought I may never see again (classic release by the way and if you see it - buy it)! Anyway - the LP was £12.79 + P+P and arrived damaged. The sleeve has a tear along the top with a crushed spine, wear on the bottom of the sleeve and a creased aperture. I took pictures and E Mailed to Norman Records, who have replied implying it was damaged in transit - which I find hard to believe as it was in a sturdy mailer. They want me to post the sleeve back (at my cost) for a replacement sleeve. The pictures taken prove it was damaged and I think they should offer me credit or post me a replacement sleeve. Shoddy service and a shame. The Helm LP now sits in my collection (between Jowe Head + The Homosexuals) like an old secondhand record bought in a charity shop rather than the brand spanking new LP it is.
I shall never use Norman Records again (a shame as their Dilloway/Astral Social Club stock is rather good), instead I'll stick with Second Layer and Unrest Prod. 2 of the finest distro outlets in the UK.
Take note.

(It's my blog + I'll whinge if I want to - to paraphrase Barbara Gaskin).

Helm

I must say that I had heard of Luke Younger but had not heard any Luke Younger, the same as I have heard of Birds Of Delay but not heard any Birds Of Delay. I even have a sneaking feeling that I have met Luke at a gig in London, maybe TG in Heaven or Con-Dom in Stockwell? Either way when buying this LP I had no idea it was the work of Luke. What attracted me was the cover. It just simply jumped out at me. It has the look of an LP sleeve of the mid 1980's. One of those albums I would see in Fon Records or Eastern Bloc (when it opened on the top floor of Affleck's Palace) one day, scrape the pennies to buy and it would be gone on returning. Looks like an album by Pornosect or Tibetan Red or Seven Horns Da Ho or MB. You get the gist.
I do sometimes buy on the way a record/release looks. Discovered BBBlood and Pogrom recently that way.
The vinyl does not let the sleeve down. "To An End" on Alter/Peasant Magik is one of the best albums I have heard in a while - certainly this year. A very satisfying feeling, like when I heard Aaron Dilloway's "Infinite Lucifer" last year - a hidden gem. "To An End" is two long (untitled) pieces. Side One starts with a cough. A clearing of the throat. I've not got many records with coughs on - Derek + Clive and The Hysterics spring to mind, but this is the best record I have with a cough on it. For the next twenty odd minutes the cough is transformed and modulated through a manner of effects whilst scraped strings and other "magical sounds" weave in and out. Whilst sitting listening I was reminded of the Psychic TV "Themes" series, as well as Organum and early Column One work. When the piece finished I was left with that feeling: How the hell did that journey begin? I love it when that happens. Side Two is a more of a meaty drone piece that would not be a miss on a Soviet France LP (think "Eostre" or "Shouting At The Ground"). It sounds live, at some points on the point of disappearing in to a wall of feedback, sometimes like it is going to collapse - it ends in some mechanical breakdown. Once again, the needle hit the record for a second trip. Excellent stuff.
Now I want to hear more Luke Younger stuff. I've ordered the split Birds Of Delay / Family Battle Snake 7" from Tome Records...

I wonder if he plays live?

Dartmouth/Kingswear

Loose end Saturday. We were to try and get to Plymouth but indecision and a grotty weather forecast changed our minds. For the past seven weeks we have become a car owning family, and on loose end Saturdays Devon + Cornwall has become our oyster. Today we decided to play it close and head for Kingswear, neither of us (Tamsin (the wife) and I) having ever been there before and it being 30 or so minutes drive from Hartop Towers.
Kingswear is in a district of Devon known as the South Hams and lies across the river from Dartmouth. Apart from a couple of shops; the Post Office and the Kingswear Teddy Bear Centre and two pubs - one of which allows dogs but not children there is nothing to Kingswear. I have done longer farts than the time it took to walk around Kingswear.
There is however the ferry across the River Dart to Dartmouth. (£1.10 single - no return tickets). We went to Dartmouth once in 2008 and I vowed then "never again". There is nothing to Dartmouth, but with an afternoon to "kill" we found ourselves on the ferry across the Dart. There is nought of interest in Dartmouth. No second hand vinyl shops. just the one charity shop that is so ridiculously expensive (Cancer Research) it might as well cut the crap..... All other shops are designer clothes, designer jewellery or little "art" galleries selling over priced pictures of boats by "local artists". Vegetarians can not eat out in Dartmouth. We have tried it twice now. The arts centre/indie cinema (Showing "Nanny McPhee + The Big Bang") cafe is Ham and Fish orientated - we made for The Royal Castle Inn (wish it was the Roy Castle Inn but never mind) for a meal that was delicious but cost a weeks beer ration! There is a meat market and a castle to visit - the castle is way down the river and requires a car....The streets are too narrow and Dartmouth is full of old folk pushing other old folk around in wheelchairs dressed in nautical gear (Blue&White hooped shirts, white slacks etc) and stopping without warning. Infuriating - and did I mention they have no second hand vinyl shops?

If ever visiting Devon, please avoid Kingswear + Dartmouth your time will be better spent elsewhere I promise you......

Pics:
1: Kingswear.
2: Tamsin and Isabel on the Ferry (Dartmouth in the background).
3: Myself in a ruin. (And probably a puddle of dog piss).

Bodges

Eight AM, Kitchen, Hartop Towers. The whole family has gathered;

Me: "Today Is somebody's birthday."
Oscar: "Who"?
Trin + Me: "Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday Dear Bodges, Happy Birthday To You"
Oscar: "Does he get any cake"?
Me: "No".
Oscar: "What does he get"?
Trin: "Fed before you"!

Our beloved cat Bodges is one today. He came to us last December from a cats home in Maidencombe. He's fitted in quite well. Certainly not a lap cat, very independent and hardly seen between meal times. He hardly shits in his litter tray and never on the back lawn so he must be doing it elsewhere on someone else's patch. Result.
Why Bodges?

"Bodges? Bodges? You Can Keep Your Steenkin' Bodges" - "Blazing Saddles" (I think taken from Eli Wallach in "Treasure Of The Sierra Madre" but I could be wrong).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BODGES.

picture:
Bodges this morning with Oscar.