Agdam

In a time when archives are being plundered and released in the name of entertainment comes a CD from new (to me) Azerbaijan based label Agdam Records. They have put together and put out an album of old recordings (previously unreleased) from old members of The A Band.
I can't quite fathom the reasons for them doing this....but they have and a copy has found its way to Hartop Towers, so I thought I'd give it a mention.
I have old tapes, old recordings of my material from the 1970's and 1980's, bands / projects I was involved in as well as the odd "solo" experiment with bath chain and biscuit tin but I sure as hell wouldn't have it put out for the public ear. It is well documented that myself and Dave Uden started recording and releasing tapes in the 1970's...and I am bloody glad only a handful of folk have ever heard those tapes. Why didn't I release anything in the 1980's apart from ultra limited cassettes...because (in the majority) it was crap, (I.B.F. & Muhviertel are exceptions) and it is still crap to this day.

So why have Agdam Records put out "Agdam"? Is there so much interest in The A Band members that a compilation of their early efforts warrants a release? Do Agdam Records of Azerbaijan really exist?
Stewart Walden kicks off the album with some home tapery poetry, the terribly named Gay Animal Women follow with an embarrassing track called "Children On Fire". Recorded live in 1989 at The Old Vic in Nottingham, this is a 20 odd minutes long track (an excerpt of an hour long performance) of folk wailing into microphone trying desperately to sound like Genesis P-Orridge over an awful rhythm. Poor beyond belief...fast forward to a project called Well Crucial and Martin Walden playing with a tape/radio recorder mixing OMD with Radio Devon. Unlistenable. The only thing that holds an interest here is that it was recorded in Paignton, Devon....and that town is 5 miles from Hartop Towers!
Walden/Campbell/Plaistow follow with a slight comedy piece called "Morons". Sepopeplel follow with a live track that sounds like bad cafe. A short (all too short) solo Neil Campbell live track follows before the icing on the cake is provided by Afterclap. At this point of listening I did not think that the album could have a worse track than Gay Animal Women but Afterclap proved me wrong. Recorded live in Warrington in 2007, it starts with an annoyingly voiced chap introducing members of Afterclap, and they all begin to play, strum, blow, pluck and hit their given instruments...then I pressed STOP.

I am all for folk releasing treasures from their past. Everyone loves a history as the saying goes, but this album can only hold interest and provide entertainment to those involved - those who were there at the time (and I feel sorry for the folk who had to endure Gay Animal Women and Afterclap) and their partners. It is like an "in-joke".
When I played this album I couldn't get the Georgina Spelvin quote out of my head: "if you do it, you do it for life". Don't know why.
The album hasn't put me off listening to Neil Campbell and his plethora of projects I am just surprised by the poor quality of material on this release, shame.

Violent Onsen Geisha

Spent some time today listening to the cassette "Shocking Early Works 83-85 Volume 1" by Violent Onsen Geisha. This is the only release I have from the project run by Japanese artist Masaya Nakahara. Interesting stuff, tape splices cut with cheap synth effects cut with "pop" records of the 1980's (Paul Hardcastle & Art Of Noise very recognisable), Japanese spoken word and 1950's Z-Movie incidental music. I like the tape. Quite a lot of it (especially Side A) reminds me of what I was doing back in the late 1970's with cutting up radio / TV and teenage lyrics. There's plenty of tape hiss but no heavy nasal breathing into the microphone. (Makers of tapes back in the 1970's might know what I am getting at here)?
Anyway - great tape - early plunderphonics or as I described the work of DK720 + Grace earlier "Audio DaDa". Before playing this cassette I listened to a live Sefahat CDr from 2000 and there are similarities.

A year or more ago I contributed to a VOG topic on the Troniks forum board and mentioned I had this cassette and that I hadn't given it my full attention but I saw it wasn't listed on the Discogs site. The tape came in a package of stuff from Steve Underwood (vinyl, tapes, CD's etc) a few years back. Messages came in asking if I was interested in selling, swapping, trading etc.....I was open to suggestions but then I played the tape (in full) and really I like. the tape stays in Hartop Towers!

Squeezing Being Issue 2

I dug out a treasured tape earlier in the week and gave it a play - probably for the first time this century: "Live Demos" by The Implicit Order (AKA Anthony Washburn). Chances are this is the only copy of this cassette. Back in 1999 I made an attempt to start a credible label. Alongside Mick McDaid (who operated as Outsider Records) we formed Mouth Recordings. (Quite clever wording I thought - Out from Outsider + Muh from Dieter Muh being in there). The M.O. of the label was to release quality live recordings on ultra limited CDr and sold at a reasonable price. Our first three (and only) releases were "Feeling A Little Horse" by Dieter Muh, "Breaked Live Wires" by Government Alpha and "Live Im Hybidraum" by Column One. We were then struggling as Ora and The Haters declined releases, so we decided to knock the project on the head. Then we received this tape with a letter from Anthony ( we were in correspondence throughout the late 1990's) asking us to consider the tape for a Mouth Recordings release, which we had to decline as we had folded the project. A shame, as I really liked the tape.
This put me in mind of a compilation album Dieter Muh contributed to back in 1999: "Squeezing Being - Issue 2" on Wholeness Recordings. The album took 11 years to be released. Anthony Washburn is the boss of Wholeness Recordings. 11 years is not bad going, I have recorded stuff for compilation projects that have yet to be released, Joel St. Germain's Spite Records non release of Dieter Muh's original recording of "We're Not Happy.........Until You're Not Happy" for a non existence tape compilation still sticks in the throat.
Anyway. 11 years is not bad going, and at least the album has seen the light albeit as a free download and not a CDr. I am not a fan of the download - free or not - I am not interested. I prefer the "physical" format and a piece of art/work that folk have taken the time / space / money to produce for my pleasure / interest / research. Is that fair?

Luckily I have friends who were willing to put the album on a CDr and download the sleeve for my pleasure. Does the sound of 1998/99 still stand up when freshly released in 2010? Has the sound "dated"? .... slightly.

The album contains familiar names alongside total unknowns and perhaps one-offs created only for "Squeezing Being Issue 2". It all kicks off with the lo-fi tape rumblings of Big City Orchestra, a project of whom I have never been a "fan", they had a single out on Drone Records which was OK but other than that I can easily leave them alone. Sveen follow. Sveen being the recording project of EE Tapes operators Sven & Eriek. Sveen offer us a sonambulistic track of crashing waves and violins. Like listening to Radio 3. Beautiful stuff that draws you right in before BLAM and A:M:K enter with a loud offering of turntablism.
Grace follow with his own brand of audio Dada. To my knowledge this is the only release by Grace aka Mark Wharton the man behind Just Glittering, Idwal Fisher and the goalposts of Batley R.C. It has a nod of the cap towards Deepkiss 720, but it is a fascinating listen. Then follows Doc War Mirren and Hjalmer Geiger. Two projects who sound like they have just bought a Roland SH101 and are wondering how it works. This offering of non-constructual sound dates the album. Enter Turkey Makes Me Sleepy with "Syphilitic Aortic Regurgitation". Good track built of tape samples (mainly spoken word). I have a feeling that Turkey Makes Me Sleepy is a pseudonym of Anthony Washburn, the track sounds alot like The American Tract Society. They were another one of Anthony's aliases. Fine stuff and I think the word 'Turkey' is meant as 'Cold' rather than 'Thanksgiving'.
Richard Ramirez & AMDF follow with "A Guy Like You". I've never liked the work of Black Leather Jesus or followed the career of Richard, I understand he has some kind of "cult status" in the HNW world, just sounds like a barrage of cheap noise to me. The Implicit Order follow with a short ambient piece and out of place as the Post Prandials follow and for the first time I press the FFW/Next Track button on the CD Player. On to The Haters with "Clici-Clic 40". The sound of a hole puncher through a multitude of effects. Nice. Always good to get The Haters on a compilation as they have "collectors", folk who want everything that GX Juppiter has released. This is a great track and followed by Dieter Muh with "Wood Land" ( a title given by Mick McDaid, a strange pleasure park where all the rides are male erection themed, and now even funnier as I live near Dartmouth and the theme park "Woodlands")! The track is Dieter Muh still trying to find their sound. At the time we wanted to release an album called "Back Garden Birds" and were using samples of birdsong, distorted and manipulated beyond recognition. "Wood Land" features said sampling alongside guitar, percussion (Tibetan Bowl + Roto-Toms) and reversed vocals. Around the same time we recorded the track "Pensile" for the Harbinger Sound compilation LP "Stand Still Like The Hummingbird" (Harbinger 006), this has yet to see release.
The album ends with Stream Angel and some amateur psychedelics. A track I would have FFW'ed but it was the last track. Two FFW's a compilation CDr ain't bad.
The album does sound dated in parts, and in other parts is highly unlistenable. I was reminded of compilation tapes from the early / mid 1990's especially the "Elegy" & "Notre Dame" series that EE Tapes put out where you knew you were going to get some shite but the gems were worth their weight in gold.

This album is downloadable (for free) from Wholeness Recordings who have a MySpace site. I was going to put up a link but after clicking on the page and waiting for adverts to download before I could get to the beef (Legal & General have got an offer on Anthony) I gave up .. if you have better patience than I go to the site and enjoy. It has rare Dieter Muh and Grace tracks and a couple of classics by The Haters and Sveen.

Photos:
1: The Implicit Order "Live July 1999".
2: "Squeezing Being Issue 2" Sleeve.
3: The Implicit Order.
4: Sveen. (Sven at the forefront & Eriek on the far right. Picture taken in London 1999).

Schuster #2

I have been pleasantly listening (over the past few weeks) to the latest release by Australian based artist Schuster. "Blac Flies Resplendent On The Blak Moon". It has been released as an ultra limited cassette (in an attractive tin case) by the German Licht Und Stahl label, and in fairly limited CDr form on Schusters' own Adeptsound imprint. Digipack sleeve, postcard and probably badge will come in the jiffy if you order direct! I got a promo copy a few weeks back.
Over the past year or so Schuster has been releasing material as if he was some member of an "end of days" cult, with limited CDr's and compilation appearances and all pretty damn good stuff. "Blac Flies" ( as shortened title, I have no idea what the full title means.....) is Schuster's strongest release this century. Certainly his most personal.
The CDr plays as one long track (with 11 parts), whereas the cassette has gaps between tracks, that is the only difference in sound. The cassette is not an alternative mix, just a massive carrot to us ass like collectors.
"Blac Flies" opens with "Bellerophon", the slayer of monsters. The sound creates a mystical feel and sounds like something that should be running over the opening credits to a sci-fi movie. Cinema sound / mystical drones, a great opening and we are left with the sound of a trapped fly in a gass-jar. "Sulk" follows. A strange track with Schuster vocals. Words from a suicide note over reversed loops...very down and depressing and the feel of melancholia continues throughout the next two tracks. "Stubborn" is a high energy heavily rhythmic piece that comes in out of the shadows. There is a track called "Flag" on the first ever Schuster release: "Assumption" (Silencer Tapes 1986. Cat No: Silcass 01) and "Stubborn" takes me back to that track. "Stubborn just to silence her" - a great lyric. Schuster mailed me the rhythm track last year to work with in the hope we'd use it for an I.B.F. (Ideas Beyond Filth) track (after the success of the Harbinger Sound released 12"EP there was talk of a new LP for Hanson Records) but I used it for a Dieter Muh live performance, and Schuster has included his interpretation on the album. The track comes out of nowhere and would have been a great ending to side one of the tape, except we have "Submerge (Drawing Down The Moon)", and back to the meloncholic sound. The sound of a hibernating beast in the sewers.
Side two (of the cassette, or track 7 on the CDr) carries on the melancholia with "Blakk Bile" and a sound of dark ambience and static / radio interference that isn't too far from Lustmord's "To Arecibo" album. Schizophrenic chaos ensues with ""The Last Breath Of The Matriarch", an angry poema of high quality, chaos continues through "Material Fire" which sounds like mass sample of old 1980's Schuster recordings thrown onto the fire before everything calms into "Giving"... the jewel of the album. Crystal clear recording of sensibility over the sound of insect rain. I can say no more, you have to hear this track!
Certainly Schuster's best album since "Assumption". Lustmord, Nurse With Wound, Wolfgang Press, Portion Control, Mark Stewart....it is all in there and like I mentioned at the start - a very personal album.
For the releases in 2011 this one will become essential.

Pictures:
1: Schuster cassette on Licht Und Stahl.
2: The digipack resplendent on my turntable.
3: Schuster postcard.
4: Schuster postcard reverse.

AAVE Festival live visuals trailer 2011

The Grey Wolves

Just found a couple of pictures of The Grey Wolves live in Manchester, 2004. Dieter Muh were support. Pictures were taken by Gary Warmington.

Flutwacht

Just been spending a pleasant while listening to Flutwacht (translates to Flood Watch in English). I have been listening to / collect the works of Flutwacht for about a year and a half now, and March saw the release of his album "Nebel" on German label Licht Und Stahl. It was the excellent CD "Mit Nichts" on Licht Und Stahl that first "got me into" Flutwacht.
In 2009 I picked up a copy of the 7" single "Fiebertentakel" on Tourette Tapes (TT#6) from Nuit Et Broulliard. Originally released in 2007 this single has quickly become an all time favourite. Two untitled pieces of art crafted noise. Side One is a symphony of distorted guitar chords slowly grinding out a mesmeric plate of noise (think Glenn Branca) whereas Side Two is the more comforting sound of analog sequencer patterns. A cracking 7" and a must buy!
"Nebel" is an ultra limited cassette release. 20 copies in a metal tin. Mario Lohr (of Licht Und Stahl) has released two albums on the same day - both limited to 20 copies and both packaged in small metal tins. Schusters' "Blac Flies Resplendent On The Blak Moon" and "Nebel" by Flutwacht. Essential collectors items both. For both releases it is a shame they are so ultrally limited as they both deserve a larger ear. (I do know that Schuster is releasing "Blac Flies" on CDr format through Adeptsound later this month).
Flutwacht is working in a similar area to what I am at the moment. Maybe over the last few months his output has "influenced" me somewhat, in a same way that Aaron Dilloway & Neil Campbell have over the past couple of years. "Nebel" is the sound of decay, industrial decay looped into chaos. Starting with simple sound source the tracks (there are 11 of them on this 70 minute cassette) build into an amazing journey that I love to hook onto and take the ride. There are parts which take me back to hearing S.P.K.'s "Leichenschrei" LP for the first time. "Nebel" is instantly likable.

The Flutwacht release list is impressive,especially as it is the work of one man (Daniel Simon) and he also has side projects such as Fieberflug, Shadow Theatre, Amputation Desire and Flesh Crawler. Fieberflug (translates to Fly Fever in English) have also released on Licht Und Stahl.

Visit and purchase from; lichtundstahl.blogspot.com or www.flutwacht.de

Pictures:
1: Photo from Mario Lohr that came with "Nebel".
2: "Fiebertentakel" 7" Cover. (Tourette Tapes) 2007.
3: "Nebel" tin. (Licht Und Stahl) 2011.
4: Daniel Simon Live.