Notes From The Popside #3

Ahhh, the pre-season friendly, the only chance for us folk that live in the ville of a lowly team get to see  a Premiership / Championship team. Since I have been down here in the South-West Torquay United have played host to such greats as Leicester City, Leeds United, Stoke City and even the mighty Nottingham Forest. 2013 saw the visit of Yeovil Town. Formerly and quite recently a team of amateurs from the Conference, but now they punch their weight and play with the "big boys" in the Championship.... Football is a funny game.
It was a balmy summer night and ideal weather to watch a football match (anything has to be better than the awful women's euro football on the BBC). Torquay charged £1 for kids and £10 for adults. Bargain. The football played was above standard, Torquay United raised their game, last time I saw them was last November with a different manager and a different squad, they lost 4-1 to Southend United, they were awful, but now they seem to have mastered the one touch and give game. It was more "to the feet" rather than "hoof and hope". Yeovil Town were slightly played off the park. I know it was a pre-season friendly but I just could not see Yeovil Town doing well against the Championship big boys such as Nottingham Forest, Leeds United, Reading, QPR etc .. they were too reliable on the long ball game. They have a Peter Crouch like striker in Michael Ngoo, but no wing play to get the ball across. Right back Luke Ayling did try, and Yeovil did hit the woodwork a couple of times in the first half, but the defence were all over the place, their captain and central defender Byron Webster seemed like a startled rabbit caught in the headlights! Stand out for Torquay United was the winger Niall Thompson, not afraid to run at defenders or get the ball in the box. Good to see.
The final score. Torquay United 2 - Yeovil Town 0, for Torquay it was a deserved win. Oscar (the family's football expert) loved it. On this display The Gulls are automatic promotion candidates and probably will be playing Yeovil Town in Division 1 in the 2014/15 season.

"C'mon ye Gulls"!

Pictures.
1: Oscar Cammack studying the team sheet.
2: Torquay United "Warm Up".
3: Yeovil Town put a free kick in the box.
4: A Torquay United corner.

The Graying Lord (Radio Active)

Was browsing the internet the other day and came across a review of the Epicurean Escapism Festival that took place last month in Berlin. Problem being the review was written in German, so I got in touch with Stefan Hanser (The curator of the event) and asked what the review said. Stefan said that the guy liked the dense and intense wall of sound I created, but didn't like my stage antics! Stefan also mentioned that the review did not "google translate" very well as the guy / reviewer wrote in a surreal style. Ahhh, Google Translate - I didn't think of that ... so here is the review courtesy of Google Translate.

After a short break we continued with DIETER toil, which - as it is now dealing here with a one-man project, you can probably remain in good conscience in the singular - to me up to this point only by name a - fairly fuzzy - term was. And I must confess that even now the following appearance rather insignificant motivated me to look me in the future closer with the project. Well, the proffered Drone Noise-dark-ambient-mix was quite intense, full of the sound, and it piled up decent sound walls before and around the listener on, still the matter of my taste was a little shapeless, and the convenient watch sitting on the stage at his desk, graying Lord in turning knobs, the fascination factor increased only marginally. - Long story short: I can very well imagine that like white to tie in the domestic environment, this unfortunately managed to live less well. Is not excluded, however, that to me has simply been a lack of one's own ignorance DIETER familiarity with the work of toil in the way.

I am graying lord in turning knobs .. I like it, a term i shall happily carry with me. For the German review go to www.nonpop.de and search for Epicurean Escapism. The CD/DVD release is gathering positive reviews too.

At the same time as browsing I was uploading the MuhMur SoundArt Radio Broadcasts that happened in May, these are files that my new apple computer said were corrupted ... but it seems that it was just playing games with me. 

Please go for a listen to:

www.mixcloud.com/muhsteve/muhmur-soundart-broadcast-02052013/

www.mixcloud.com/muhsteve/muhmur-soundart-radio-broadcast-16052013/

www.mixcloud.com/muhsteve/last-of-the-may-programmes/

Thank You.

Varropas

I have been listening to some great new releases over the last few days (great band), the new CDr from Aqua Dentata, the forthcoming LP on Harbinger Sound by Small Cruel Party, the latest tape release from Colin Potter on The Tapeworm label and Varropas. All 4 releases have a similar vibe and fit in to the category: What I want to listen to ... now!
Varropas is the Suomi duo Jusso Paaro and Samuli Kyto and apart from a handful of appearances on compilation projects this is their first "full" release. (Please note that I could be completely wrong here). I first heard Varropas on the Hyster Tapes 2010 compilation "Second One" where they filled side two of the cassette with the 28 and a half minute piece "Mols Pa Drift 1978" and that piece is recalled especially on side one of this eponymous album. "Clipperty" has a slow synthesiser start, a sort of keyboards assemble themselves at dawn. Very kraut, very Terry Riley, quite Eno (but what do I know) and then it cuts to a lo-fi home recording of lowering and rising oscillations of looped percussion and a repetitive five note guitar "riff". It creates a very calm and meditative picture, very flowing and hypnotic. It is a great listen, one of those tracks where after the needle leaves the record it has to be placed at the start again.
Varropas LP reminds me a lot of the work of Neil Campbell, especially his "Sol Power" LP that came out about ten years back on the Finnish Lal Lal Lal label. (Is there a connection)?
Side 2 continues to paint the same picture. "Bogdanavin Tektologiya" is built around a three note acoustic guitar loop with a myriad of sounds and effects that shuffle, rattle & roll and loop around the pattern. Rising, falling, morphing. I can hear synthesisers, I can hear penny whistles and Fischer-Price toy glockenspiels ... it's really clever stuff that puts in me in a great mood. (Although the British weather could also be helping at the moment).
"Varropas" sees the first vinyl release from Helsinki based label Hyster Tapes, famed in the past for releasing classic albums on recycled cassettes and charging 1 euro per release. I don't know if this is a "one-off" - it is a collaboration with fellow Suomi-ites Ikuisuus - but Hyster Tapes breaking out onto vinyl can only be a good thing.
Contact Ikuisuus via www.ikuisuus.net or go to Hyster Tapes and write to plaa at www.pcuf.fi and get a copy.

MuhMur SoundArt Radio Broadcast : 11/07/2013

Ahh, beautiful Dartington in the sunshine ... the Dartington literary festival is on at the moment, taking place across the grounds of the estate - a chance to sit outside on the lawn and sip lager whilst the great and the not so great wander about ... Richard & Judy, Melvyn Bragg, Marcus Brigstock, Paddy Ashdown etc etc ... very civilised. Dave and I enjoyed a few beers before tonight's programme, out in the sunshine.
Tonight's programme opened with Small Cruel Party and side 2 of the upcoming release from Harbinger Sound. "Unroof The House Of The Fishes" (Harbinger 116). It is a re-issue of a 1993 cassette originally put out by G.R.O.S.S. of Japan. Since Harbinger Sound released the triple CD set "An Accident In Substance" I have noticed a few folk discovering the sound of Small Cruel Party and discovering the beauty and body of work. SCP kind of stopped releasing about ten years ago, so I suppose his catalogue is alien to many. Anyway - the opening half hour or so is dedicated to Small Cruel Party.
Next broadcast is on July 25 and shall feature an "exclusive" session .. details to follow...other than that, thanks to Dave for being my producer and getting the beers in and thanks for your ears....
I will put up a link for the mixcloud upload as soon as I have managed it ...

Playlist.
1 : Small Cruel Party : "Unroof The House Of The Fishes" (Harbinger Sound) 2013.
2 : Small Cruel Party : "Before The Dream" (Drone Records) 1995.
3 : Small Cruel Party : " The God Pan Like A Swarm Of Buzzing Flies Came Down:Part 5"
                                         (Flenix Records) 2000.
4 : Smell & Quim : "Peter Was A Truck Driver (Getting Wood At Gerrards Mix)" (Kay Ogden
                                  Percy Mather Recordings) 2011.
5 : Last Few Days : "Too Much Is Not Enough" (Touch) 1986.
6 : Trepaneringsritualen : "C'est Un Reve" (Malignant Records) 2013.
7 : Camp Sophisto : "Obsession" (Pure Freunde) 1982.
8 : Lemon Kittens : "The Hospital Hurts The Girl" (Illuminated Records) 1982.
9 : Phil Julian : "Hive Work" (Sheepscar Light Industrial) 2013.
10 : Kogumaza : "Rowan Maeve" (Lancashire & Somerset Records) 2010.
11 : Five Or Six : "Polar Exposure" (Cherry Red Records) 1982.
12 : John Foxx : "Burning Car" (Metal Beat/Virgin Records) 1980.
13 : Throbbing Gristle : "Five Knuckle Shuffle" (Sordide Sentimental) 1979.
14 : Aaron Dilloway : "Face Mask" (Turgid Animal Records) 2009.
15 : The Door And The Window : "Part Time Punks" (NB Records) 1980.
16 : Bruce McClure : "Vouchsafe Me More Soundpicture (Fain Makes Glories)" (Olde English
                                      Spelling Bee Records) 2009.
17 : Organum : "Shin-En" (Aeroplane/Robot Records) 1995.

            ***** www.mixcloud.com/muhsteve/july-11-muhmur-radio-broadcast/ *****

Picture:
Me with my Bruce McClure LP.

Gerechtigkeits Liga

I have spent a pleasant while listening to the latest release from Gerechtigkeits Liga. "Dystopia - Ritus - Atlantis" a double cassette on the Berlin based Aufnahme + Wiedergabe label. Deluxely packaged in a VHS video box with badges and postcard.....
The first cassette (side A) is a re-issue of the 2011 vinyl LP "Dystopia", originally put out on Gerechtigkeits Liga's own imprint Zyklus Records. It does seem a little strange to re-release the LP on cassette and limited to only 100 copies when the LP is still readily available but when listening to the cassettes in one straight listening / sitting, to hear the world / vision of GL, then OK ... it (probably) makes sense.
"Dystopia" is quite a "difficult" listen. It took me a few plays to appreciate the sound, perhaps because I was expecting a sound / approach more in the vain of the great "The Games Must Go On" or "Hypnotischer Existenzialsmus". Great electronic pulses with rolling rhythms and great sampling. "Dystopia" has a more martial feel, even neo-folkesque with vocal treatments and heavy percussion. The tape opens with "Justice" - the end justifies the means cries Till Bruggermann with a sound not too far away from a Death In June LP. Tracks like "Dynamometer" and "Dystopian Dream" also carry this sound. The instrumental "Clockwork" has a post-apocalyptic soundscape and "End Of Time" reminds me of late 1980's Laibach with its heavy orchestral strings marching percussion and growling voice telling me "We Are In The End Of Time". "Dystopia" also has a couple of fillers ... little 2 / 3 minute tracks, of which "Slash" with its PIL bass/rhythm sample verges on the unlistenable. On the LP I can just lift the needle. Percussion and Zurna (an Eastern wind instrument) is provided by John Murphy.
Side B of the cassette is "Ritus".
"Ritus" literally translates as Ritual and what we have here is 40 minutes of a live recording that has taken place in a Berlin basement. The line up here is the "new" Gerechtigkeits Liga line up of Till Bruggermann and Ragnar. The sound is familiar. It is the sound of blown horns, of plastic & metal tubes. Struck metal, dirt kicked over metal plates that are contact mic'ed to the full. Synth pulses and frequencies. A ritual piece. What is most important here is the "ambiance" the sound of the space being used. Like I said, the sound is familiar ... from 23 Skidoo and their "Culling Is Coming" to Psychic TV and their "Themes" and Metgumbnerbone and their "Legaliahorn" to more recent releases by Michael Muennich, Zev Died Orchestra and the stunning Poena tape on Belaten. "Ritus" is a masterpiece. Fully engrossing from the first moment. 40 minutes is a long time, but time flies when I play this entering a new space / dimension ... mind wanders and dreams. Beautiful.
Cassette two is the album "Atlantis". Two tracks (thirty five minute instrumentals) over two sides. "Atlantis" is nothing like "Dystopia" or "Ritus"in sound. Dense psychedelic walls of noise, hypnotic electronic layers built to sound like a audio dream-machine. Of all the material present "Atlantis" is more like the Gerechtigkeits Liga of old ... Dark, existential, menacing, brooding, thoughtful and mesmeric. Back in September last year Ragnar mailed me a promo copy of the piece "Hagstice" for playtime on my radio programme, it is great to see it finally released. "Atlantis" brought to mind Origami Galaktika, Manipura and Troum.

This release is available direct from the label : www.aufnahmeundwiedergabe.bandcamp.com

Pictures.
1: The Box.
2: Gerechtigkeits Liga live.

The Fall To Fordamning

I have spent the most of June reading a couple of tomes. One good, one bad. Well ... "Renegade:The Lives And Tales Of Mark E. Smith" by Austin Collings is not a bad book per se it is just not the book it says it is on the cover.
I already have a couple of books on The Fall. "The Fallen" by Dave Simpson and "The Fall" by Mick Middles & Mark E. Smith and they are good reads but this book is simply boring. I did read the bulk of the book whilst waiting for trains and planes in London (leave the capital) so it was more out of necessity than "I can't put this book down". (If you know what I mean)? I found the book for a couple of quid in Torquay Oxfam, bargain. The front of the book screams; "A Riot" (Independent On Sunday), "Hilarious" (Scotland On Sunday) and the classic "May be the funniest music book ever written" (Observer). OK, I'm ready for a roller coaster ride of joyous bon mots and merriment. I am afraid to say it never happens. Mark E. Smith just proves to be a cantankerous old curmudgeon with tales of petty rivalries and a distaste for his admirers. There are no tales of hilarity, the jokes (of a practical nature) seem cruel - happy memories leave a bitter taste...I suppose. I like The Fall, I have a few of their releases, I have Fall "stories"myself but I am one of those folk that Mark doesn't like - I like the old Fall, the Fall of Riley, Burns and Brahmah. I have not read such a bad book since Hugh Cornwall's "A Multitude Of Sins".
Once, whilst out drinking, Steve Underwood of Harbinger Sound Records told me that the day punk rock died was the day Marc Riley left The Fall or the day he realised that The Boomtown Rats weren't the real deal....he forgets. Steve is interviewed in the Swedish fanzine "Fordamning #2". Quite an exclusive! I remember a Freak Animal edition from around 1998/99 that had a few column inches on Harbinger Sound but never a five page spread. Again, there's a touch of curmudgeon about in the interview, but a fascinating insight in to the workings of Harbinger Sound (which is not a noise label by the way) and Steve's dislike of the Internet. The next time I meet the fella I'm going to ask him about his days as a TV stuntman ... that was new to me!
The fanzine also has an interview/overview of Ideal Fire Company and Pedestrian Deposit as well as a slew of reviews. It is a good read.

"Fordamning #2" is available through various outlets in the UK - Peripheral Records, Unrest & Cold Spring (no doubt) and Freak Animal in Finland....maybe Belaten in Sweden (?) - I should have researched...I know. "Renegade" is available in selected charity shops throughout the UK, if you pay over a pound you've paid too much.

Phil Julian #3

Just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest release from Phil Julian. "York 17/08/2012" has just been released by Authorised Version, a new label to me. The concept of the release is Phil's experiments with York University's EMS VCS3 synthesisers. Voltage Controlled Studio Synthesisers built in the late 1960's. Ancient beasts. Phil has been working with these machines for a while now, earlier this year he performed live in Stockholm using EMS synthesisers.
The cassette is a C40. Side one is comprised of short experimental pieces, discovering the machine, testing the textures and boundaries. Free-Form electronics. There are some great sounds, real low frequency oscillations and some great sequential loops that immediately lock in to the brain and get the body rockin'. There are the obligatory trumping in the bath sounds and helicopters at sunrise (we've all done it) but these are short sharp almost workshop type pieces. Free jazz episodes in the realm of avant garde electronics.
Side two is built of longer, more constructed pieces - perhaps a live performance? Opening with a low warm drone that has to be played extremely loud through speakers (no headphones allowed). The second piece has a harsher start before drifting off and heading towards the floorspace. The tape ends on a short rapid intense pulse. Good stuff..
Packaged with a deluxe sleeve and great artwork the cassette also comes with a free download code. (You can have mine for a pint)! www.cmx.org - £6 a copy.