Emaciator

Had a couple of Emaciator tapes arrive today. Both from Los Angeles; packaged in one of those beautiful camel brown / golden sandy brown envelopes that the Americans have been posting lovely cassettes to me for years. Los Angeles to Torquay.
I was spurred on (intrigued) by a review of the Emaciator "Possessive" C30 tape on Hanson that appeared on the Dead Formats blogspot that I tried to find out more. First port of call is always Discogs (forget MySpace and Wikipedia) and there I saw a fine catalogue and tapes for sale. I went for the "Possessive" tape and "Merit"; a C15 tape released by New York based label Arbor back in 2007. The guy in L.A. was selling for mere pence at today's exchange rate. UK folk take note.
If I had not of read the Dead Formats review and just seen a tape on a table at a gig or in a shop like Second Layer I probably would not have given the name the time of day, it has that cheap U.S. noise type of sound to it, but I am always willing to learn. Emaciator is the project of Jonathan Borges, an American musician of many varied instruments and styles. Discogs lists a slew of projects he is or has been involved in but I put my hands up when I say I've heard of none of them. His description of Emaciator is Scum + Prog Rock!
"Merit" is a C15. Seven-A-Side. I love C15's. I used to buy them all the time in the 1980's. 1985, when I lived in Sheffield, there was a computer shop that opened selling Sinclair CX's and C15's. I bought by the bulk. Ideal for doing samples. The first release by The Streetcleaner on Carnifex Recordings was a C15. "Merit" is a C15 and therefore took priority. The sound of Emaciator has totally thrown me. Not What I Expected (great Crispy Ambulance song) at all. Side A: "Rue, For Widow" is multi-layered guitar chords through a variety of effects. I hear violins, I hear heavy keyboards, I hear voices crying in the aural fog all hidden in the curtain of guitar noise. For seven minutes I was taken in and lost. Great stuff (play loud). Side B: "Resilient Shadow" is a continuous Harmonia drone. Like the first second of a track by Nico or (what came in to my head) Ivor Cutler. Lovely. The playing took me back to when I first heard Boyd Rice and/or Lustmord and immediately I got into the layers of sound and the noises that were there swirling around and hiding within. A very personal sound as the person sat next you may or may not be hearing the same thing.
I've yet to play "Possessive", but I'm going to try and hunt down more Emaciator. Vinyl would be nice.

Pictures.
1: "Merit" Cassette Sleeve.
2: Jonathan Borges Live.

K A L I G L I M M E R: Bacterium băk-tîr'ē-əm - Experimental, dark ambien...

K A L I G L I M M E R: Bacterium băk-tîr'ē-əm - Experimental, dark ambien...: "Reviewed by Batcheeba".

Burial Hex #3

Just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest 7" offering from Burial Hex. "The Tower" on the Swedish label Release The Bats. (Probably one of the worst named labels in operation at the moment). Limited to 100 copies, so act fast if you want a copy. Side A is a dark swirling electronic ritual. Very claustrophobic, very subterranean. Playing at 33rpm and stretching to seven or eight minutes, this cauldron of dark matter is created, visualised and experienced. This is "Ritual Music". Flip the disc, expecting more of the same (and by no stretch of the imagination would I be disappointed if there wasn't some continuing sound) and I am met with the sound of drum machine and a jazz style bass-line. The "Gothic" electronic swirl is still present, along with primal synth sound, but there's this jazz rock "freestyle" bass line - fingers exploring the fret board - and then there's a Wishbone Ash style guitar riff buried in the mix...This track - the B-Side is the title track took me by surprise and I love it. Continuous plays. Beautiful. In the ever growing saga of discovering Burial Hex this is a pivotal release...I shall carry on my search. I declare Clay Ruby a genius!

7" available from Release The Bats (www.releasethebats.com) : But hurry.

Picture:
1: Burial Hex 7".

Spamalot

I have been living down here on The English Riviera now for a little over 8 years and I must admit I have only been to see staged plays at the local theatre three times. Well twice really because I went to see the same play twice! (The excellent "The Play What I Wrote").
Torquay doesn't really stage cutting edge theatre or get the stuff that I would pay money to go and see. "Spamalot" like "The Play What I Wrote" are rarities. Not surprising though as all the times I have been to see plays there the theatre has been only a third full whereas for the stand-up comedian Dara O'Brien ( whom I saw at the same theatre 4 nights earlier) was a sell-out. A shame, but what audience is there in an out of season decaying seaside town like Torquay? I would love to go the theatre more often but the Princess seems only to have stand-up comedians (Julian Clary, Mark Watson and the bloody awful Stephen K. Amos are all due over the next few weeks) and stuff like "Peppa Pig" or "Blood Brothers" or "Buddy" as stock and trade. I was quite tempted by last years pantomime as it starred Britt Ekland and to see an original cast member of "The Wicker Man" in the flesh would have amused me, but Tamsin took Oscar instead.
It may come as a surprise to some when I tell you that I am no stranger to treading the boards. Roar of the greasepaint, smell of the crowd and all that. I do have a B TEC ND in performing arts. My Erpingham in Joe Orton's "Erpingham Camp" had the audience in stitches I tell you, whilst my portrayal of Matthew Hopkins for a TIE production around the primary schools of North Yorkshire in "Vinegar Tom" had children crying! (I played him as an Irishman...I can't "do" Vincent Price).
So you see...I like the theatre.

Torquay Princess Theatre opened in 1961 with a gig by Tommy Cooper and Morecombe & Wise (oh to have been there that evening). It's a modern building with a policy that lets you take your pint in to the stalls to drink and watch...unlike Babbacombe Theatre (where I saw Tim Vine earlier in the year) which doesn't have a bar. (Visitors beware)! Sam Miguel on draft is £3.50 and a small bag o' nuts'll set you back a pound.
"Spamalot" appealed as I am an admirer of Monty Python, it is a programme I watched religiously in my youth along with the spin-offs "Fawlty Towers" (I know, set in Torquay) and "Rutland Weekend Television". "Spamalot" is basically the play of the film "Monty Python & The Holy Grail"..which is one of my favourite films. Not the funniest film yet made, I think that honour goes to "Blazing Saddles", but it is certainly up there. Top 10. For our tour we got James Gaddas as King Arthur (he was also the star of "The Play What I Wrote"...strange), a lass from "Emmerdale" as the lady in the lake and Todd Carty as Patsy...the Terry Gilliam role in the film.
Ever since I started "going to the theatre" back in the 1990's ( for my B TEC ND) it became an in-joke that at least one member of the cast would have appeared in "The Bill"...not really a competition with Todd Carty (former star of "The Bill").
The play is superb - funny...laugh out loud funny, the cast were very energetic in all song and dance routines, despite the very poor audience numbers, and if it comes to a theatre near you I recommend you go and see it, unless you don't like "Monty Python", then it is pretty pointless.

Afterwards (great song by Artery) at the bar I managed a quick chat and photo op. with the great & (must be said) humble Todd. Nice man.

Pictures:
1: Torquay Princess Theatre.
2: Flyer.
3: £34.00 Ticket!
4: The Merch' makes it back to Hartop Towers drinky shelf.
5: Todd and I at the bar.

The Digitariat

There is certainly something to be said for time and place, or finding a sound to suit the surroundings. The Digitariat's album "Morgan Stanley Overdrive" on Luggage Records (Lug014) was something that arrived early summer (with some other fine Luggage Records stuff). I put it in the disc player and gave it a minute or two before filing it away in the box of CD's marked "A-N". (Yes I have a big box marked "A-N").

Now I have a new job. A new post within the hospital. I have my own room, a room where I am master of my surround. Good stuff. I have taken down all the previous owners collection of paper cuttings from the tabloids and dusted down the shelving and disposed of the crappy little radio that could only receive PALM FM and replaced it with a seriously loud portable CD/Cassette player. I work in the bowels of the hospital dealing with pathological samples, and strange substances...nobody likes to come near where I work because of the odour, which to me smells like over boiled magic mushrooms. A fine repellent.
So now I can take stuff to work and listen to it. The pile is ever growing (not a bad thing) and seeing that there's a Hunting Lodge triple album box set and a Pyramids five cassette box set thingy loitering in there, having the extra time now at work to play stuff is crucial. A few days ago I received the Dachise 7" "Sugar Path" on Tochnit Aleph...yet to spin, but I remember it from the time I shared a house with Mick McDaid and really liked it, then I met Paul D. (Dachise + The Digitariat protagonist last but one weekend ago) and I thought I would give The Digitariat album another go....so I took it work.

The Digitariat "Morgan Stanley Overdrive". 2010, Luggage Records. (Lug014). Completely black CDr, black is beautiful. I had to google who or what Morgan Stanley is. Turns out to be a global finance company. Hence the opening title "Credit & Debt". An opening salvo, a short sharp introduction. "Intimacy Problems" is the main piece of the album. Hard to describe. Chip & Pin (?). Electronic mischief, abstract composition. Noises, electronic noises gurgle, whistle and wheeze sometimes fart their way in and out of a tonal blanket...a monotone Casio note is ever present but hiding in there. This could be the work of a Scandinavian student of Stockhausen, some high art construct. To me (as I sat attentive listening whilst messing with tubs of Formalin) it was ideal, an ideal sound to work to. Prurients' "Cocaine Death" (the previous play) was too "angry".
I'm looking forward to hearing more The Digitariat, although I shall tread carefully as I remember the 2001 CDEP "I Created Over One Million New Jobs" on The Locus Of Assemblage being a poor slab of gabba junk.
Visit www.luggagerecords.co.uk there may be copies still available.

Picture.
1: Sleeve of The Digitariat CDr "Morgan Stanley Overdrive".

Secondhand Record Shops #7 : Soho & Notting Hill Gate, London

It always seems to be the rule of thumb that when I am going to London I will be meeting a friend in a pub in Soho...or Covent Garden. No complaints as this always means a trip to the shops on Berwick Street. Berwick Street runs off Oxford Street (use the Tottenham Court Road Tube Station) and takes you deep into Soho...with its tacky sex shops, peep shows and prostitutes. "Sotosland" as we call it. Berwick Street houses three fine record shops and if walking from Oxford Street the first one you'll find (on the left) is Sister Ray. To be fair Sister Ray also sells new stuff as well, well mainly new stuff but it has a secondhand vinyl section. If this shop was in Nottingham it would be called Selectadisc. I have never bought from this shop but it is a fine place to browse for half an hour or so. Virtually next door is Reckless Records. Reckless Records used to be in Islington thirty years back and was a fine place for a bargain but now it is situated in the centre of town it has become a little pricey. I have paid £18 for a copy of Die Form "Photogrammes" LP here (with 7")! But, it'll probably have what you're looking for. If you are shopping for secondhand vinyl in London be prepared to pay its' worth and be even more prepared to pay above and beyond its' worth. No 7" singles on display here, you'll have to ask a counter assistant who can be surly at times. "Can I have a look at your seven inches"? (Always a favourite question of mine...as a teenager I loved going into record shops and asking if they had any Vibrators). Adopt bored tone "Yeah, what you looking for"? Now there's a question. "I don't know, but when I see it...I'll buy it...let's start in 1977 shall we"? Carrying on walking and you will find (on the right) Music & Video Exchange, formerly Record & Tape Exchange and to me shall always be Record & Tape Exchange. Again you will probably find what you are looking for in one of these shops.. I usually always buy something here. Friendly staff and open at 11am on a Sunday. Excellent shop. This visit (last Sunday at 11am) I found a copy of the first Splintered 7" "Nothing" for a fiver. I left a happy man.

Living in the South West of the UK the train (I don't drive) into London lands at Paddington. 20 minutes walk from Paddington is Notting Hill Gate. Notting Hill Gate is also 5-10 minutes on the central line tube from Tottenham Court Road Station. Notting Hill Gate is home to the finest Music & Video Exchange shop. In fact there are 5 Music & Video Exchange shops in Notting Hill gate. There's the book shop, the retro clothing shop, the classical music shop and the jazz/dance/hip-hop/techno techno techno notice shop - all of which I've never been in (apart from the book shop). The cream is the "Rock" shop. I have been visiting this shop for over thirty years and I have never left empty handed. I remember going into this shop and finding Ted Milton "Confessions Of An Aeroplane Farter" 12" with sick bag for a pound and a mint copy of the Liebstandarte SSMB LP with insert for 50 pence. That was back in the day though and now you pay its' worth. One good thing about Music & Video shops is that if the piece of vinyl is collecting a shelf life they do knock The price down a quid or two. Earlier in the year I bought an Eddie & Sunshine LP for £9 when it was originally £11. Small things make the mind think it has found a bargain. Huge selection of vinyl on the ground floor, upstairs the massive selection of 7" vinyl, and rare LP's. "It's Onomatopoeia"LP hung on the wall for £18 for years upstairs...gone now, wish I'd bought it! This time flicking through the "post-punk" 7" section I found a copy of "Nothing" by Rene Halkett & David Jay (1981, 4AD Records). £7. Been after this beauty for 27 years. The cry of "Got It" resounded across the top floor. In the basement is the bargain section. Poor quality vinyl for a pound type thing. Again, a good browse, nearly bought a John Foxx shaped picture disc 12" single, wish I had now...probably be there next visit though.

Pictures:
1: Sister Ray, Berwick Street.
2: Reckless Records, Berwick Street.
3: Music & Video Exchange, Berwick Street.
4: Music & Video Exchange, Notting Hill Gate.

ILL FM

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