Lemon Kittens - "Live 1980/81) (a Die Or DIY? product) 1980/81

A prolonged absence may have been noted by your faithful scribe,but i have been an unwilling victim of a Co-Vid variant!Despite having been vaccinated thrice, It fucked me over.and I was visited by the ghost of Christmas Future during my virus ravaged stupor.I was even planning how to keep the blog running after my imminent death!?

I's Still a bit fucked up,but managed to think of something to write about.....The Lemon Kittens of course?...i really don't know what i have been doing in the preceding weeks,but i'm already forgetting that terrifying dying feeling.Shit man, i was panicking about my estate rather more than yer actual fear of death. Soooooooo......!?

In the lengthening history of 'Out There' during the Rock'n'Roll era, there has been, actually, a gaping dearth  of genuinely fucking weird groups this side of the grand canyon of 'Out'. You've either got it or you ain't,and 99% of 'Weird' just ain't is it? There's trying (embarrassingly Hard) to be weird,Volcano The Bear (one lp on that NWW bloke's label!?) spring to mind, and there's just plain old. Weird. 

Early Residents were effortlessly weird until they discovered computers. Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica is the epitome of Weird ,but he couldn't repeat it!....nah....'Decals' is 'trying' not 'being',like all his post bat chain puller stuff, pretentious, like his shite Art works;but hey we all need to make a living don't we? We also have 'Ill' weird, like Jandek, Daniel Johnston,and anything Outsider. You have to be Normal (conforming to general standards of 'Normal) to qualify as achieving 'Weird' status...like Moondog?

There are plenty of early industrial acts who sound weird,but are far toooo normal to fool me....like the bloke from Nurse With Wound*...but his public schooled mate David Tibet knew he was far too fucking normal, and spent his career languishing in,slash exploiting,the truly weird,and wonderful ocean of Dark Folk...now that certainly IS weird shit brother,but we is talking the world of 'pop' here,and Lemon Kittens qualify as being within the 'pop' format, like Don Van Vliet before them, even though they were regularly featured on 'Industrial' compilations.

"We Buy A hammer For Daddy" (also on that NWW bloke label!?) is easily the equal of "Trout Mask Replica" on the pantheon of Weird,with a better follow up to boot.

I won't bust a blood vessel listing albums I reckon are effortlessly weird,but that list would be a slim volume indeed,dangerously treading on pamphlet territory.

Yup, The Lemon Kittens were effortlessly so.

So,in the light of a lack of new material,here's a quickly cobbled together volume of very rare recordings of Dax and Blake supporting This Heat at the ICA....the bootlegger obviously arrived late and missed most of the Lemon Kittens set...twat....and another one supporting ...erm...Modern English!?...dunno what their fans thought of of it all?

That first Modern English LP was rather good I remember?....certainly Not weird,but classic British pop music;just like Lemon Kittens were classic British Weird.

It's a fascinating subject is Weird innit?

Asking what is the Weirdest Album of all time is akin to asking what is the worst album of all time. Mostly, the same record tops both charts, and maybe even tops the Best Album Charts too.....this has happened to "Trout Mask Replica".Alas "We Buy A Hammer" is far too obscure to feature in any chart,even the Obscure Chart....and dare I say, far too Weird?

*once upon a time, That Nurse With Wound bloke,was selling his first LP to the record shops in Camden,when he approached the infamous Ted Carroll of 'Rock On'.Ted asked what kind of music it was.

"Sort of 'Weird'said MWW bloke.

"Nah!" said Ted, that ain't weird....This is WEIRD!"..and proceeded to play The Human League's, "Being Boiled",newly released on Fast Product.

Y'know what I agree with Ted.

Tracklist: 

1.Intro (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

2.Up In Arms (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

3.Popsykle (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

4.Morbotalk (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

5.Small Mercies (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

6.Bookburner (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

7.Funky 7 (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

8.(unknown) (end cut) (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

9.Afraid Of Being Bled By Leeches (ICA London 27-12-1980)

10. PVS (ICA London 27-12-1980)

11. This Kind Of Dying (ICA London 27-12-1980)

DOWNLOAD this kind of trying HERE!

Various Artists - "The Wonderful World Of Glass(volume One)" (Glass Records ‎– GLASS 010) 1981

The primary reason for including a Glass records compilation on this site,is the inclusion of another lost Lemon Kittens track. The less strange,but beaty, “What the Cat Brought In”; not for completists only.

What else is on this then, you ask.......or ,more likely, probably not?

Nuneaton's Eyeless In Gaza soundalikes,Bron Area are on here, and even the two halves of yer actual, Nuneaton's own, Eyeless In Gaza dip into their vast reservoir of tracks for us.

Shit, I didn't see the Legendary Pink Dots! I usually slag these geezers off, but I'm fucked off writing about a band I don't particularly like. I hear nothing here to change my entrenched position.

Great tracks by, it's the Nuneaton connection again, Kevin Harrison. Not from Nuneaton are Schleimer K, Joy Div copyist lightweights English Subtitles, and probably many more?

I suppose we may get some sulking Nirvana bores salivating over the Marine Girls track, as Cobain expressed a liking for the twee indie act before blowing his brains out. Sad.....no not the suicide.....the Nirvana nerds!

Tracklist:

A1 Schleimer K - She's Gone

A2 Bron Area - You Would Be Amazed

A3 Ciaran Harte - Johnny Doesn't Need Much

A4 Legendary Pink Dots - The Defeated

A5 Marine Girls - Flying Over Russia

A6 Peter Becker - During Half Sleep

A7 Kevin Harrison - Blinded By Hypnotism

A8 Lemon Kittens - What The Cat Brought In

B1 Where's Lisse? - Red Light

B2 Tonix - The Sex Junk

B3 English Subtitles - Water

B4 Martyn Bates - Nascent Fragrance Of Skin

B5 3 Way Dance - Praise The Flames

B6 No More - Hypnotised

B7 Clinical Noise - Venus Comes

B8 Religious Overdose - Blow The Back Off It

B9 Richard Formby - Your Name You're Strange

DOWNLOAD into your own wonderful world HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Hoisting The Black Flag" (United Dairies ‎– UD 06) 1980

Here we go,- a United Dairies compilation!

And what's this, an exclusive but errant Lemon Kittens track?

The ironically titled “Funky 7”,is dance music for quadriplegic psychopaths of all creeds and colours. Personally, I find backwards avant-drone dislocated sound collage very funky. I know i'm white, and “ain't got da funk”, but I’d take to an empty dance-floor if this played at my local Discothèque. If it ain't four to the floor, the average Caucasian can't even attempt the hokey-cokey without several homemade E's stuffed down his or her neck. So please,please,leave black peoples music for black people to make,and the 'whites' to make insane shit like this masterpiece.

Still on the subject of ,(cough), 'Dancing'. I drift back to my adolescence,when many a Punk Rock concert witnessed no dancing at all, and in some cases,like Joy Division, no movement at all. This seemed like a desirable natural state for oneself. Then, slowly, idiots like the fucking Specials started beckoning these same lost youths to get up and Dance???? And they DID!!? The enforced jollity of Ska music is the opposite to the voluntary doom of the music on this beyond fine compilation. This stuff is about finding out where your meat comes from, rather than partying back at the abattoir.

The Dance Music theme returns with tracks by David Cross (was he not in King Crimson mark II?), and Paul Hamilton & Joseph Duarte(aka  the Bombay Ducks), which repeats the disjointed collage feel of the Lemon kittens track.

Whitehouse remove us further from the party atmosphere, with two trademark recreations of an electronic Danté's inferno. It's a Hell preferable to one we're living in now,and I wager that dancing's banned; punishable by being sent straight to Heaven(that has to be the name of one of those 'super-clubs on that hive-minded, voluntary Guantanamo shit-hole, Ibiza!).

Naturally, Nurse With Wound make an appearance with a totally de-konstructed version of hill-billy square dance classic, “Duelling Banjo's”. I suspect, that it just shares the same title as the aforementioned red-neck banjo-off?Wishful thinking hopes it's a cover version that has totally removed all the bluegrass, and replaced it with a dead barren wasteland, adorned by a Black Flag hoisted in place of that KKK flag;or whatever they call that swastika alike confederate rag (Seig Howdy!). A desirable future for the Tea Party Taliban's Fatherland I’m sure we'd all agree? If you don't, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING READING THIS BLOG?

Tracklist:

A1	–Lemon Kittens	Funky 7
A2	–Truth Club	To The Nile Sisters
A3	–Nurse With Wound	Duelling Banjos
A4	–Mental Aardvarks	Bogart Was Three Lemons
B1	–David Cross	Early Dance Music
B2	–Bombay Ducks	Dance Music
B3	–Whitehouse	Her Entry
B4	–Whitehouse	Foreplay
B5	–Mental Aardvarks	What Have You Done (Pieces Of Meat)?

download THE BLACK FLAG here!

Karl Blake ‎– "Paper-Thin Religion (Solo Archives 1977-1981)" -(Pro-Evil Pro-Devil ‎– USEO 131-02CD) 1991

Here's the second volume of Karl Blake's home recorded doodlings. The leftovers from Prehensile Tales,but still a fine overview of Blakes twisted version of dream-logic songcraft.
Very DIY Avant Rock,and includes another welcome inclusion of the "BBC Sounds Effect Volume Two" LP, that everyone in DIY land has used on some occasion.(see Fifty Shilling Gun). The David Lynch of home recording.

Notes

Tracks 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15 & 16 recorded and produced between 1977 and 1979 at Kidmore End Rd, Reading, Berkshire, on Akai 4000 DS [sound on sound].
Track 6 was recorded 1980/81 at Gatestone Rd., Gypsy Hill, London (also on Akai 4000 DS).
Track 22 was recorded in a 16 track in Denmark St., London, November, 1981.
Tracks 1, 5, 8, 10, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 & 23 were recorded on a Teac 4 track in Stanmore Rd., Richmond, Surrey and at Tanglewood, Welwyn, Herts in 1981.
David Mellor mastered and, where necessary, 'stereofied' the various tracks.
Digital remastering and added 'oomph' by Denis Blackham at Porky's Mastering, December, 1990.
Sleeve illustration - Danielle Dax, 1983.

Tracklist:

1	Me - In A Single Skull	1:55
2	Lullaby Of Knives	1:06
3	Weatherman	1:53
4	Sweeper Of Leaves	3:30
5	Lamentation Blues	3:44
6	Fifty Shilling Gun	1:25
7	This Intimacy	4:03
8	Church Of Latter-Day Taint	4:08
9	Dreams Of Sweet Rain	1:34
10	Drogulus	1:47
11	The Sky Is False	4:07
12	Like Flies To Wanton Boys	3:18
13	Rosette	0:43
14	Saul	3:53
15	The White Worm	4:24
16	As Electric Poison	3:20
17	Slugabed	3:42
18	Characteristics Of A Rainy Day	3:26
19	The Malfunction House	2:03
20	Private Reserved Prohibited Locked	2:36
21	Green Fuse	3:55
22	Negative Essay	3:50
23	Life In Despair And Afterwards	5:49

DOWNLOADable religion HERE!
or
DOWNLOADable mediafire religion HERE!

Karl Blake - "The Prehensile Tales" (Normal Records NOR131) 1983

This album collects all the odds and sods from Karl's(Lemon Kittens) Bedroom floor in the years 1977-1981. Its all brilliantly disturbed, falling apart music of the highest sub-standards that we adore here at Die or DIY?.

Guitar strings are clawed at and recorded well into the red zone, drums are made to resemble the sound of a dustbin of empty tin-cans being unloaded into a skip, and the singer (Blake) sounds like he was captured as a field recording in the padded cell of a secure mental facility.

I personally think this is better than any of the Lemon Kittens albums,only rivalled by the "Spoonfed and Writhing" ep.

A truly unhinged miesterwerk, from one of the genuine 'weird' guys, and a lesson in the deconstruction of song.

Track Listing:

		DOG Side
A1		Baby's In Grey
A2		Switchback
A3		Whistle And Weep
A4		Blast The Human Flower
		TAIL Side
B1		The Waiting List
B2		No Limits
B3		People With No Shoulders
B4		Dreams Of The Lichen Tester
B5		A Misogyny Of Song
B6		Love So Much Like Violent Death

Download Prehensile Tales here!
or
A prehensile download from mediafire HERE!

Lemon Kittens - "The Big Dentist" (Illuminated Records JAMS 131 ) 1982

'Those that bite the Hand that feeds them sooner or later must meet.....THE BIG DENTIST'; to give it its full title,- is pop music filtered through an aural equivalent of a funny fairground mirror in a shadow earth from the 9th dimension.Yes, this is experimental rock's version of String Theory; but I understand string theory more than this.The Lemon Kittens are beyond rational thought,and exist in a parallel reality to utter shite like U2 and Kasabian. They drag you into places you don't wanna go, screaming and kicking;then like the reason Hell cannot exist,you get used to it,and then get to enjoy it.Unfortunately though,The Big Dentist only lasts 39 minutes and not Eternity. (Click the sample below)

TRACK LIST:

1. They Are Both Dirty (11:19)
2. The Hospital Hurts The Girl (4:30)
3. Mylmus (4:09)
4. No Night Not Shared (4:55)
5. Oath (4:08)
6. The Log And The Pin (4:00)
7. Nudies (3:17)
8. An Untimely End (2:11)

Download The upgraded Big Dentist HERE!

Lemon Kittens - "We Buy A Hammer For Daddy" (United Dairies UD-02) 1980

Now just a duo, of Danielle Dax and Karl Blake, they produced one of the most startlingly original lp's of the DIY era.Sort of John cage meets the Krankies on bad LSD. The obvious lack of musical technique is more than made up for by that long forgotten ingredient, ideas and originality.
(sample track below)

Tracks:

1. Pain Topics (4:24)
2. Reversal 2 (2:34)
3. These Men of Old England (2:25)
4. Wrist Job / Once Green and Pleasant Land (2:45)
5. Lycanthrothene (3:06)
6. Motet (3:10)
7. Throat Violence (2:28)
8. False Alarm (Malicious) (1:58)
9. P.V.S (1:55) MP3 sample
10. Small Mercies (2:03)
11. Coasters (3:48)
12. Up In Arms (2:34)
13. The American Cousin (1:50)
14. Evidence (2:25)
15. Rome Burning (1:31)
16. (Afraid of Being) Bled by Leeches (2:14)

Download a Hammer For Daddy HERE!

Lemon Kittens ‎– "Cake Beast" (United Dairies ‎– UD 07) 1980

There are few musics that sound like they were made in a mental asylum. Mostly we only hear music that sends you to a secure unit, like Dire Straits,or Beyonce.
The Lemon Kittens are the sound of padded cells.An electroencephalogram made aural of a troubled mind. 
They inhabit a world where playing 'in time' is strictly for 'Normals',and melodies make adults scream for their mothers and children weep for joy.
The music is a feral mix of every bizarre pop and channelled experimental impulse the pair could manifest; bursting forth with all the skewed syncopation  of breaking glass. Somehow pulled through a distorted wormhole from a parallel, inverted existence, into the UK DIY scene. Poof!
So throw on that Electro-convulsive therapy kit you were saving for special occasions , set it to max, and dance to Cake Beast!

Track Listing:

A Kites
A2 Only a Rose.
B1 Popsykle

DOWNLOAD this beast of Cake HERE!

Lemon Kittens - "Spoonfed and Writhing" (Step Forward SF10) 1979

The Lemon Kittens come from a stranger place than most normal DIYer's, from the crustier edge of the pie, but none the less,part of the same pie. The link between the TV Personalities and Throbbing Gristle.
This is the first release from Karl Blake and Danielle Dax, and it is suitably nuts. Great off kilter pop tunes with the logic of dreams, sounds like a karaoke night in a lunatic asylum.(Mp3 sample below)

A1		Shakin All Over	3:30
A2		This Kind Of Dying	4:55
A3		Morbotalk	1:55
A4		Bookburner	1:55
B1		Whom Do I Have To Ask	2:35
B2		Chalet D'Amour	3:20
B3		Not A Mirror	2:30

With no “proper” musical skills upon their formation in Reading, England, the Lemon Kittens epitomized the “anything goes” spirit of late-’70s post-punk in the U.K. Karl Blake, who cut his teeth in numerous outfits prior to the Lemon Kittens, started the band with Gary Thatcher and a revolving cast of others (which at one point included future Alternative TV leader Mark Perry), but at the time of the release of their first EP in 1979, the seven-song ‘Spoonfed + Writhing’ 7″, the group’s lineup featured Blake, Thatcher, N. Mercer, Mylmus, and Danielle Dax.

The group was whittled down to a duo of Blake and Dax by February of 1980; the other three members had fled, making for the group’s 16th different lineup change since initialization in April 1978. Blake and Dax then decided to operate primarily as a duo, with help coming from whoever whenever they needed the assistance to perform.

DOWNLOAD  some spoonfed writhing brilliance HERE!

The Reflections - "4 Countries" (Cherry Red CHERRY33) 1981

Another peerless Mark Perry related release, this time accompanied by Nag(The Door and the Window), Karl Blake (Lemon Kittens),as well as Dennis Burns(The Good missionaries),and Paul Platypus(Doof).
Not quite up to the standard of The Reflections LP, "Slugs and Toads", but still high on quality anti-rock non-musicianship of the highest standard.
Of note,it is nice to see uber-weirdo Karl Blake try his considerable skills in crafting an alternative dimension pop tune with the genius's of the genre/non-genre, nag and Perry.

Track Listing:

A		4 Countries
B		The Coroner And The Inquest

Download Four Countries HERE!

The Reflections - " Slugs and Toads " (Cherry Red BRED 22) 1981

Anyone remember Blind Faith? Well this is the DIY equivalent, the nearest DIY land ever got to a super group.Dennis Burns and Mark Perry from ATV or The Good Missionaries,Karl Blake from The Lemon Kittens,and The legend that is Nag,from The Door and the Window. If that wasn't enough,the sleeve was designed by Danielle Dax!
The music ,bizarrely enough sounds like that of all the aforementioned bands,but....erm ...different. There's a hint of the pop song about it,and in this case its a good thing, 'cus it works.A great album indeed,even the cover version of Rocky Erickson's "Interpreter" is great, aided greatly by the dulcet tones of Mark Perry.An overlooked classic of the genre methinks.(click on the mp3 sample of tightrope walker for a taster)

A1		Tightrope Walker
A2		Zigzagging
A3		Keep It Easy
A4		Toy Dog Ripped By Cat
A5		Demon Of My Desires
A6		The Human Touch
B1		The Interpreter
B2		Oh Baby, Look Out ( It`s The New Dance)
B3		I Had Love In My Hands
B4		Clamming Up
B5		Nag Takes A Ride
B6		The Parting

Mark Perry, Nag, Dennis Burns, Karl Blake, Grant Showbiz,
Justin, Michele Bonett, Vicki Bonett, Steve Tannet
Recorded at Street Level and Denmark Street Sudios May/June/July 1981

Download Slugs and Toads HERE!

Various Artists – " Snatch Tapes 2 " (Snatch Tapes ) 1980

A rather special tape here.Snatch 2, featuring ,among others, Graham from Danny and The dressmakers, as The Beach Surgeon, and the usual Snatch suspects, The Alien Brains (the New Blockaders), David Jackman, and The Storm Bugs. There’s an appearance by the Sea Of Wires, with their incorrectly named “2 T’s and a Funny Hat”, which is called an ‘Endless Rainy Day’ on their excellent cassette “Individually Screened”. Spools full of claustrophobic DIY electronica, that sounds like it was recorded under a duvet after midnight, absolutely fantastic.
As with Snatch 1 the tape lists the names of the artists but not the track titles (?). Further details were included on a small booklet sent out with the tape. The Beach Surgeons feature Graham Massey (Danny and the Dressmakers) who went on to fame and (perhaps) fortune as part of 808 State, here he delivers a very humorous soliloquy on the merits of collecting girl’s nail clippings. Vote Police are of course our good friends Storm Bugs.
I’ve tried my best to split it up into tracks, but it is really in the form of a mix-tape, so I’ve supplied two downloads, one split up, and the other as it was originally intended.

Track Listing:
Side A
Orchestral Introduction
Beach Surgeons:
Mannequin Moves:
Vote Police – Our Main Objective:
Orchestral Interlude
Mountain Stream
2 T’s and a Funny hat

Side BDavid Jackman – Untitled
Scratch Dub: Beach Surgeons, John Cage, Scratch Orchestra with rhythm & loops by David Jackman, Philip Sanderson and Storm Bugs
Lemon Kittens:
Storm Bugs – Thin Line Flash of Traffic
David Jackman – Pulses
Cultural Amnesia Dub:
Garden Dwarves Dub

DOWNLOAD some snatch 2 HERE!