Steve McCaffery ‎– "Wot We Wukkers Want/ One Step To The Next" (Underwhich Audiographic Series ‎– No. 2) 1979

Steve translates the basic principles of Marxism into the dialect of the west riding of South Yorkshire, from whence he came originally.
I would love to have seen the reaction of the kind of Yorkshireman he's parodying in "Wot We Wukkers Want" when confronted by his standard Abstract Sound Poetry. Performing this stuff in one of those northern workers club,he would have been lucky to escape with his life. Rather like the Sex Pistols playing in those redneck towns on that ill-fated US Tour.
Of course most of Urban Yorkshire used to be reliable socialists,so the translation of Das Kapital wouldn't have been too controversial.It could in fact be seen as a comedy turn. Yorksire was also, strangely enough,the motherland of Industrial music, with Cabaret Voltaire,and Clock DVA in Sheffield, and Throbbing Gristle coming from Hull. The 'Holy City' of Leeds was a Goth Hotspot with The Sisters Of Mercy and The March Violets, not to mention commie agit-poppers Gang Of Four.
But, despite the general population of 'Gods Own Country', as they call it, having the reputation of racially intolerant simple folk, it was a hotbed of left-field creativity,where men first wore make-up to go out;this included the Steel-workers too.
Of course, all this has gone now, including the Steelworks, and is a microcosm of little-englander Brexit and Tory voting nationalists. They could do with listening to "Wot We Wukkers Want", because I don't think they know anymore!


Tracklist:

Wot We Wukkers Want
A1 Wot We Wukkers Want
A2 Midnight Peace
A3 A Hundred And One Zero S One Ng

One Step To The Next
B1 One Step To The Next
Performer
B2 Emes
DOWNLOAD whenever you workers want HERE!

I'm So Hollow - "Demos and Live Rarities (1978-80)" (a Die or DIY? Compilation)

Joy Division is a hard act to follow,
So i'll stay in their era with 'I'm So Hollow. 

The tenuous link connecting these two acts to segue from Joy Division to Sheffield's 'I'm So Hollow', is that they both played the Futurama Festival in Leeds; albeit 'I'm So Hollow did Futurama 2 and JD did the first one.
However, apart from the PiL and Joy Division recordings from Futurama 1, the only other I have is one track from I'm So Hollow's set at Futurama 2 in 1980.

Having already featured their lone album "Emotion/Sound/Motion" HERE!...and their Peel Session HERE!......naturally it's time to put all their errant rare Demo's and Live appearances together in one of Die or DIY?'s crypto-compilations.

Love this group, everything about them actually.Music aside(previously described by your scribe as 'Wobbly Sci-Fi Rock'), i admire the way they stopped as soon as they had achieved their ambitions,and never did anything ever again.In fact they split up before the album was released.If only a lot more bands did that? 

Tracklist:

01.Number One (Demo 6/10/1979)
02.I'm So Hollow (Demo 6/10/1979)
03.Fashion (Demo 6/10/1979)
04.I Don't Know (Demo 6/10/1979)
05.Touch (Demo 6/10/1979)
06.Which Way (Demo 6/10/1979)
07.I'm So Hollow#2 (Demo 6/10/1979)
08.Days (Live Weston Park Festival 05/08/1979)
09.Mistake (Live Weston Park Festival 05/08/1979)
10.Dreams to fill the Vacuum (Live Weston Park Festival 05/08/1979)
11.I Don't Know (Live Weston Park Festival 05/08/1979)
12.Monotony (Live Weston Park Festival 05/08/1979)
13.Mistake (Live at the Blitz 11/03/1980)
14.Unknown 1 (Live Now Society,Sheffield 02/10/1978)
15.Unknown 2 (Live Now Society,Sheffield 02/10/1978)
16.Monotony (Live Now Society,Sheffield 02/10/1978)
17.Touch (Leeds Futurama 2 Festival 13/09/1980)

DOWNLOAD to fill the vacuum HERE!

Various Artists - "Bouquet Of Steel" (Aardvark ‎– STEAL 2) 1980

The infamous compilation from the Sheffield area of Great Britain,released during Sheffields golden era as a leading light in forward looking pop forms.The city was primarily known for its massive steelworks,and giving the world Stainless Steel; but, as has happened in pop music, cheap,lower quality imports,destroyed what made this place special. As the Bessemer Converters are turned into shopping malls,and the steel mills are converted into Loft apartments for the new elite,let us not forget that this is the place that invented Industrial Music.Its only a matter of time before there's an Industrial music museum and theme park financed by taxing the poor and selling them scratchcards at the Job centre.
When this compilation was made,times were hard,but they look positively rosey compared to today,where the population seem to be on the drug of consumerism that helps them readily accept their slavery. Even Thatcher never made noises such as that made recently by Eton cum dump, Dave Cameron:
" For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'?????
Then this mealy mouthed secret government puppet,is presenting legislation to cut off the funding of the opposition,and further crack down on workers rights,and opt out of the European Human Rights charter; tantamount to an Enabling Act for the 21st century?!(Cunt)

Back to the music, and here we have a menu littered with the lesser lights of the steel city,and its grim satellite towns,and the odd higher profile group, Comsat Angels, Artery,and I'm So Hollow. 
(If you're interested you can get all the first 3 Comsat angels Peel Sessions here).
Its all fairly accessible light post punk/proto indie pop,but good fairly accessible light post punk/proto indie pop. One of the better provincial compilations from the early eighties.


Tracklisting:

A1 Artery - The Slide

A2 B Troop - Peroxide Romance

A3 Comsat Angels- The Ju Ju Money
A4 Disease - Psychobin

A5 Flying Alphonso Brothers - Video Date
A6 I'm So Hollow - Touch

A7 Musical Janeens (And Other Party Games) - Glen Miller
B1 Negatives - Was It The Night?

B2 Repulsive Alien - Say And Do
B3 Scarborough Antelopes - Here We Go In Indigo

B4 Shy Tots - Robot Maid
B5 Veiled Threat - Torch

B6 Vendino Pact - Secret Thinking
B7 De Tian - Chorale

B8 Y? - End Of Act One

DOWNLOAD a bouquet of almost stainless steel HERE!

The Future - "The Golden half-Hour Of The Future (The 1977 Demo's)" (A Die Or DIY? Bootleg) 1977/2015

As we are on a brief Clock DVA/Sheffield trip,I thought I'd make an abridged version of the Human League/Future compilation,which inexplicably mixed up all the tracks into a non-sequential soup.
Of course Adi Newton was a founder member of The Future,which sprouted Clock DVA and The Human League.Kind of a London SS of Industrial Electronica I suppose?(discuss)
You can get the untampered version in FLAC here)

Tracklist:

1- Looking For The Black haired Girls
2- Blank Clocks
3- Cairo
4- Dada Dada Duchamp Vortex
5- Daz
6- Future religion
7- Pulse Lovers

DOWNLOAD the future from the past in the present HERE!

Also,as a Bonus,and so I can hide them from search engines,we have two boots of Sheffield scene Elvis's, the Cabs.
I got DCMA complaints for these from someone(twat!),but feel free to download them complete with my 'excellent' artwork, by the links below:
"Beat Rail(1976)"
"Chance vrs Causality(complete version)"
"Live at the Final Academy"

Enjoy.

Clock DVA ‎– "The Sex Beyond Entanglement" (DVAtion) 1978

Staying in Sheffield,and also following on from the "1980:The First Fifteen Minutes" ep, we are naturally led to Clock DVA, who released loads of obscure tapes around 1978/9 on Newton's own DVAtion label. This being the best of the ones I've heard. DVA in its best Cabaret Voltaire style Old Skool Industrial mode. I used to think that Clock DVA were shit from 'Thirst' onwards, and that this was their best stuff by miles;but I played 'Thirst' today, and thought it was fantatstic! Even those mid-atlantic movie trailer vocals didn't get on my nerves......I must have mellowed in my middle ageness!?(How depressing!)
I dare not play 'Advantage' for the fear that I may love that as well!?
This cassette is great chaotic, stream of consciousness, abstract underwater pop music for Wannabe outsiders.
I just love how this sounds; after listening to millions of hours of recorded music over the last 40 years,my lifeforce has decided that this muffled garbled racket is in fact, "Perfection"?

Tracklist:

A1 Sonambulist
A2 The Female Mirror
A3 Now Haag 

A4 Edge
A5 1958
A6 Constructivists
A7 Sexual Overture
B1
Genitals And Genosis (The Texture Of Two Tape Recordings)
B2 The Pop Hell
B3 Otto M.

DOWNLOAD this post coital depression HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "1980: The First Fifteen Minutes" (Neutron Records ‎– NT 003) 1979

The first fifteen minutes of 1980 from.....er......1979?.....is a mini compilation of four Sheffield bands from that city's golden period, on Vice Versa's own Neutron Records.
Naturally it features Vice Versa, with their classic minimal electronica,along with Clock DVA in early (ie Good) mode, the fantastic I'm So Hollow, and the very shit Stunt Kites.
Worth it for the I'm So Hollow track alone,even though it was also featured on "Hicks From The Sticks"; this band,for me, represents the perfect pop group formula,intelligent and memorable tunes with an experimental edge;a total lack of ambition,and split up before they even released their debut LP. Leave 'em wanting more,as the old showbiz rule states so wisely. I want more, but there ain't gonna be any more;and that's fine by me.

Tracklist:

A1 Clock DVA - Brigade
A2 Stunt Kites - Beautiful People
B1 Vice Versa - Genetic WarFare
B2 I'm So Hollow - I Don't Know

DOWNLOAD the last fifteen minutes of 1979 HERE!

Vice Versa - "Music 4" (Neutron Records PX1092) 1979 + "Stilyagi" (Backstreet Backlash Records BBR003) 1980

Vice Versa's vinyl career stretched to two 7 inchers, the minimal synth classic "Music 4" EP, and the hard industrial disco stomper "Stilyagi/Eyes of Christ" single.(Different versions to those found on the "8 Aspects Of..." tape.)
No sign that they were to become New Pop darlings of the charts and the Music press, ABC,of "Lexicon Of Love" fame. I suppose they had to earn a living?

Tracklist:

1	New Girls Neutrons
2	Science Fact
3	Riot Squad
4	Camille

5	Stilyagi
6	Eyes Of Christ

DOWNLOAD the vinyl outings or Vice Versa HERE!

Vice Versa ‎– "8 Aspects Of...." (Self Released Cassette) 1980

In 1978 the NME described Sheffield's Vice Versa as"...a bizarro trio who show occasional flashes of promise, but whose pretentiousness becomes quite tiresome" ;so one simply had to investigate further.
A very, very, minimal electronic group, not too dissimilar to Clock DVA's more accessible moments,and very typical of the Sheffield scene of the time,as a nursery of the  Industrial/electronic template.
Yes, they went on to become chart act ABC, one of the more intelligent chart acts of the early eighties.
But,don't expect any catchy singalong hits on this cassette though.Its pretty hard electronic Industrial disco,and very....er....minimal.

DOWNLOAD vice versa as easily as ABC HERE!

Richard H. Kirk - "Vietsong" (unofficial release) 1976(?)

We have James T. Kirk, Jesus H. Christ, and of course, Richard H. Kirk. Is he(RHK) a combination of these two world icons, or are they the result of Richard H being beamed up and split into representations of good and evil; James T. Kirk being the good one of course!

Frankly this dilemma is beyond my frail intellect to decipher,so we'll stick to the music not the man,or men.

“Vietsong parts one and two” are very early solo outings for the bloke who played that echoey guitar in Cabaret Voltaire. Allegedly recorded in 1976 ,it sounds like.....er.......Cabaret Voltaire? Lots of swirly synthesiser kit noises,short wave radio dialogue cut-ups,and plenty of WatkinsCopycat echo* set to maximum feedback.

Very rare,and provided for your predilection by the remarkable Shivadescending. We thank you.

*The cheap British version of the Echoplex tape echo and precursor to the Roland Space echo.

Track Listing:

1. Vietsong part one

2. Vietsong part two

DOWNLOAD these melodic gooks HERE!

I'm So Hollow ‎– "Emotion / Sound / Motion" (Illuminated Records ‎– JAMS 5) 1981, "Dreams To Fill The Vacuum" single and the Peel session 1980

Not many nearly famous pop groups follow the DIY principle of stopping once you've achieved your goals; even if the spectre of moderate sucess is luring your soul onto the rocks. The very Great I'm So Hollow, from Sheffield, did this as soon as they recorded their debut LP; stopping even before it was released. This, I say, is very admirable indeed. They first appeared on the superb DIY compilation LP's "Hicks from the Sticks", and Sheffield comp "Bouquet of Steel" in 1980, winning them a chance to record a Peel Session (included in the download); and as alternative chart popularity beckoned appeared at the legendary Futurama Festival with the likes of PiL and Joy Division, made an album and split up....for good. What they have left is a legacy of superbly wobbly urban sci-fi rock, that stands up with the best from an era full of wobbly sci-fi rock. I loved it then and its even better now; especially with the knowledge that they didn't do it to become famous.Especially great was the debut single, "Dreams to fill the Vacuum", pressed on lovely fuzzy sounding clear vinyl,and the lovely Jane Wilson was on synthesizer too! Post punk puritans. 

Track Listing:  

1- "Emotion/Sound/Motion" 
 A1 Entrance 
 A2 Which Way..? 
 A3 Unbroken Line 
 A4 Touch 
 A5 Collisions 
 B1 Excitement = Change 
 B2 The Triangular Hour 
 B3 Emotion / Sound / Motion 
 B4 Nosferatu 
 B5 Distraction

DOWNLOAD the opposite of a bowel motion HERE! 

2- Peel session, 1980 a- Fashion b- Monotony c-Which Way? d- Dreams to fill the Vacuum 

DOWNLOAD a very a-peeling session HERE! 

3- "Dreams To Fill The Vacuum" (Hollogram Records 7" ,1980) 

a- "Dreams to fill the Vacuum) 
b- "Distraction  

DOWNLOAD some dreams to fill 7 inches of the vacuum HERE!

Cabaret Voltaire - "Live YMCA 27-10-79" (Rough Trade 1979)

It was in the interests of the larger labels to make their product look like a bootleg,and/or a DIY release. The cheapness of the artwork and price,(i think it was £2:49), attracted this fifteen year old with three quid in his pocket to buy said product. It was my first introduction to the dark world of Cabaret Voltaire and Industrial musick. And what a bargain! This was the "Faust Tapes" of the post punk era, eye-opening.
Dark,murky,and lo-fi, this was not gonna trouble the uk top 30,but undoubtedly sold well in excess of 20,000 copies....which these days would make it a number one LP.
Cope describes the sounds contained within these grooves perfectly below:
"Live at the YMCA is intense, in a way only really rivaled by Bob Dylan's live '66 bootleg and the 30 Minutes Over Brussels EP by Suicide. Although the audience is more appreciative here than on either of those, there is a sense of menace and bile that few artists have ever looked to release as a live album. And to end the album on the experimental noise-fest that is "Baader Meinhof", a tribute to or comment on the German terrorists from the 70s, took some guts, in my book.

So, whilst not confrontational -the at first quite quiet (disconcerted, maybe?) audience seems to quickly succumb to the dark charms of Cabaret Voltaire- Live at the YMCA is dark and aggressive, uncompromising and sullen like the artists themselves were. It wasn't put out to please or get you head-banging (hence the sound quality), but rather hit its audience in the gut and demonstrate the full, snarling fury of an average Cabs gig. These aren't showmen, they're fiercely anti-rock, anti-frills. But it is powerful, pulsating with suppressed energy and hidden menace. And, it is also one of the very few live albums to document the post punk period and the omnipresent anti-rock, anti-showbiz, pro-experimentation mentality that was streaking across Britain at the time. Seeing as PiL, Joy Division and Throbbing Gristle all missed the boat when it came to live albums (PiL's post-everyone except Lydon one was a disaster)#, thank some fictional God that Cabaret Voltaire were out there letting us know the abuse they were heaping on their audiences. Who seemed to enjoy it and I bet were actually dancing?"

#The teardrop exploder obviously forgot "Paris Au Printemps" (1980)!....it was crap anyway.Also he seems unaware that Throbbing Gristle released virtually every gig they did on cassette!(see the up and coming repost of the 24 hours of TG live box set downloads)....not such an expert on 'post punk' as he leads us to believe.....very poor Julian.

Tracklist

	Untitled	5:51
	On Every Other Street	4:16
	Nag, Nag, Nag	4:55
	The Set Up	4:13
	Expect Nothing	6:18
	Havoc	3:02
	Here She Comes Now	4:12
	No Escape	3:42
	Baader Meinhof	4:10

DOWNLOAD YMCA by the industrial village people HERE!

Cabaret Voltaire - "Western Works Demo's (1977-79)" (Bootleg cassette) 1982

You are being spoiled!
More obscure Demo's from the Industrial Music primaeval soup.
Many familiar "Hits" are here in there naked form, including a punked up "Nag Nag Nag" which races along at 120 bpm plus. This is perfect, even down to the misspelled group name on the tape spine.
(note to trainspotters: track listing differs from the insert 'cus i used the remastered versions and couldn't be arsed to resequence them)

Tracklist:

	Photophobia
	The Set Up
	Nag Nag Nag
	A Minute Is A Lifetime
	Baader-Meinhoff
	No Escape
	Kirlian Photography
	Expect Nothing
	Love In Vein
	Control Addict
	Oh Roger
	Heaven & Hell
	Hovaco

DOWNLOAD these immortal demo's HERE!

Cabaret Voltaire ‎– "The Outer Limits" (self-released demo) 1976

This is the mythical Demo Tape made by the attic dwelling Cabaret Voltaire,probably culled from hours of tapes made between 1974 and 1976. Some of these tracks found themselves on the Industrial compilation from the same epoch,but others haven't appeared anywhere before. Of course, "Is That Me" was the b-side to "Nag Nag Nag",
This is like listening through the wall from Chris Watson's neighbours house, on a traditional miserable wet and smoggy day in Sheffield, with an inverted glass,full of cotton wool. Its rare to hear something genuinely unique and innovative being born,and here we have the evidence that it actually happened,and wasn't done by aliens.

Tracklist:

A1		Capsules	7:29
A2		Is That Me (Finding Someone At The Door Again?)	4:48
A3		The Single	3:30
A4		Ooraseal	4:22
A5		Loves In Vein	4:30
A6		Dream Sequence 1	2:56
B1		Dream Sequence 2	3:42
B2		Do The Snake	5:59
B3		A Sunday Night In Biot	3:26
B4		She Loves You	8:44
B5		Stolen From Spectra	4:09
B6		Bedtime Stories	6:33

DOWNLOAD the outer limits of 1976 HERE!

Clock DVA ‎– "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (Self-released C-30) 1978

This was apparently the first Tape made by Adi Newton/Clock DVA,although never really released as such.
The music concrete/non-music, behind this rather limp looking breast clock (not at all sexist?), consists of the audio soundtrack of video nasty/schlock Horror classic,"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre",chopped up and fed back to us as an avant garde sound collage.
This is the kind of stuff one made back in the late seventies when you couldn't afford any instruments like proper Punk Rock groups,so you tried to do a W.S.Burrroughs tape experiment. I remember doing something similar with the soundtrack to "This Island Earth" which gave me many a self-indulgent thrill, and thats where it should stay. Maybe why this was a private release only.
Having said that, there is a strange quality about a disembodied audio track removed from its normal environment, and forced to stand on its own; independent of the images that give it some sense.
I've spent many sad hours listening to the audio track of "Plan Nine from Outer Space" and the Star Trek episode with the space hippies in it; "The Way to Eden".
 (ps, if anyone’s interested I have all the Songs from that episode digitally remastered and ready to share? Click HERE to own them,do you reach me Herbert?).

Spock jams with a soapy hippie playing a bicycle wheel!?

Adam whips out his electric...er....Sword!?

And it really is a kind of cheap avant garde experience that is quite transcendental,almost drug like:
(pps, "Faster Pussycat Kill Kill!" is pretty good too!)

"Pass me the Night Nurse Susan!"

Track Listing:

1. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (30:51)

DOWNLOAD this audio nasty HERE!

Clock DVA -"Group Fragments" (Self Release C-30) 1979

es

Adi Newton, the bloke who was in the proto-Human League, whose pretentiousness forced him to leave to make council house John Cage references,and allude to intellectualism through such sub-neo-classical phrases as "Prepared Piano". Too clever for me is this bloke.
However;.......this includes the ,excellent, avant electro-pop tune "You're Without Sound" (the correctly spelled version), which was one of the many highlights on the legendary "Hicks from the Sticks" compilation from 1980.
As it says on the cover, this was recorded at "western Works" ,the recording facility of his Industrial buddies, Cabaret Voltaire. A bit of name dropping does wonders to your personal legend.
Nevertheless, a very interesting tape,streaks ahead of the Clock's post 1980 works, and trés obscure (thats french y'know).

Tracklist

A1		No 2
A2		Cage
A3		You're Without Sound
A4		Le Viol
A5		Formlessness
A6		Prepared Piano

DOWNLOAD these fragments of a better past HERE!