The Folding Staircase – "Gogmagog" (Phlenge Guppy Rec – 04) 1985

The Rude Man of Cerne is the owner of that erect penis cheekily displayed to gain attention on this  obscure west country UK electronic underground drone epic from 1985, by, I guess, The Folding Staircase? I always though the artist was called Gogmagog,but turns out it's The Folding Staircase? 

XTC used similar chalk carving imagery for their "English Settlement" LP, they being from the West Country as well,and it appeared before Gogmagog did,1985....who copied who(?) is another question the experts can't disagree on, but as I'm an expert too,and an XTC fan, i'm declaring "English Settlement" the winner.......better record too,yet the Uffington White Horse loses out to The Cerne Giant as the more eye-catching chalk carving thingamajig .

The Rude Man,as the local oiks call it,or, less naughtily,the Cerne Giant, is carved into the chalk hillsides of Dorset,and no-one knows when it was actually made.The experts have now narrowed it down to between 700AD and somewhere during the 10th century. 

Before he took up making repetitive electronic drone music, Gogmagog ,was a legendary Giant who roamed the hillsides and the byways of southwestern Britain, no doubt causing no end of trouble. There was no Police Force back then of course, so these types of chaps could do what the fuck they wanted.....up until they were about thirty five naturally,because life spans were not too generous back in the dark ages.

Well this ain't no XTC album, but it has its place,droning away in the background as you do something else, maybe that Fondue Soirée you always wanted to do.Then the guests start asking if you'd turn it off and put some XTC on. My favored miesterwerk from the lads from Swindon,is always on the bottom of any XTC fans list,...it's "Go2" for me i'm afraid....not always popular in the johnny-come-lately section of the XTC fanclub. They all go for that shit Todd Rundgren atrocity one instead...."skylarking"...ugh!...Andy agrees with me.

They need to listen to side A and B of The Folding Staircase's "Gogmagog" they do.

DOWNLOAD something rude....as long as you're over 18....HERE!

Various Artists– "U.K Electronics Vol. 3" (Mindscan Tapes C-46) 1990

I don't remember seeing any DJ's spinning the double reels of a cassette at an underground rave ....in fact I don't recall anything for that matter.

Volume Three of the "UK Electronics" series on Mindscan Tapes offers plenty for the chilling area,as well as something of the Industrial electronica variety for snobby arseholes like me.

'Cock' makes another appearance,as cocks tends to do on such occasions.

The tape opens with a homage to Eno and Byrne, as Satori Sound System plagiarizes "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts".

Dreamcore give us some Ambient House,with some rather silly stock broker belt rapping,which needs editing out somewhat urgently.

I could go through all the tracks like a 1960's record reviewer,but that ain't my stylee innit? Its worth downloading, that's all I is saying man. Obviously there are some shit bitz, but thats compilations for y'all.

Tracklisting:

A1 Satori Sound System – Mali Rain 7:08
A2 Dreamcore – Desire 4:01
A3 Dreamcore – Deep In U 5:40
A4 factor X– I Love You 8:07
A5 Cock– Cheeky 3:02
B1 Expose Your Eye – Superstringhead 4:21
B2 Negative Impact– Death T.V. 3:30
B3 Negative Impact– Surface Tension (Mix 2) 4:41
B4 Pearsongs Inc– Song For Robin (Version 2) 3:20
B5 Cock– Raddish 5:32

DOWNLOAD to check out what a rapping stockbroker might sound like HERE!

Various Artists – "U.K. Electronics Vol. 2" (Mindscan Tapes) 1990

 

Y'see, when these tapes came out I never correlated  that a couple of years earlier i would have called all this "Industrial", therefore it was cool. In 1990 i would have dismissed it as Dance Music. But as it was on cassette and not 12" vinyl pressed in a Brixton front room to fulfill the requirements of the times,this remains a proto house artifact of an era when tape hiss was becoming sadly rarer.

When John Q. Public noticed that the great unwashed were dancing like the fools they were, he wanted to drop some MDMA and drive around the M25 all night looking to Parteh. It always happens. When the kids, en masse, get wind of something a la Mode, they destroy it like a dog rips his favourite ball apart. Although I'm assuming Acid House Rave culture was actually rated as "Good" for some persons out there; as far as myself was concerned, wasn't this just Disco on different drugs?...not that the stuff on this C-46 is actually Acid House,it could be pigeon-holed in the Proto-Rave slot quite comfortably.

However,yet rather disturbingly, someone called Amoeba does a version of Tubeway Army electro-pop classic'Are Friends Electric',whilst  doing a bad impression of lisping middleweight Chris Eubank......this is certainly not Acid House and exceedingly unfunny.....I'm assuming he was actually trying to be funny? In which case I recommend fast-forwarding to track 9.

DOWNLOAD and turn your volume knob to 2 HERE!

Various Artists – "U.K. Electronics Vol 1" (Mindscan Tapes) 1988

Back in the idiot dancing heights of the 1988 Acid House luvved up nonsense,no-one listened to electronic music unless it carried a floor to the foreskin goosestepping back beat, and squelchy filter knob twiddling from products that no-one had previously wanted.

Yet deep in the fusty bedrooms,garden sheds and attics of Incel's all over the UK, festered music you couldn't dance to made by people who couldn't dance. The refinements of these DIY land Tangerine Wet Dreams, grafted onto the roots and branches of the old Industrial scene, which had since emigrated to Europe, had moved underground,communicating by cassette,avidly shunning human contact.

Yes, there's an individual on here called,proudly(?), 'Cock' (real name John Yardley Jones...which explains a lot),hinting strongly towards the involuntarily celibate nature of the UK Electronic underground noise that had begun with such labels as Integrated Circuit Records (ICR) in the earlier part of the decade.

This series of compilation tapes showcased many of these pale young men,and believe me they are ALL men....women would never make testosterone damaged noise like this,..music to take your mind off wanking by.....nothing wrong with that of course.We need situations like this frustration stifling aural bromide to make great art.Do you think Van Gogh would have painted Sun Flowers if he got laid once in a blue moon?....Nah 'course not!....same applies here.Music that doesn't quite make you wanna slice your ears off.

So,here's to involuntary celibacy, and all who sail in the poor cow.

Er....compiled by Robert Maycock....as if you had to ask!?

Tracklist:

A1	Richard Leake–	Candles & Prayers	3:11
A2	Pessary–	Untitled 15 - 17	5:29
A3	Cutter –	Echopraxia	4:23
A4	Discipline –	Nineteen	5:32
A5	Richard Leake–	Homelands	3:47
A6	Birth/Birth–	We Must Keep The Kaled Race Pure	4:17
A7	factor X–	Untitled	2:03
B1	The Headmen –	Below Ground	3:41
B2	Cock–	Thatcher (Devil Incarnate)	3:48
B3	Pessary–	Untitled 4 - 6	3:49
B4	Cock–	Fountain Of Life 1 & 2	2:47
B5	Discipline–	The First Light	4:52
B6	Discipline–	The Tensing	1:43
B7	From Nursery To Misery–	Kill Your Dancing Dreams	4:58
B8	The Headmen –	Listening Force	4:02

DOWNLOAD for those lonelier moments HERE!

Paul Kelday – "Dreamscape" (Self released C-46) 1984

This self released C-46 by late great electronic hermit Paul Kelday is called "Dreamscape",which is not a wholly unexpected  experience as it consists of two darkly ambient Dreamscapes on different halves of the width of a cassette tape.

Dunno what i've said before about Kelday's widely distributed yet totally obscure work, but there is plenty of it on here....just do a search,as i'm sure you're aware of,or click here.

There exists a photo here and there of the man himself, and on at least one of them Paul is a dead ringer for David Koresh.......I always try to get a link in for Dave from time to time. However, I would much prefer the Wacko's from Waco got down to some Paul Kelday inspired dark ambient rather than the soft rustbelt metal that Dave 'call me Jesus' Koresh prefered as his medium for spreading the gospel, never mind cajoling his harem of  Mary's to spread their legs and lose their virginity yet again, in an industrial scale bout of parthenogenesis ...usually watched proudly by the ranches' (why do they always live in Ranches?) own stable of quietly weeping cuckolded Joseph's.

Koresh

Kelday

That said, at great risk to my health....there were survivors,and they think i'm an asshole apparently.

If this was made by some long-haired West-German in 1971, it would have attained legendary status by now....still, not too late.....unless you're David Koresh

This is also available on YouTube by the way.

Tracklist:

A1 Reality Fades Away
B1 Dreamscape

DOWNLOAD without losing teeth,falling or walking in the street without any trousers on HERE!

Mark Shreeve – "No Holes Barred" (Church Road Records - MCCR6) 1986

 

From the less precious end of the recent deaths in music trophy cabinet, comes one of the more 'successful' prime movers in the UK Electronic Underground of the early eighties; as epitomised by such labels as Colin Potters Integrated Circuit Records.

Mark Shreeve left world stage around the end of August this year,but again no one told me!? He features quite extensively in these pages,mainly for his DIY cred rather than his late period plinky plonky electronic Space rock and Jean MIchel Jarre-isms.

This self-released cassette shows us Marks jauntier side,with some largely inadvisable Prog Rock humour risk of recording Farts and Belches;as Roger Waters and Ron Geesin had an annoying penchant for.

Yes, Mark had just bought an Emulator Mark 1 in 1986, and there were certainly No Holes Barred for the prog novelty title track, where Mr Shreeve's Digestive Tract gets an unwelcome credit. Yeah, we all did it as soon as we got our old skool samplers out of their box? The Burp was utilised intermediately,with that generous 0.8 seconds of sampling time at the lowest Bit-Rate ......oh how we laughed....but at least we didn't sample the Dog,as Simon Cowell did early in his career disguised as "Wonder Dog",and his 1982 hit "Ruff Mix"...geddit? 

Although Cowell had access to £20,000 quids worth of Fairlight Aampling System to totally waste.....unlike Paul Hardcastles N.N.N.N.N.Nineteen,not?

Sad to say that Shreeve's "No Holes Barred" never cracked the top ten,unlike the previously mentioned atrocities did.

Personally I had to make do with my Commodore 64,equipped with a jolly expensive Sampling module attached at the back for my first sampling experience,which was, you guessed it, sampling a Burp!

Who needed a Fairlight in 1984 when you had this?...notice how none of the kids on the cover are sampling Farts or Burps.....obviously Posh Kids.

 

This was repeated several years later with a purchase of an Ensonique Mirage.You can't beat the old ones can you?

Well, there was one more Hole for Mark to use, unbarred to everyone, and that was his Grave.In which he now rests his plinky plonky fingers,and has given us all some much deserved peace.

I do however notice, that quite a few of these tracks do seem to harbor an unhealthy obsession with,...gulp... Death, 'the proud brother' as Criswell of 'Plan Nine from Outer Space' fame used to call it....a lot.

Shreeves' early work is rather good actually,if you like Tangerine Dream that is.

Tracklist:

A1 M.A.D. 4:33
A2 Crash Head (Early Mix) 4:05
A3 High Frontier 4:52
A4 Edge Of Darkness (Early Mix) 5:35
A5 Bandit 3:38
B1 Widowmaker 3:51
B2 One Last Cold Kiss 3:52
B3 Angel Of Death (Live) 11:08
B4 No Holes Barred 1:47

DOWNLOAD through the hole of this HERE!

Paul Kelday – "One Dimensional" (UFO Mongo – UFOMONGO 007) 2006

'Big in Sweden' isn't usually a subject that is risen in many conversations,and it doesn't even really apply to Paul Kelday;but, he seems to have an audience in the land of ABBA,Ikea and Volvo's,no matter how small. There have been a couple of post disappearance compilations of Paul's work that have materialised in the Swedish part of the Scandinavian peninsula. This "One Dimensional" release being one of them,but,uniquely for Kelday,it's on vinyl,.....300 copies of it.

Most of the material has only been available on tapes before but exists here in different mixes than previously released,and a few of them are even exclusive.Whoopee-doo.

I guess Lp's are as close to one dimension as you're gonna get in music enregistration.The other side is not visible,so doesn't exist until you turn it over,and viewed edge on, its just a black line hanging in a defined space.....unless its pressed on coloured vinyl,or as some clever dicks have certainly done before, on invisible vinyl.Place the disc out of sight,and the only clue of its existence is if it's playing,emitting a collection of waves.The nature of a wave is such that it can exist in more than one place at any given time and are invisible,detected by the Brain which then creates its own music based on the waves it receives.As we are all related,we hear the same thing ,which we have lumbered with the tag of "music".Whether lizards or virus's have this ability is up for debate,but one thing is certain,Music doesn't exist without the listener,and,the mammalian brain.

They're Big in Sweden I gather.....mammalian brains?

Tracklist:

A1 One Dimensional 4:01
A2 Emerge From Nothingness 4:44
A3 Short Stay In The Garden Of Optimism 3:45
A4 Plight Of The Butterfly Of Peace In The Web Of Hatred 3:00
A5 Doomsday 3:06
A6 Comet 3:15
A7 One Dimensional (Outro) 2:02
B1 Dehumanization Process 2:59
B2 Gorgon 5:11
B3 Trance 4:02
B4 Cry For The Moon 5:05
B5 Untill The End Of Time 3:38
B6 Bonus Track 0:54

DOWNLOAD sound waves for the mammalian brain HERE!

Paul Kelday – "Odznsodz" (Börft Records – Börft057) 1992

Another Paul Kelday compilation,with a couple of tracks you may have heard before upon it's hallowed ferric oxide.  They fade in,fade out,having no beginning nor end.Quite like the endless dark abyss that surrounds us.Paul drags us gently within several parcecs  of the end of Infinity....which is a loooong way...especially near the end.You think you can see it, but then it gets further away.Always out of reach.What exists beyond the end of the multi-verse? Logic dictates that there has to be Nothing,but Nothing must also therefore be something with defined boundaries,beyond which lies something that is less than Zero,where even nothing can't exist.Beyond that is Paul Kelday? Probably not,but I had to write something,rather than 'Nothing'.Which only exists if you're looking at it,between its quotation marks,just as music only exists if you're listening to it,beyond which lies the Nub. "All of this wouldn't exist if we weren't here to see it,or in this case Listen to it."...for the brighter ones amongst you,that's called the Anthropic Principle" and a fine argument against Intelligent design. Just as the Misanthropic Principle is a fine argument against the continuation of Human 'civilisation'...again,subject to opinion and Quotation marks.One day we will all fade out,just as we faded in...like a Paul Kelday track in fact.

DOWNLOAD tracks previously released on various cassette compilations across Infinity HERE!

Paul Kelday – "Rings Of Jupiter: A Retrospective" (S.J Organisation – S.J ORG 013) 1987

That looks like a badly Xeroxed image of the Earth rather than failed sun, and essentially Ring-less. gas giant, Jupiter. Hmmm? ....No Rings!?......Unlike Uranus (Haha..I had to aqueeze it in somewhere? So to speak phnar! phnar!)

I did mention in the previous Kelday post, that he has now left the building,and had taken up residency at Sun Ra's gaff among the resplendent rings of Saturn;but it now seems maybe I was wrong?

This French compilation of Kelday's work,compiled by the man himself,is a fitting epitaph indeed.Showcasing his unassuming cosmic abstractions like a warped copy of Tangerine Dream's Alpha-Centuri as reflected in a funhouse mirror.Lovingly benefiting from a severe lack of anything digital,except for human fingers pressing keys and twisting knobs.

Tracklist:

A1 Rings Of Jupiter (from PSI 1981)
A2 New Age Mutants (unreleased 1983)
A3 Short Stay In The Garden Of Optimism (from the compilation New Babel 1983)
B1 In The Air (from Centuries 1981)
B2 Birth Of Planestesimals  (from Another Time, Another Place 1982)
B3 Technofear (from the compilation "Organic Mind Workshop" 1984)

DOWNLOAD from Uranus HERE!

Paul Kelday – "Centuries" (Music For Midgets – M.F.M.12) 1982

As one received a rare comment on a previous Paul Kelday post bemoaning the fact that as cosmic Paul's soul has now joined Sun Ra's orbiting one of the gas giants beyond the asteroid belt......no jokes about the gases of Uranus pleeze!....that most of his vast catalog of recordings will now never see the light again, or will be compacted into liquid hydrogen at Saturn's core rained on by regular showers of naturally occurring diamonds. And indeed Paul was a diamond,who spent the latter years of his life hiding away from society in general, and indeed giving up music altogether,leaving us with the disturbing suggestion that he may have binned all his tapes.

So,here's one that he didn't bin,and,more importantly, one I haven't posted before,called "Centuries",which surfaced on both Music For Midgets, and Integrated Circuit Records around the cusp of 1981/82.

Klassic Kelday,doing classic early Tangerine Dream meets the BBC Radiophonic Workshop....all captured on a Philips Ultra ferro C-60 bottom of the shelf cassette.

Tracklist:

A1 Legopolis (Nov. 81)
A2 Shadows In The Recesses Of The Subconscious (Dec. 81)
A3 Necessitarianism (Feb. 82)
A4 In The Air (Feb. 82)
B Centuries (Dec. 81)

DOWNLOAD without taking centuries HERE!

Various ‎– "Flowmotion(An Album of Contemporary Electronic Music)" (ICR ‎– ICR 003) 1982

Well, as this compilation is over 35 years old, it can no longer claim to be an album of Contemporary anything, but it does have some electronic music on it ,by some of the bigger names of the UK's electronic underground of the early eighties. And I note that none of this lot have yet to retire.
A few of these tracks one would hesitate at calling them strictly 'Electronic'.Experimental pop with incidental electronics is good enough for Eyeless In Gaza,and Those Little Aliens hark back to the time when magnetic Tape manipulation was called 'Electronic' Music.I suppose anything made with machines that one plugs into the mains is technically 'Electronic' so there you are!?

Tracklist:

A1 –Chris & Cosey-Devil God
A2 –Those Little Aliens-Ismalia
A3 –Eyeless In Gaza-Dusky Ruth
A4 –Eyeless In Gaza-Through Eastfields
A5 –David Jackman-Do The Dog
A6 –Ian Boddy-Follow
A7 –The Legendary Pink Dots-Hanging Gardens
B1 –Ian Boddy-Skylights
B2 –Paul Nagle-A Journey In The Dark
B3 –Carl Matthews-As Above, So Below
B4 –Colin Potter-Rooftops

DOWNLOAD with the flow HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "A Cage Went In Search Of A Bird (An International Compilation)" (Dark Star ‎– DS 1-2) 1985

A wide ranging compilation that included all the leading lights of the UK Electronic Underground.....aka a fancy way of saying 'Prog'......are collected on this c-90/c-60 double package.Compiled in 1985 by our chums from the Ultima Thule Record Shop in Leicester; whose own projects (Alto Stratus and Zircon etc) take up a hefty 20 minutes of tape time.....and why not?
A wide range of abstract experimentation is on display over these two and a half hours, ranging from Ambient electronics to mid range Industrial, to the madness of DDAA,categorised in the 'Other' category on iTunes.

Tracklist:
White Side
A1 –Paul Nagle-Skrying 8:45
A2 –Peter Frohmader-Pharaonische Grabkammar 9:10
A3 –Colin Potter-Potters Wheel 6:14
A4 –Region 5-In The Cage Of Crystal Moonlight 5:43
A5 –Conrad Schnitzler- 1·11·84 7:02
A6 –Adhara Alucian Landscape 6:58
Yellow Side
B1 –Ken Moore In The Field With Flowers & A Toilet 5:47
B2 –Kevin O'Neill The Claws That Catch 5:39
B3 –Peter Frohmader Sepulchral Choirs 11:28
B4 –Alto Stratus The Captive 14:56
B5 –Paul Kelday Timelord 5:06
Grey Side
C1 –Günter Schickert Powolerman/Suleika 8:53
C2 –Land Of Yrx Merman Ikon Bee 7:07
C3 –Bourbonese Qualk-Blackout 3:02
C4 –New 7th Music-Tlazolteotl 5:03
C5 –Hartmann-Forget The Past 3:08
Blue Side
D1 –R N Andrews- Humphrey's Final Words 2:06
D2 –Aussenminister-City Wolf 4:29
D3 –Zircon & The Burning Brains-Imaginé 5:16
D4 –Input- Heavy Street 4:19
D5 –David Gate-Nothing Isn't Everything 3:39
D6 –Rollkomanndo-Nude Picture 2:11
D7 –DDAA-Une Etude De Sonorisation Par Le Sol 4:50

DOWNLOAD this bird from its cage HERE!

Paul Kelday ‎– "Expedition To The Barren Reaches Of The Mind" (DTW ‎– DTW 011) 1986

Come on this disturbing journey into the very,very, Barren regions of a Trump supporter or a Brexit leave voter's malfunctioning Brain.
See the naked racism and or Xenophobia, slooshing around with casual misogyny and outwardly mobile bigotry.
As for environmental issues, side B sums up very nicely what these intellectual minnows would like to do to any idea that could possibly help make the future more survivable for our children.Short-termism and political myopia reign supreme, while these largely decrepit old fogies slowly fuck up the lives of the young.
As immigration falls sharply in pre-Brexit Britain , leaving thousands of job vacancies unfilled; we have yet to see these proud 'little englanders' queuing up to take these mythical jobs that have been stolen by those dirty filthy Eastern European hordes . Mostly they(Leave voters,not eastern europeans!) are too fat, lazy, or old; missing their appointments at the job centre because their mobility scooters are on charge.

"Referendums are a device for Dictators and Demagogues"(Margaret Thatcher!(1975)...Nice one Maggie!

It all might have been different if the €60 Billion euro divorce bill had been put on the side of a bus methinks......to sum up.....Twats!
In fact this tape has far too much of interest on it to accurately represent the echoing emptiness in the mind of a Trump era brexshiteer; it should in fact just be the natural hiss of analog tape, like self cleaning urinals hissing their dissapproval.
Luckily the mind Paul is exploring here isn't the mind of one of these despicable morons, its the mind of an average human being from the minority rather than the moronic majority. So there are lots of interesting abstract electronic  sorties into the regions of the brain that are rarely stimulated.

DOWNLOAD to fill those barren regions of your mind HERE!

Paul Kelday ‎– "Beyond The Perimeters" (Self-Released) 1983

Paul Kelday was releasing self released cassettes of abstract electronica as early as 1974.Even using the much vaunted send a blank tape and a stamped addressed envelope system that was so fashionable at the height of the UK DIY era from 79-81.
This C-60 is still in his trademark BBC Radiophonic Workshop stylee, but also hints at a kinship with the Industrial scene. Probably one of his more listenable works full of wild analogue electronics.
If he was somewhere fashionable he'd probably be lauded as an avant-garde compostion genius, but, seemingly without any ego whatsoever, he remained in the shadows. Eventually,by the end of the eighties, he disappeared from the music scene altogether.Preferring a quiet life with his partner without Internet or Telephone, or Musical instruments. He stopped, and by Jiminy he meant it...very noble.

DOWNLOAD from beyond the perimeters of normal HERE!

Paul Kelday ‎– "Eschatus" (Integrated Circuit Records) 1982

More electronic noises from downtown Bognor Regis that sound, variously, like amplified dentist drills and braking subway trains fed through a plethora of tape echos and plate reverbs units.
The bastard child of Bebe and Louis Barron ('Forbidden Planet') and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

DOWNLOAD kelday today HERE!

Paul Kelday ‎– "The Plane Of The Inner-Between" (WMT ‎– WORK 015) 1981

Does he mean 'Plain' or 'Plane'?
Anyway, Paul Kelday had been farting around with his electronic devices, literally making 'Farting' noises, since around 1974. So this gives him the right to be the 'Daddy' of the DIY UK Electronic Underground. The Grandaddy being 'Trevor Wishart' of course.
This is as far away from 'The Berlin School' sound one could possibly wish for, and has more in common with the abstract electronics of Asmus Tietchens, and The BBC Radiophonic Workshop than Edgar Froese.
Lots of funny electronic noises,tape loops,found sounds and echo effects, rather than repetitive hypnotic melody lines, were the order of the day for Paul.Either because he was incapable of playing a synth's keyboard,if he had one, or it was a conscious decision. Either way this would make a good soundtrack for a 'Forbidden Planet' remake.

Tracklist:

A1 The Plane Of The Inner-Between
B1 Black Stream
B2 N.C.C. - 1701
B3 Event Horizon

DOWNLOAD the farts of paul kelday HERE!

Ian Boddy ‎– "Options" (Mirage ‎– M607) 1982

'Ian Boddy,composer, sound designer, DiN ambient music label owner & analogue synth aficionado', as it says on his official website; was another member of the British renaissance in electronic music in the 'Berlin School' style as made chart bound by german longhairs, Tangerine Dream.

Most of us would label this as'Ambient/New Age' these days, but its more than that.Especially when the sequencers get going.It has its repetitive synth lines that hit a chord in one's mind and body,and largely leaves the soft synth pads to the background.

I think one of the worst electronic inventions/innovations was the 'Polyphonic Synthesiser', especially when they got cheap.Up there with digital synthesis for awfulness.If music tech only stopped still at Monophonic keyboards that sounded like synthesisers, and drum machines that sounded like drum machines everything would be rosy in the electronic garden.

The temptation for Polyphony enthusiasts was to make terrible 'string section' backings for the otherwise excellent Lead synth lines; removing all breathing space in a recording by drowning it in emulated choirs and other orchestral pretentions.As annoying electronic sounds go, its up there with the Fairlight Orchestral Stab,and the DX7 Brass sound.

Non-Rick Wakeman Polyphonic keyboardists, also had a tendency to just rest their fingers on the plastic ebony and ivory keys and wiggle them about randomly,fed through a reverb unit and echo box, as if they knew what they were doing,which they patently didn't.

"Too many notes spoileth the broth", as the old adage goes; especially if you don't know what notes you're playing.

If you're ok with lush synth pads drowning out the good bits, then this is for you.  

Tracklist:

A1 Corridors 4:43
A2 Karina 3:32
A3 Water On Stone 2:40
A4 Into View 3:18
A5 Skylights 4:05
A6 Silhouette 3:31
A7 Follow 2:58
A8 End Sequence 1:54
B1 Till Quiet Descends (Live 07/11/1981) 13:55
B2 21 Degrees 14:05 (Live 07/11/1981

DOWNLOAD your options HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Firemusic" (Agitasjon ‎– AGI 004) 1981

One of my favourite Jazz albums is Archie Shepp's "Fire Music".....ain't I sofisticated (sic)???......which positively bristles with channeled energy(fire) among the abused sax noises, but it does have its smooth bubbly moments,Like the whole of this cassette.

Mark 'Big in Norway' Shreeve's version of "Firemusic" seems to be a much more pleasant evening in front of a log burner than the controlled Napalm of Shepp's wailing horn. Its a soundtrack to witnessing something burning rather than using the energy of the fire in the creative process.Then extinguishing it with gallons of analogue foam.

This limited edition cassette for a Norwegian fanzine label is,for me, Mark's best album. It could easily fit into Tangerine Dreams' back catalogue from the classic period of 73-76.Plenty of gorgeous, warm analogue synth sounds, and hypnotic spacious melodies that could make burning to death a pleasurable experience.  

Tracklist:

A1 Blitz 8:47
A2 Firestorm 9:05
A3 Fireball 8:45
B1 Black Candles 3:45
B2 Firepower 16:37
B3 Heatwave 7:40

DOWNLOAD some warm analogue fire HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Thoughts Of War" (Uniton Records ‎– Uniton 001) 1981

Mark even had vinyl out in 1981, courtesy of a Norwegian label, as you do.

Here, our Mark ruminates on the sticky subject of 'War'.Pretty nasty stuff is 'War'......lots of killing, mass executions, maimed children, Genocide, its no fun at all......or so I was led to believe.

Listening to Mr Shreeves' 'Thoughts' on the subject one would be inclined to think that these unwelcome violent episodes were quite relaxing, floaty escapades.As if mass destruction was an open gateway to paradise. 

This is a concept of 'war' more akin to that imagined by those stone-age morons in the Islamic State.Of course to get round the fact that it is written in their holy book that they should not kill,they call themselves 'Martyrs'rather than muderers.A fast track to the side of God,and rewarded with, and I quote, "A Sensual Paradise". This consists of being wed to 72(?!) 'perpetual Virgins' called the 'Houri'......women, of course, don't get 72 musculus blokes in paradise, only one,"...and they will be satisfied with him"!!!!???....Have you ever heard such a pile of misogynistic neanderthal bullshit in your life before......well, yes if you're a devout Muslim.......I could go on, but might risk some kind of Fatwa from some suicide-bearded nutjob modern caveman in Birmingham.

I digress.

As pictured on the rear of the Shreeve sleeve, one will notice that Mark could have easily been pictured in 1971 rather than 1981, but his beard is absolutely NOT that of a radical Muslim; so his vision of War is probably not that perverted skidmark of anti-intellectualism that is radical Islam......don't worry the American Taliban are just as fucking bad to balance it up.

These 'Thoughts' on War ironically, or maybe purposefully turn out to be great stuff for Meditations for Peace.Like those Buddhist chaps do.....now wait.....isn't it those Buddhist chaps who are currently performing Genocide on the Rohingya (muslims) people in Myanmar? And wasn't it Buddhists who invented Suicide Bombing in WW2?.....the kamikaze.

So no-one is innocent is the conclusion to this digression.

But Mark Shreeve is innocent of taking the obvious route in this beautifully warm analogue, Berlin School of Electronics style, portrayal of War......this record is really 'Thoughts On Peace', and who could possibly disagree with that?.......yeah yeah I know, there's a huge list, topped by our chums from the three main monotheistic religions.

Good album by the way, even if a conceptually vague one.

Tracklist:

Thoughts Of War - Part One (15:15)
A1.1 Escalation
A1.2 Cold Emotion
A2 Nightmare Of Reality 14:25
B1 Dream Sequence 11:01
Thoughts Of War - Part Two (18:41)
B2.1 Funeral In Desolation
B2.2 Remembrance
B2.3 "...Ashes To Dust..."

DOWNLOAD some relaxing war sounds HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Phantom" (Mirage) 1980

Seems 1980 was a prolific year for Mark Shreeve, a year we've already established was the high point of this modern renaissance for art and music that some of us were privileged to have lived through.
It's all finished now of course, with the stragglers having to reinvent the wheel again and again, like landscape painters have had to do for the last 500 years or so; that's the future we have to look towards......the same things but done again,masquerading  as something new.
I suppose this rehashing trend started in the seventies, with stuff like 'the Mod Revival' and the resurrection of 'Ska'.
The UK electronic underground of the early eighties was basically a revival of the German Kosmiche music of the early Seventies, repackaged as DIY Electronica, and set in small town provincial England......well no-one else was doing it were they.Very unfashionable in 1980, so if you wanted to hear music like this then you jolly well had to go and 'Do It Yourself', as the Post Punk manifesto would have stated if it had ever existed.
So, here we get a tape of Electronic Space Symphonies recorded in a bedroom in such an exotic location as the dying English seaside resort of Great Yarmouth rather than West Berlin. 
It wasn't always like this for Mark however. He did get to work with a member of Tangerine Dream later on, his obvious inspiration. And, less impressive, infact downright criminal, he wrote several hit tunes for page three bimbo Samantha Fox in the mid-eighties!.....I assume those tunes weren't exploratory electronic odysseys like those on 'Phantom'.....would have been fun though to have Sam vocalising to something like this instead of whatever crud she inflicted upon our innocent discotheques?  

DOWNLOAD this phantom to your machine HERE!