Volcano The Bear ‎– "Five Hundred Boy Piano" (United Dairies UD500) 2001

Wasn't this title a Dr. Seuss story??
VTB goes on a tour of a pretentious chinstrokers mp3 collection on quick scan; we got dark folk, musique concrete, a bit of free jazz, Edgard Varese, the BBC Radiophonic workshop,and more outsider avant garde nonsense. At times this sounds like a lost soundtrack to an episode of Bagpuss, which is no bad thing.
I'm fed up of writing about VTB, so i'll let one of the fabulous Freeman Brothers,(see the write up of Volfur to reintroduce yourself to the brothers Grimm of Leicester), explain more fully,but alas, even more humourlessly!:(

Review from Audion #46 (2002)...
This starts in a totally different world to any Volcano The Bear that we've heard before. Hairy Queen introduces the album as an offbeat Barber Shop Quartet, a side-swipe from some early 1900's musical - totally tongue-in-cheek - it sets the trend for a much more eccentric album, with a largely acoustic footing.
Some of the material is old, and some is new, and there's much more in the way of traditional instruments, lots of different winds, violin, guitars, Aaron's usual nimble drums, spontaneous composition, avant-garde free-folk, archaic chantings occasionally fleshed-out by the patent Volcano loops and industrial grooves. Unusually very vocal, angular and scrappy, some familiar gig ideas resurface, but there's not much rock music in the concoction.
It's all great stuff, though, if not as immediate as past offerings, which I guess is down to the vocal elements, which are sometimes jarring, as well as a lot more "new-wave" cum RIO (elements of L. Voag, Etron Fou, Henry Cow, The Work, et al) mixtures in it, which makes it a rewarding challenge. That is right down to the free-form almost Henry Cow (Fred Frith destroying his guitar) Greasy Truckers feel of Five Hundred Boy Piano itself.
Of course, this could all be down to the "sound of five thousand tiny fingers" to quote the promo blurb. Though, I guess it was just the desire to do something completely different. They definitely succeeded!

Tracklist:

1	Hairy Queen	1:32
2	Seeker	7:40
	The Tallest People In The World	14:17
3i	Being
3ii	Peanut Puppet
3iii	Tic/Toc
	-
4	Wooden Sailus	2:05
5	Five Hundred Boy Piano	14:51
6	I Am The Mould	8:07

DOWNLOAD a five hundred boy piano HERE!

Volcano The Bear ‎– "The Inhazer Decline" (United Dairies ‎– UD 055) 1999

Bookish Leicester Quartet, Volcano the Bear's, first 'proper' LP, on Nurse with Wound's United Dairies imprint, from the end of the 20th Century.
Shove The Residents, Renaldo and the Loaf, Nurse with Wound, Current 93, This Heat,and some carefully selected 'Krautrock', into a Kenwood Chef, and you could possibly end up with this. Plenty of silly voices,Dada-esque lyrics,daft noises, and a veritable rainbow of instruments,played with varying levels of skill and incompetence.Ladles full of 'Too clever by half' poured copiously over the finished product,although the constant invention keeps that particular irritation at bay.
Can get a bit silly, but was there anybody else doing this in 1999?.....er.....probably; but not quite as effectively.

DOWNLOAD the decline of somebody's empire HERE

Dragon or Emperor - " Dragon or Emperor " (Pickled Egg Records EGG 64) 2006

Stewart Brackley of Black Carrot and Aaron Moore of Volcano the Bear make a drum and bass racket version of Pere Ubu meets Lightening Bolt, or more accurately, an anti-OM . In my humble opinion the best thing that Aaron has done, and shows off his obvious talent on the skins to the max. Fellow Leicester scene musician, Brackley, sounds uncannily like David Thomas of the legendary Pere Ubu, and claws a mean distorted bass guitar.
For me, you can't beat a duo but you can Beat Up a duo! Ever since my first gig experience in 1978, when I was unwittingly exposed to the majesty that was Suicide.Even though they were bottled off after less than twenty minutes by the vast flock of Clash fans waiting to 'Rock out' with their famous heroes. I can imagine Dragon or Emperor being treated the same by those sheep-like morons if transported back to '78; but we are more open minded nowadays????//....aren't we???

Track Listing:

1		Part Of Me Says
2		The People
3		Fast Apache
4		Bossa
5		Piano
6		Your Success
7		Slow Toms
8		No Pay
9		Never Know What To Say

DOWNLOAD the dragon HERE!

The Midnight Circus - " Richard, Roger, Rodney, Rastus, Raoul, Roderick, Randy, Rupert " (Hyped2Death cd-r 2003)

Classic cassette DIY from Leicester,UK.....your author's hometown, and a hot bed of DIY activity throughout the 80's.
Leicester has its fair share of showbiz legends; Englebert Humperdinck, the magisterial Showaddywaddy, Family, Gaye Bikers On Acid, Kasabian(Mmmmm?),the Attenboroughs,the Elephant Man....the list goes on.
(I lived near Ric Grech from Family/Blind Faith/Traffic, in the early eighties.He was broke wrecked on drugs and alcohol,and was pushed around in a wheelchair by a mate who wore a cowboy hat and an eye-patch; and had to live on my council estate in a flat.How the mighty fall eh? He tragically died not long after i last saw him and his mate slagging off the OAP's with some choice expletives at my bus stop for ogling him and his friend.)
Never mentioned is The Midnight Circus, who never played a gig to my knowledge, and made several impossibly obscure cassettes in the early 1980's.
It's classic sounding Cassette based DIY, upturned buckets and tin cans for drums, cheap fuzz guitar, drum machine and the obligatory short wave radio.
This is suburban folk at its finest, until they tried to make 'proper music' in the latter part of their career.
This happens to all the best bands when enticed from their natural environment. rather like how a teenager loses what made their drawings fantastic when they were pre-teen, as they try to emulate what they think a grown up draws like. This is a mistake that can take years to unlearn, the same tragically applies to music.
So ignore the poorly crafted tunes at the end of this compilation, with their synthesizers and their well recorded bass lines, and relish the innocence of the first 18 tracks in all their muffled brilliance.

Track Listing:

1		Leather & Lace	1:55
2		Song Of Experience & Imagination #2	4:22
3		Tube Train	6:13
4		Playthings	2:58
5		Survivors	5:38
6		Pop Song	2:36
7		Political Song	3:07
8		Pre-Natal Counselling	3:01
9		Which Was Wrong?	1:23
10		Silicone Baby	1:44
11		The Hedonist Jive	2:41
12		Talk To Me	3:19
13		Suburbia Nervosa	3:52
14		Recognise The Man	2:57
15		Wall-To-Wall Noise	3:19
16		Guernica	5:59
17		Obsession & Guilt	2:58
18		The New Age	2:11
19		Untitled	2:58
20		This Deception	5:38
21		Unreal	3:46

Tracks 1 to 4 from the cassette The Bland Craze
Tracks 5 to 9 from the cassette Pre-Natal Counselling
Tracks 10, 11 from the double EP Angst In My Pants
Tracks 12 to 14 from the cassette Do Modern Atoms Wear Fashionable Clothes?
Tracks 15, 16 from the cassette Galvanising The Dead
Tracks 17 to 21 previously unreleased

Sorry the files are M4a, i lost the mp3 files and i can't be bothered to convert 'em!


DOWNLOAD the midnight circus HERE!

The Barron Balls - " (not an) Anthology (1978-1984)" (Year Zero Records YEAR 014) 2012

More from the forgotten city of Leicester!?
If you thought the Midnight Circus were obscure,then check out this bunch of weirdo's!
The Barron Balls?......Never heard of 'em?....Of course you haven't, that's N.Senada's much celebrated "Theory of Obscurity" in action. Already formed as schoolboys in Leicester,UK, 1978; (including future members of Scouts Of Uzbekistan, and Thee Mark Chapman Experience.),The 'Balls' were inspired into obscurity by the concept of The Residents album "Not Available"; although I severely doubt that the Residents had actuallyforgotten about recording that album,as stipulated under the rules of Senada's "Theory".
This is not the case with The Barron Balls' "Not An Anthology" collection, which all involved had almost total amnesia about. Therefore under the rules of the mysterious N. Senada, it is now qualified for release,which it now is,thanks to Year Zero Records.
The Barron Balls,named after The Baron Knights, began life as a sort of mini Great Rock'n'Roll swindle in 1978, where merchandise was produced to promote a band that didn't exist.Many badges and stuff were sold promoting the 'band' as 'The Kings Of Cock Rock'; after a headline spotted in Sounds about The Raincoats, Kleenex and The Slits,(although I don't think any member of the aforementioned combo's had a single cock owner amongst them at the time). Being teenage boys, they decided not to go with the original intention of the phrase,that is anti-sexist female emancipation with a feminist agenda (very 'Right-on');but instead take the purile opposite direction,which is more in line with the actual 'Rock' philosophy of the male dominated world of the sixties and early seventies, a parody of 'Free-Love' as you will.
Many sexually offensive parodies of Hit songs were prepared, using found objects as percussive instruments.(Using their environment years before Einsturzende Neubauten eh?)
A performance was arranged in the school, charging 10p admission. Decorated in various plastic shopping bags from well-known supermarket chains to disguise identities, Vas Deferens, the late,VD Scabs Round The Mouth, David Van Hellmann, and C.W., performed atrocious versions of hits by The Jam,The Members,and Kate Bush, before the 'gig' was raided by the authorities after 15 minutes, and forcibly disbanded...........result!
This was the height of their fame, now to make a cassette and forget.This time with original material, accompanied by a super-8 movie.
This slowly evolved over the ensuing years, producing a musical style that was a cross between The Residents and Danny and the Dressmakers, their two biggest influences. Nonsensical Science Fiction and exopolitics replaced the 'Cock Rock', resulting in a chaotic fusion of proto white rap'n'roll ,concluding in sometimes hilarious consequences, all recorded in glorious lo-fi.This is NOT rock music!
But, like fellow schoolboy legends, The Prats, the loss of innocence with the onset of adulthood, lead to a maturing of the sound,and the later recordings showed an unwelcome sophistication. Actual songs played with a creeping competence on real instruments materialized from the chaos; it was time to stop,and forget.
Leicester can now boast another DIY cassette culture legend, alongside The Midnight Circus.

All recording re-mastered from the original cassette recordings.You've even got a choice of three album covers!!!!

(The 'Song?' "Stoke!" featured in their sci-fi movie called "Diamonds To Be".)

The Barron Balls were:

Vas Deferens
David Van Hellmann
V D Scabs 'Round The Mouth (RIP....suicide!?)
C.W.

TRACK LISTING:
1 - You can't hang yourself in space?
2 - The Mass Abode
3 - Stoke!
4 - I Thank The Transfer
5 - Gimmie A Bald 'Ead
6 - Retro Blues
7 - Senility Counteracts Experience
8 - Denying The Denim
9 - Absent
10 - Out of the Closet
11 - Divide or Fall.

The Barron Balls movie, "Diamonds To Be", coming soon to a You Tube Screen Near You!

DOWNLOAD Not An Anthology 1978-1984 HERE!

The Clash - "Live in Leicester 28th May 1977"

As I mentioned that my first 'gig' (flipping well hate that word), was The Clash, supported by Suicide, and The Coventry Automatics(aka The Specials) in 1978, on the 'On Parole' tour. As much as I'd like to post the recording of the suicide performance from that night, it is obviously impossible to find, but I did manage to find the Clash gig (there's that word again) from the year before, at the De Montfort Hall (note the moronic misspelling on the tour poster above). A hall named after the once dictator of England, and Lord of Leicester in the 1300's; who famously banned Jews from Leicester for allllll eternity. He was chopped up in battle and made to chew on his own lickle willy. A popular form of medieval post death humiliation
As much as I dislike the Clash for being full of pretend hard men, when they were really Art School dropouts and sons of Ambassadors; I do enjoy their early works, and this BBC in concert recording is a fine document of Joe Mellor and the chaps in fine form,and fine sound quality.(These twats signed to CBS!???)
Much prefer the real deal,Suicide, to these fellows though.


Set List:

• I'm So Bored With the USA / Hate and War / 48 Hours / Deny / Police and Thieves
• Cheat / Capital Radio / What's My Name / Protex Blue / Remote Control / Garageland / 1977

DOWNLOAD some live Clash HERE!
apparently there are two tracks missing and i can't be arsed to reupp it so:
Go HERE and download it,along with 257 other live Clash boots!!!

The Amber Squad - " Singles plus Demo's" 1980

The Amber Squad were another great live Leicester Band, playing no-nonsense pub Rock,although frequently referred to as a Mod or Power Pop band. It's just great Rock'n'Roll, you,for the entertainment of....!
The first single was released on the local label S+T, which released the great Leicester compilation, "Where The Hell is Leicester", which you can download from this blog.
Notice the early appearence of one Kev Reverb ( as part of the S+T consortium), later of Crazyhead and sound engineer of Volcano The Bear fame.
The second single was released on Dead Good Records, DEAD17, 1980.
Can't be arsed to type the track listing, but there are 15 great tracks in this download.

DOWNLOAD the best of the Amber Squad HERE!

The Metal Doughnut Band - " Laura Norder " (Vuggum Records BAAD 1) 1985

Another half descent combo from sunny Leicester was The Metal Doughnut band, who embraced the fashion of the times (1985), and utilised metal percussion, and various tools and whatnot, to create a danceable form of Industrial disco. Vastly under represented on vinyl, this 12" is their only release outside of compilations. It sounds very dated though, with lavish use of what sounds like a Mirage sampler, and one of those awful first generation Digital Drum Machines.
The Ensoniq Mirage was one of the first low budget samplers, as made famous by the lamentable Big Audio Dynamite, and they were crap.(Big Audio Dynamite and The Mirage!)
Its funny how everything recorded in 1985-88 sounds far more dated than everything recorded between 1971 and 84? I lay the blame on the awful technology available in 1985, and the unimaginative way it was used.....namely, the Paul Hardcastle s-s-s-s-s-syndrome; and those god awful digital drum machines.

This Side		"Laura Norder"	3:07
Other Side		"Out Damned Spot"	2:55

DOWNLOAD laura norder HERE!

Yeah Yeah Noh - " Fun on the Lawn Lawn Lawn" (Vuggum Records BAAD002) 1986

Its the Peel Sessions compilation on Vuggum Records, whose only other release was for The Metal Doughnut Band. It features superior recordings/versions of all their hits,and more.
Maida Vale studio's definitely had something magic about its acoustics; and why it isn't held in higher esteem than Abbey 'bloody' Road I'll never know. Love to have heard "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" and the entire Beatles canon recorded at BBC Maida Vale from an alternate reality.

Track Listing:

A1		Super Imposed Man	3:02
A2		Beware The Weakling Lines	2:20
A3		(It's) Easier To Suck Than Sing	2:23
A4		Cottage Industry	2:10
A5		Another Side Of Mrs Quill	3:48
A6		Crimplene Seed Lifestyle	2:07
A7		Temple Of Convenience	2:45
A8		Jigsaw	4:58
B1		Blood Soup	6:36
B2		Prick Up Your Ears	3:28
B3		Starling Pillow Case	3:48
B4		See Through Nature	3:14
B5		Stealing In The Name Of The Lord	3:35

DOWNLOAD some fun on the lawn lawn lawn HERE!

Yeah Yeah Noh - "Cutting The Heavenly Lawn Of Greatness...Last Rites For The God Of Love " (In -Tape Records IT021) 1985

This is supposed to be Yeah Yeah Noh in their 'psychedelic' phase,but it mostly sounds the same as their e.p.s to me. Higher production values smooth over their DIY roots.
As they disturbingly said in their recent interview,they preferred this sound to the 'unlistenable' early stuff on the e.p.s!? Yet another case of children trying to paint like adults and forgetting the genius of their naivety. But still good stuff, if flawed.

Track-listing:

A1		Temple Of Convenience
A2		Prick Up Your Ears
A3		Married Miss New Jersey
A4		Starling Pillowcase
A5		Houdini
A6		Susie's Party
A7		Panacea's Pictures
A8		She Said She Said
B1		Stealing In The Name Of The Lord
B2		Home-Ownersexual
B3		The Short-Cut Way To Saturday
B4		Crimplene Seed Lifestyle
B5		See Through Nature
B6		Zoological Gardens
B7		Blood Soup

DOWNLOAD this heavenly lawn of greatness HERE!

Yeah Yeah Noh - "E.P's" (In -Tape Records 1984)

Leicester's nearly famous Yeah Yeah Noh, who had the dignity to break up at the moment when they were gonna become too big.No group should be bigger than the music, and thankfully they knew this.
Sounding sorta like Mark Riley era Fall, with that awkward balding lad who didn't have any friends from the house down your street on lead vocals. This image made a connection with similarly socially shunned types all across the land. Championed by John Peel, they began to shift considerable units on Mark Riley's In Tape Records.
One of the few 'Clever' groups I can stand to listen to, they can even be amusing!
And what's even more amusing is the fact that Yeah Yeah Noh have reformed, to play a few festivals etc.

"This reforming lark is actually getting quite exciting now.

All manner of the weird and wonderful are reemerging and picking up the loose ends.

Yeah Yeah Noh emerged in the middle of the Death To Trad Rock scene in the eighties – all discordant clatter but with classic British beat tunes and sardonic, clever lyrics. They became Peel faves and went on to record some great eighties psychedelic tinged songs before imploding before the decade ended.

They were remembered, though, by the connoisseurs like Stewart Lee “Yeah Yeah Noh were my favourite mix of sneery post-punk and swooshy psychedelia. And now they’re back.”

The band are planing a few gigs and festival appearances which will be announced on their Facebook page:

Derek Hammond, the band’s ever sprightly and lyrical frontman tells me that ‘This is first point of contact, fest info, old sounds, old pics… will of course soon cover new sounds, pics, dates etc as time goes on – bear in mind hardly anyone knows we’re back together yet!‘

In the years since Yeah Yeah Noh were last together Derek has built up quite a name as a writer with a critically acclaimed football book which has been described as ‘football porn’, ‘like heroin: moreish’, ‘best football book since Fever Pitch’ – and he also does his own blog

Beware The Weakling Lines (IT010)

A1Beware The Weakling Lines 2:15
A21901 2:27
B1Startling Pillowcase, And Why 4:04

Cottage Industry Ep (IT008)

A Cottage Industry 3:41
B1Bias Binding 1:56
B2 Tommy Opposite 2:45

Prick Up Your Ears Ep (IT012)

A Prick Up Your ears
B Brown Shirt

DOWNLOAD these ep's HERE!

Kevin Hewick - "The Early Factory and Cherry Red Recordings" (1980 - 1983)

Kevin Hewick and the Sound - "This Cover Keeps reality Unreal" (Cherry Red 12CHERRY 76) 1983

Kevin Hewick, Side 2 of "A Factory Quartet" 1980

"Kevin On Stage" from "A Factory Quartet" insert

"A Factory Quartet" (Factory Records FACT24) 1980

"Ophelia's Drinking Song" (7" Factory Records FAC48) 1982

 I really admire anyone who carry's on regardless of a disinterested public, ploughing on through waves of  indifference for decades,yet still there. In Kevin's case, still very much there, as an integral part of Leicester's music scene.Probably more active today than he ever was.
It didn't surprise me to learn of his contribution to the recent Patrik Fitzgerald tribute album; an artist very similar to our Kevin, in refusing to go away.
His sound is sort of a doomy outsider-ish folky post punk, which sounds quite an attractive genre to me.
This explains why he fell in with Post-punk misery merchants The Sound for one 12" ep on Cherry Red; and perhaps his most accessible work.
Collected here,for the uninitiated, is a compilation of his early singles and ep's, along with his contribution to the "A Factory Quartet" album, which showcases Hewick's early live performance,and some of the negativity any performer like him got when the audience realised that he had no amp's or drums.
Also, we have his first recordings for Factory, with the as yet un-named New Order, singing in place of the recently departed Ian Curtis.

Some unimaginative splurge about Kevin's loooooong career, lifted from Wikipedia:
 
In the early 80's his work was released by Factory Records. In 1982 he left Factory for a period on Cherry Red Records. Amongst others he recorded a collaboration with The Sound. After 1984 things got quiet around Hewick, which he calls his "black hole period". In the late 90's he emerged again on the music scene.On February 14, 2009 www.kevinhewick.co.uk released a free download album Doomcloud the until-then lost follow up to Helpline, 12 songs recorded in 2000, 2001 and 2003.

The Factory years

Newly added to the Factory roster Hewick had a recording session in June 1980 with producer Martin Hannett in Graveyard Studios where he recorded two tracks "Haystack" (released on From Brussels with Love compilation in 1981) and "A Piece of Fate" with the three surviving members of Joy Division, a month after the death of Ian Curtis and just prior to their adopting the name New Order.[1]

Other Factory releases included the controversial live side of the A Factory Quartet double album (FACT 24) in 1981 - live tracks picked against Hewick's wishes by Tony Wilson of a confrontation between him and a very aggressive audience - and the single "Ophelia's Drinking Song" (FAC 48) which featured producer Donald Johnson of A Certain Ratio on percussion and was mixed by Peter Hook of New Order.[citation needed]

For a time Hewick was privy to many pivotal moments in Factory's early history, describing himself as a "gormless bystander" to those events.[citation needed] He often stayed at the Palatine Road flat of Alan Erasmus but as Erasmus became less involved with the label and Hewick's fraught working relationship with Tony Wilson rapidly worsened throughout 1982 (with Hewick even telling Wilson that The Haçienda was a bad idea as he "couldn't even run a record company properly never mind a club as well") an offer to "jump ship" to Cherry Red Records in London proved too tempting to resist.

Tracklisting:

 Factory single 1982:
Ophelia's drinking song-Katy clown
He holds you tighter

Single 1983 (Cherry Red CHERRY64):
Feathering the nest

Kevin Hewick and New Order, 1980:
Haystack (with New Order)

Kevin Hewick and the Sound - "This Cover Keeps reality Unreal" 1983:
Plenty
Neath Dancing Waves
Amber
Scapegoat In A Country Churchyard

"A Factory Quartet" (Factory Records FACT24) 1980:
Rubble/1940/A Little Feeling/Forget/Morphia/The Enchanted Kiss/Haystack

DOWNLOAD some early kevin hewick HERE!

New Age - "Discography" (1980-82)

Jane Fonda 7" (Dining Out TUX14) 1981

Livin For Now 12" (TUX18) 1982

"All the Monkeys Aren't in the Zoo,Marylou"(LP)

Dining Out (TUX25) 1982

New Age started off ok, reasonably proficient post -punkers, like a low-budget version of 'The Sound'. Then evolved,or devolved, into Leicester's version of Classix Nouveaux.
As much as I detested all that noo romantic style over-production at the time, I now find it bizarrely attractive.I'll even admit to liking the Gated Snare drum nowadays, even though it appears not on New Age's very over-produced LP. The acoustically dead sound now sounds futuristic in a retro-futuristic kind of way.
I gotta like this 'cus A Flock of Seagulls are unashamedly a very guilty pleasure of mine, and I love The Sound, so add these factors together and you got a pretty fine example of post retro-futurism here!!!!????
Fuck me, I talk a pile of shit sometimes, or is that most of the time!
To complete the Leicester connection, its all released on that bloke from The Disco Zombies' record label, the marvellous Dining Out Records.
They also featured on the excellent leicester compilation: "Where The Hell is Leicester?" 

Track Listing:

	Jane Fonda 7" (Dining Out TUX14) 1981
	A Jane Fonda B Radio Show

Livin For Now 12" (TUX18) 1982

A1		Livin For Now
A2		Amazed
B1		All I Want
B2		First To Live First To Die

"All the Monkeys Aren't in the Zoo,Marylou"(LP)

A1		Sense
A2		Acception
A3		On The Inside
A4		At The End Of The Day
B1		Ideals
B2		Progression
B3		Moving The Mountains
B4		Living For Now
B5		Talking Heads

DOWNLOAD everything by new Age HERE!