Pascal Comelade – "Slow Musics" (Eurock – EDC06) 1981

Pascal Comelade likes his piano's upright,recorded ambiently by two mikes in a room,and accompanied by an array of toy instruments

,something that Steve Beresford was well known for at the time,and probably someone Pascal would have come into contact with through his association with David Cunningham,and the London Musician's Collective. Mix that with an obvious Erik Satie influence,and splashes of This Heat's quieter moments and you've got Slow Music.

Pascal has an obvious talent for a minimal melancholic tune,which also reminds one of those Daniel Johnston tapes,but without the awful whining. Lots of recognisable influences indeed,but blended together Comelade has created a distinctive style that verges on the sad but beautiful side of 'tings.

This didn't go unnoticed in This Heat HQ, as Gareth Williams' solo album sounds unerringly similar to that of Pascal Comelade's early work.

A lot of these tunes have that 'previously heard before' quality such is the direct simplicity of them.Why I could star at an empty wall for hours listening to these,dare I say 'Sad'(?)mini sonata's.The music of introspective loneliness.  

Tracklist:

Face A:
1. Le vérolé de Babel - 2’50
2. Ritmos del fedayin - 4’23
3. Harley-Davidson - 2’16
4. Music for sanatorium - 1’46
5. Gary Cooper, always here - 1’38
6. Distorsion molle (to K. Leimer) - 1’37
7. John Cage descendant un escalier - 1’50
8. Morena fatal (mambo) - 2’54
Face B : 

1. Fragmentes della Kairos - 2’00
2. Les partisans - 2’27
3. Justine - 2’00
4. Souvenir from diagonal - 2’25
5. La dialectique peut-elle casser des briques ? - 2’46
6. Nicaragua arumbaya - 2’31

DOWNLOAD slow music quickly HERE!

Pascal Comelade / David Cunningham – "Précis De Décomposition Bruitiste" (Parasite – PAR 006) 1983

Somehow we've found ourselves back in France thanks to David Cunningham's association with minimalist composer Pascal Comelade, and this cassette of decomposing noise. I don't know if this was decomposed at the Cold Storage Studio,but there is definitely a This Heat factor floating around here. Comelade did in fact have a minimal pop band named after a this Heat track as further evidence,"Fall Of Saigon",although how much they were actually an influence is up for debate. Comelade did go on to develop a very attractive minimal Satie-like method of tune writing,which reminds me of former This Heater Gareth Williams' fantastic solo album "Flaming Tunes" from 1985.....so one suspects the influence was indeed a two way street.

Comelade had a predilection for deconstructing pop tunes,sometimes slowing them down to a crawl,or reducing them to the barest of bones or, as in this case with ? and The Mysterians' garage classic "96 Tears",a slow decent into a fuzzy fog ,which i think was a consequence of another of Pascal's major influences 'Suicide' rather than Question Mark himself.

Coincidentally, it's apparently Pascal's 67th birthday tomorrow, how's about that for synchronicity?

Tracklist:

Face A: 1980/1981

Face B:
A Perfect Crime/96 Tears

DOWNLOAD another reason to forgive france for Johnny Hallyday HERE!

David Cunningham – "Grey Scale" (Piano – Piano 001) 1977

 

The first Piano release,made by cold storage recording studio main man, David 'Flying Lizard' Cunningham, was this minimal systems music offering in praise of the 'Error'. Without which nothing any good would have emerged from the primordial soup of music,slash, entertainment,slash everything.

Without error we would all still be banging drums in a cave in the south of France. Some people still are,mostly Hippies hiding away from having to get a job before the trust fund matures..

Without 'Error', mother nature would only have ever produced a rock,or a gas, or a Piers Morgan. There is an inherent need to mutate. Musical notes boast more than just a passing resemblance to the genetic code, so any note or gene in the wrong place can lead to the most horrific or exciting developments.Like evolution, if there's a need for this mutation, it will be used, but the mechanics remain in the background,....on the Grey Scale.

I'll let  David explain the Error System to you daft lot:

"Error System
The players play a repeating phrase. As soon as one player makes a mistake that mistake is made the basis of his repetition unless it is modified by a further mistake. Thus each player proceeds at his own rate to change the sound in an uncontrollable manner. On no account should 'mistakes' be made deliberately to introduce a change into a performance. In short - sustain your errors.
The water piece and the guitar piece are analogous to this process. However the process is automatic here, an inherent quality in the machinery used."

I found myself watching the hideous spectacle of Glastonbury 2022,last evening,with its endless reams of error-less meaning-less, middle class party music,absolute drivel.

I found myself weirdly enjoying Robert Plant and Alison Krause's rather splendid Folk renditions.....at the wrong festival i may suggest. While waiting for 'idles',whom i had priorly thought were 'not bad'.They bust a bloodvessel living up to the 'punk' band on the bill role they were assigned,and kept wheeling out a neo-hipster on a very expensive looking baritone sax,playing the same Free-Jazz squeal during the really 'Crazy' bits. I suspect the sax-hipster couldn't actually play his couple of grand's worth of brass,or understand what he had pretensions towards...for it was, was it not,Ornette Coleman who championed the erroneous note, as prioritizing the 'right wrong notes' over the 'wrong wrong notes'? This Idles guy got all the wrong wrong notes, but no-one had a single clue about what was wrong wrong or right right;one may as well play nothing nothing I thought.They formally stuck to the 'right' stuff that the massive sea of Billy Eilish fans from Surrey wanted to relay their 'Punk moment' and tell their children of the near-future about again and again....see, Mummy and Daddy really are the boring fucks you thought they were.Poor little sods, bored to sleep with endless tales of obscenely expensive festival exploits between the ages of 18 and 21,before they got their job in the city.As for the fuckers who are my age and their tiresome renditions of having an uncle who saw Quintessence and Bowie'a mime act back  in '71.....on mushrooms ('Drugs' they giggle!)...who cares? Its preposterous how these bland also-rans boast about paying to see some vaguely famed group play in the past,and seem to think that somehow this makes them 'cool' as if they were actually in these silly fucking groups? Yeah I was in Quintessence because i paid to see 'em.They'd even bring their own flute just in case the groups fluty man collapsed,and they asked the audience if anyone plays the flute,Keith Moon in Boston style.They hold up their hand ,"Me sir please sir!" in their moist pop star wet dream.Not a dry pair of Y-Fronts in the house. Yeah I saw Kajagoogoo play in Barnsley Railway station bogs back in '59.....hold on?...I'm genuinely envious of that one!!

Idles wouldn't have been allowed at any genuinely edgy 'punk' festival...if such a thing ever existed?.....hahaha those guys are sooo crazy,one of them wore a dress! hahahaha!

Prior to this shocking exposure, i had never heard of,or seen even a still of Billie Eilish. This is as dark as those kids are gonna get i thought.She led them in breathing exercises, started a reverse Mexican wave and shared her three commandments of concert-going: "Don't be an asshole, no judgment and have fun bitch!".Scything down 70 years of rock'n'roll history in one swooping scrape of Nero's fiddle like it had all never happened.

I felt a generation gap opening up immediately,mainly because I AM an Asshole,I judge everything and everyone, and i willfully avoid so-called,'Fun'...especially if i'm told to have it! 

I did ,however, join in on the breathing exercises,and the mexican wave in my friendless TV lounge, and consoled myself with a bout of sneering before i went to bed...alone...a choice not an obligation! 

Watching this crud was a very grave error on my part.....but maybe we can evolve from this?....I Doubt it very much.

Music is very fucking DEAD...well, at least very very fucking boring.

Tracklist:

1.Error System (BAGFGAB)
2.Error System (C Pulse Solo Recording)
3.Error System (C Pulse Group Recording)
4.Error System (E Based Group Recording)
5.Error System (EFGA)
6.Ecuador
7.Water Systemised
8.Venezuela 1
9.Guitar Systemised
10.Venezuela 2
11.Bolivia

DOWNLOAD an error message HERE!

UT – "Ut" (Out Records – OUT R 01) 1984

Another early UT,again recorded at Cold Storage, ably assisted by Charles Bullen...he of This Heat....under the auspices of John Loder, who produced or provided technical expertise to a plethora of Punky Rocky types,most notably, from my point of view, Rudimentary Peni ;can't get better than that...so no surprise that he died before he turned 60.

Luckily I've never achieved anything as perfect as Rudi P or i'd only have 2 years to live!

Charles and John had a brave stab at recording UT,the result of which is this EP,and showcases UT's classic improvised No wave tunage. Discordant struming,a fine sounding muddy Bass,and a drum kit reduced to tribal toms without the Funk,no flim-flams or paradiddles here,just things being hit with sticks.

Tracklist:

1 Sham Shack
2 This Bliss
3 New Colour
4 Exilee Goes Out

DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

UT – "Conviction" (Out Records – OUT R 03) 1985

UT recorded at This Heat's / David Cunningham's Cold Storage facility shocker! Recorded/produced by Henry Cow chap Tim Hodgkinson,who contributes his nefarious saxophonal abilities,as well as some dodgy drumming.....all assisted by all round 'decent chap' Charles Bullen,late of This Heat. You may even notice,Tim's ugly fizzog displayed on the cover surrounded by pretty avant-garde rock chicks looking moody and existential;or is that Antonin Artaud?...also looking moody and existential...he was an Ac-tor you know.I also suspect that our fun chum Antonin is the fellow in an unfortunate postion on the cover too. 

It seems,even experimental avant-rock No wave music never fails to cash in on having a pretty lady on the cover at the slightest opportunity.

At the risk of being brought to tears by a mob of livid and shouty vegan lezzers I must approve of this brazen use of female imagery as bait for the casual male music nerd to chance an arm on....or at least a wrist?

As jolly good UT are.....i think they are still going sporadically?....they seem unappreciated in their native lands,never gaining a release there from a US based label. Brits always like a less successful in america american looming on the local scene don't they? And dismissing them as Avant-Wank fodder is a trifle disingenuous of me....but funny.However, this debut Lp doesn't quite reach the dizzying heights of their later work .....don't get me wrong,it's still jolly good,it's just that there was better to come....oh alright I fancy them too.....they have pulses don't they?

Tracklist:

1.Confidential
2.Sick
3.Phoenix
4.Absent Farmer
5.Stain
6.Prehistory
7.Bedouin
8.Kcahsmahs (Spare Coconut)
9.Mouse Sleep

DOWNLOAD out of cold storage HERE!

UT – "Ut Live Nov 1981" (Out Tapes – OUT 001) 1982

A tangle with the DCMA(Copyright protection shit) has left me upset and directionless.It seems that some corporate entity has Steve Beresfords back, so this leaves me no choice but to act on a recent suggestion as to "Why No UT?".....also 'Cut Hands' was put forward...but that's William Bennett,and the same reason exists as to why there is no longer any Whitehouse on this blog......although William was very polite about it,so I complied like the pop stars bitch I am.

I am sensing another crackdown like that last seen in 2012,so it seems that every decade we get some shit....I have it all backed up ready.

I suppose UT are No wave are they not? I am told that the tunes,or No Tunes, are improvised behind the words,which are not???? Why?

Apparently, not having actually seen UT live, they were well known for long..."Artistic"....discussions between pieces,as to who plays what and what goes where. I suspect a reluctance for rehearsal time here.

The sound quality is very good.Obviously taken from the sound-desk,and,as proudly displayed on the cassette itself...."No Dolby".....I am tempted to do some Spinal Tapisms here,but will refrain...but its true innit...You don't do heavy metal in Dolby!

I don't really know if UT were posh girls from wherever Posh Girls come from in the USA,but i suspect it is so. I am reassured by my reluctance to Google to see if they were actors, like Mars were,which is a real turn off.Do these people know real pain? The music suggests they do if you listen with your mind.The juries out,and the verdict hasn't been corrupted by exposure to media sources,mainstream or alternative.The pop'n'rock world is littered with fake news,which is all part of the myth that makes it all so much more enjoyable.The right wrong facts make it all so much more ....well...y'know? Somethings are best left unsaid....They're Posh alright! Not quite at Marianne Faithful levels but enough to ooze art schooling paid for by rich parents.If that qualifies at all as Posh?

The politics of Envy are big on these shores,but i don't envy being dismissed as Posh....which of course I have been back in the fertile seed beds of my distant youth,where the weeds grew woody and bitter,and no-one is allowed an escape route by the fellow inmates.

So i think that all means that UT are good.

DOWNLOAD without dolby HERE!

Steve Beresford /Jon Rose / John Russell / Tony Wren – "Luton - Center Of The Universe" (Fringe Benefit Records – FBR 33) 1981

 

Having proved that there is a super-massive Black Hole at the center of our galaxy;Top scientists are yet to prove that Luton is at the center of anything,let alone the universe.As one of the most drab and uninspiring of London satellite towns,and home to one of thee worst football grounds ,possibly in the entire universe,the place would be greatly improved by being swallowed by a black hole and compacted to infinite density.

Although ,Luton was indeed close to the center of the improvising universe for at least two evenings early in 1981,when Steve Beresford and chums hit town,witnessed by what sounded like,going on the sparse applause,approximately 8 and a half punters,but no dog.....he didn't turn up! Or, better still a room full of paying customers,including one dog, who sat in silence,or left,during the performance,leaving the eight and a half strong Luton intelligentsia to applaud wildly in a largely empty room. This C-60 being the only evidence that this actually happened.....or did it?

These free improvisations have all those essential monkey's tea party qualities that would normally empty any size room of consenting adults within minutes and provoke many a ruddy faced jingoist into enraged foot stamping threats of violence.In which case I could't recommend it more. 

Tracklist:
A January 20, 1981 31:03
B February 6, 1981 25:38

DOWNLOAD from the center of the universe HERE!

Steve Beresford /Tristan Honsinger/ Toshinori Kondo / David Toop – "Imitation Of Life" (Y Records – Y 13) 1982

Having been seen doing the donkey-work for the Slits it was inevitable that Steve Beresford would get some product on trendy Pop group connected label, 'Y Records' ,as owned by Pop Group/Slits manager Dick O'Dell. So, Steve and his weird London chums got to do a couple of Lp's of their spontaneous scraping toy instrument and Tuba madness to sit alongside the funky fayre of the Bristolian Illuminati. Unlike label mates Maximum Joy*,Poop Groop, and other suspected Trustfund surfers,there is not one ounce of 'Funk' on Steve's record ,which hardly even has a time signature.It does have however,four very unfashionable people living in four different but related worlds,playing different tunes at the same time.

NB...Maximum Joy threw a mardy*......

*Mardy Arse :(noun) INFORMAL•NORTHERN ENGLISH
a sulky, petulant, or grumpy person.

......about being featured on Die or DIY?,and demanded...yes...demanded(?)  that their work.....did they say 'Work'?,apparently ,yes?...be withdrawn.....so you can't find these suspected suburban  middle  class George Clintons haunting these pages no more.;...but you can,ironically, on YouTube,work that one out......or as Steve Beresford calls it, YouTuba! (ha ha ha)....i suspect it was Dick 0'Dell (who produced this funnily enuff!) wot done it,not the groop.Groops don't do shit like that,unless you're the remaining members of Throbbing Gristle,Cabaret Voltaire,Whitehouse,or Zoviet France?...There seems to be a theme there.....only Industrial Bands are wankers it seems.

Anyway fuck the fuckers and their honkyfied white mans funk, And how dare they share the same label as Sun Ra....yeah I'm a trendy too?Didn't you know?...how Dicky dingleberry O'Dell wangled that I dunno?

Well, at least Y Records have an ex-XTC member (barry) on their rostrum;...yeah,post-punk super group Shriekback's entire fun-filled oeuvre appears there.......not listened much to it however,,only that first single about a spine being a bassline or sum'ting equally cool,as in cool with a capital 'I'...don't care. Nah!

But, Beresford can't do anything wrong to this proudly closed mind,I just don't like Trendy's who'll reveal their under arm portable jazz collection before you can say Thelonius Monk;arranged in chronological order of course;the More Jazz than You Nerd off......yeah yeah I know.....I'm "Pure Scum" etc etc....! for stealing the royalties from these hard working bands blah blah......I wish I could get royalties from work I did 40 years ago, or sell copies of the same work again and again...and incredibly, no-one complains???

Tracklist:

A Whoosshh 21:16
B Please - Thanks That's Alright 17:34

DOWNLOAD the x,y,and z of how and why not to be a funky honky HERE!

Three & Four Pullovers - "Three & Four Pullovers (1975-8)" - (Emanem – 4038) 2000

What were you doing in 1975? 

I was enduring the transition from primary education to take my place in the final year that Grammer Schools existed in the UK.Soon to be phased out because the Labour Government thought it 'Elitest', Unlike the government? Shirley Williams was the Secretary of Education,who had the non-elitest luck to have been evacuated to California in World war 2, along with her mate Elisabeth Taylor.They both tried out for the lead role in National Velvet.....and guess who won? That's right, Not Shirley Williams,who channeled this bitterness to fuck up intelligent kid's education prospects with her 'socialist' values,which, as far as i could see, were designed to keep the working class in their place,as factory and family fodder.

So in between being beaten up at school by the older kids,....us being the last years intake....we would never get the chance to beat up the younger kids,so we were doomed to be the youngest kids for the entire 5 years.

Then, carrying the stigma of being a Grammar school kid on a council estate, I was beaten up on my home turf too.For some reason being classed as intelligent means that you are 'Posh' according to my peers,who named me "Posh Cunt" before the kicks tained in....that's elitism for you alright.Pablo Picasso never got called an Asshole...but we did. 

In between kickings, I spent my time listening to such unadulterated rubbish as Queen, Status Quo,Dr Feelgood,Thin Lizzy, The Sweet,The Glitter Band....etc....you get the picture? With pretensions towards Prog.

Meanwhile Steve Beresford and his London Music Collective chums Nigel Coombes and Roger Smith were making ,such crazed improvised tomfoolery as "Three Pullovers".....(later expanded to "Four Pullovers" whenever Terry Day bothered to turn up).

What would have been rather splendid,was if Thin Lizzy played a version of "The Sea Of Mice" by Three Pullovers as an encore at one of their proto-NWOBHM gigs,even though Sweet were far more metal than them.The mid-size college arena would have emptied in record time...well, either that or a Riot.

 The Glitter Band are excused,as their Guitar sound was probably the most avant garde statement in the whole Glam scene. Dr Feelgood were living art however, but The Quo could have at least finished their 'Blue For You' album with some Free Improv to totally piss off their denim clad,and 100% male audience.....this could have been lauded as another one of those, sadly stupid "Punk before Punk" moments. The fantasy of the late Rick Parfitt whipping out the toy glockenspiel would have made for a most tantalizing prospect.

Its the Toys that make the Noise.

 DOWNLOAD and pullover HERE!

Steve Beresford – "The Bath Of Surprise" (Piano – Piano 003) 1980

Remember all those Slits Gigs you went to in 1980?There was always a geeky bespectacled bloke in the background who made the whole thing stick together.That was Steve Beresford. (see if you can spot him in this Clip,like a post-punk version of 'Where's wally'.).

Apart from making The Slits a slightly more musical offering, there's a vast array of projects that can boast the presence of one of the London Musician's Collective most prolific members.If it made a noise Steve would play it.And he'd do it for countless groups from The Frank Chickens,49 Americans,Flying Lizards,and The Portsmouth Symphonia,to the Hard core of the UK Improvising scene,Derek Bailey,Han Benninck,and Evan Parker.He was in at the deep end,and still is.

This was Steven's debut solo album,as produced and released by DIY Avant-gardist David Cunningham,who was better known as the Flying Lizards,and the man who released and produced This Heat's early records.A seemingly perfect track record?

What are you gonna get on this record? Well,you don't know do you,it's improvised.....the unexpected...I expect?...BUT...having played it to see whats on it, i can tell you everything from toys to tuba's to scraping noises are there...which i suppose is to be expected.... if, you know your free improvisation.If you don't, cleanse yourself in the bath of surprise.

Tracklist:

1 Punctuation
2 Lieutenant Dub
3 Cat Picture
4 What Is A Thing
5 The Bath Of Surprise
6 Concealed Entrance
7 My Old Piano
8 Burning Problems
9 Schlussakord
10 Those Oldies But Goodies Remind Me Of You
11 A Cup Of Tea And A Bun
12 Mr & Mrs. Wu
13 Spring Clips
14 A Continuous Supply Of History

DOWNLOAD these tales of the expected but unexpected HERE!

Alterations – "Up Your Sleeve" (Quartz Publications – !QUARTZ 006) 1980

I said i'd post this in response to a request....which is handy so we can move on from the Synth-Punk thread one was in danger of weaving.Like an escape from Rapunzel's tower,.....did I tell you all about the nutjob in Leicester who built a replica of Rapunzel's Tower in his back garden,as a disguised entrance to his nuclear bunker;fully stocked with cans of Heinz Baked beans and Coke...original flavour of course! Oh How we laughed!?....until now,as he looks like the sane one,and we are in danger of getting irradiated by a nuclear Tidal wave. I didn't ask if the entrance to Rapunzels' Bunker was water tight?I assume it is.

Alas, fear Not, for the Russian threat is but mere fantasy,as there were several under water H-Bomb tests in the fifties,and lo and behold....no Tsunami. Just like all their other 'super-weapons.....they're running out of processing chips.Oh How we Laughed....hang on, haven't i said that before?

There's a Door and the Window reference in there, (I Feel Like a Doris),so this must be something to do with the London Musicians' Collective....which of course it is.It's got David Toop and Steve Beresford on it from the more lauded end of the LMC. 

These chaps were taken seriously,but never by themselves.

If you're an open minded individual, as a rapidly decreasing percentage of the populous is year on year,this non-music is a pure expression of freedom,and anyone who doesn't like it can leave the room,which they would certainly do if encountered in the wrong environment. This is the kind of degenerate art that Putin will be issuing death sentences for in a few years,in the post nuclear wasteland that was once known as the Russian Federation.

The tune "Party Political" by this LMC sooper groop,is,lyrically, thee best most incisive dissection of the Political zeitgeist I have ever heard.....read these words as a manifesto for freedom :

"Don't Listen to Electrical Wholesalers,

Don't Listen to Greengrocers,

Reject their Ideology,

Don't Listen to Wholesale Greengrocers,

Don't Listen to TV Repair people.

REJECT THEM!"

Can't argue against all that...except that TV repair people no longer exist,as buying a new TV is far cheaper than getting it fixed.But all essentially true.

Tracklist:

A.1. He Feels Like A Doris Day
A.2. Trail Of Traps
A.3. The Life And Opinion Of Masseur Ichi

B.1. Not So Dumb Deaf And Mute Heroine
B.2. Fear Of Mayonnaise
B.3. Stand By Your Sheep
B.4. Party Political

DOWNLOAD from their sleeves to yours HERE!

I Am The Fly – "Pattern / Function" (Self-released12", Single Sided ) 2022

Any Synth punk duo from 2022 must be encouraged don't you think?

Are they actually real flys...or are they wearing masks ? We may never know,but what we do know is that they come from Germany....Mulheim apparently,formerly from Essen...so no more jokes about eating or My illegally carpet bombing the place(Essen)father during the European war before this one (he never liked us kids calling him a war criminal)...now it seems that we were on the wrong side.It might have been our last chance to stop Putin,and his gangs of thieving murdering rapist thugs.

The six songs on this very attractive single sided Lp do all actually sound like the same tune on repeat,in 4/4 marching time,with the Boy fly bassist playing at least one note  per minim; but, why change something that works just for the sake of melody?

The Lady Fly treats us to a buzzing organ reminiscent of the buzzing organs of The Screamers,backed up by a vintage drum box  which sounds like a Robot-Billy Cobham compared to the classic Suicide drum ,machine, if that's what it was? A respectful nod in the direction of the Synth Punk founding fathers is required,keeping the legacy alive and hopefully encouraging the Yoof to pickup a crap organ,fuzz box,shite drum machine and sing about something other than breaking up with their Girlfriend. 

Dunno if the two fly's involved are indeed Mrs and Mrs Fly, hope so,as doing stuff like that is genuinely subversive behaviour.....as for maggots, there is a chronic insect shortage going down,something like 80% down on the Insect population since the first Synth-Punk group released an album.

And remember, No Insects= no trees,no Flowers, and...slightly more important....No food!

It also sounds like these Flys are 'Woke'.as these right-on flys,depending on which of their six knees to take, display the following claims rather proudly on the sleeve..

"Against racism
Against Fascism
Against Sexism
Against homophobia"

Strangely all things I have been accused of ,among many others, In the hallowed pages of this blog over the years.

As these grown up maggots are trying to sell some product to you DIY enthusiasts,i will not be making anything available for fuck all as one usually does....an action that some irate punter labelled me as....wait for it..."Pure Scum" recently.

Instead you can check out buying one on their Bandcamp page,click here or see below.....:

It's good, and you don't even have to turn it over to play side 2,mainly because it hasn't got one!

Video HERE!

Tracklist:

1 Anhedonia
2 Biomass
3 Detritus
4 Defined By
5 The Ugliest Part Of Your Body Is Your Brain
6 A Dysfunctional Pattern Of Wants

BUY ONE like flys on shit or fly with hits HERE!

Algebra Suicide – "Big Skin" (Buzzerama Records) 1986

From the Sahara desert to the urban deserts of the USA we stoop to the default setting of spoken word synth punk duo's, and Algebra Suicide, from the windy city of Chicago.

Award winning ,it says here, high brow minimal synth duo with humble beginnings during the american cassette underground peak years.I say'High Brow' because they dangerously flirt with the word 'poetry',primarily because talking over an electronic backing is easier than singing,or even finding a singer to deliver your deadpan wordy litanies to the rigid beats of a drum machine.

There is a suggestion of a John Cooper Clarke and The Invisible Girls influence in some of the tunes and the inevitable sprinkling of Girono Poetry Systems. The words are suitably dark enough to gain one's attention and may or may not hint, at a sense of humour. 

The deadpan poets society.

Tracklist:

A1 After Charles 2:23
A2 Seasonal Zombies 3:00
A3 Little Dead Body Poem 4:45
A4 Proverbial Explanation For Why No Action Is Taken 2:28
A5 After Rilke 2:15
A6 No War Bride 1:25
A7 Tractor Pull 2:20
B1 Sub Rosa 1:40
B2 Horizon 2:40
B3 Amusing One's Self 2:15
B4 Seven Song 6:50
B5 Please Respect Our Decadence 2:15
B6 Alphabet Song 3:05

DOWNLOAD as words desert me HERE!

Various Artists– "Music From Saharan Cellphones Vol. 1" (Sahel Sounds – SS01) 2010

The sound quality of the 'cell phone',as north Americans call them, mobile's for the more sensible quarters of the planet, hits a new low in the recorded medium.If seen on an oscilloscope, lo-bit digital sound capture has the appearance of a block diagram,or brutalist architecture from the Soviet Era so beloved of Vlad "destroyer of worlds wannabe" Putin.He loves the Soviet era almost as much as he does wearing his built up shoes,he being another short arse dictator with a toxic inferiority complex.

This angular sound quality adds a certain je ne sais pas pourquoi,to the pieces involved,and has one imagining a distant horizon sinking below the most distant dune ,and not a person to be seen,except yourself and a 'cell phone' packed with fuzzy desert music from Mali and neighbouring territories who have likely now succumbed to the latest schoolgirl kidnapping antics of Boko Haram.....why is the Earth so full of complete bastards?

As a Stupid White man, I awkwardly find most African music as strangely uplifting as it is incomprehensible to the soul-less paleface.I am often unmoved by such foreign concepts such as 'Soul' music .This, of course makes me feel uncomfortable,being English and raised under the gray skies of misery that imprisons the British Isles.The only way we can assimilate Soul Music is if its backed by Vince Clarke on synthesiser,or a pure expression of misery....in other words Yazoo and Joy Division....that's real white soul music that is.Well..Maybe not Yazoo,you know what i'm getting at(?)as if you are on this blog it is almost certain you are of caucasian origin,but it certainly is NOT the blue eyed soul of such awfulness as Simply Red or Paul Young,and others who simply copy our brethren of colour....I thought I'd end this blurb on a 'Woke' note before i go back to sleep after re-runs of "Love They Neighbour" on me lickle illegal telly-box. The very same Telly-Box on which i just witnessed a crowd of Hungarian school children Jeering the England football team for taking the Knee'!? Makes you just wanna give up dunnit?

This tape is rather flipping good.....having said that,i don't want more than one.....there are another couple of volumes available that should satisfy any guilt laden Honky very nicely indeed.

WARNING!: severe danger of White man dancing in the area!

Tracklist:

A1 - Baye - Tinariwe
A2 - Abdallah - Desert Blues

A3 - Niger - Autotune
A4 - Koudede - Souveniram
A5 - Hamdawa - Algeria
A6 - Hamza Wassila
B1 - Morib - Kabablon
B2 - Auguste Solo - Decale
B3 - Yeli Fuzzo - Abandé
B4 - Tuareg - Old Synth
B5 - Flamzy - Protection
B6 - Aminata W. - Sakou Si Bory
B7 - Papito - Iba One

DOWNLOAD to your cellphone cell block HERE!

Various Artists– "Synths From The Sahara" (Sahel Sounds ) 2014

Try and explain the concept of Kraftwerk to an african and you'd get one of those... 'what the fucking hell are you talking about???'.... kind of looks. You won't get any exotic versions of "Are Friends Electric?" from the Sahara any time soon, just loads of stuff that they always used to play, but...with synthesizers.

Less than interested in the new sonic opportunities  that these electronic toys offered, they just play these things in the same way a classical pianist would play them.....cluelessly,but charming.....except the African would never have considered themselves as the height of civilized sophistication,like those bastards in the classical world would do.

Basically, if the musicians involved, as represented on this C60, had played these same tunes on traditional instruments it would have sounded exactly the same.....so why bother?

What I wanna hear is a weirdo from Mali who dresses and sounds like Gary Numan in 1979...that would be something special to behold.

This is as close as i get to the thoroughly 'do not resuscitate' middle class world of Global, or World, music,as championed by such poncy twerps as Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon,and David Byrne....although David Byrne is in absolutely no way a twerp, just dreadfully misguided on occasion.

However, play this at any white suburban wine and cheese vernissage in support of their local artist 'of Colour',and you'd be heralded as a white hero of outstanding tolerance.

In their minds, anyone who plays any African music simply cannot be Racist,and therefore an eagerly anticipated member of the White Non-Racist but I am multitudes that smear themselves across the western world like so much shit on so much scented (bog roll)toilet paper.

Racist moi?...Naaaaah...well...er....probably.

I do remember being part of an argument about whether Ali G was racist or not, when one of the gobbier participants shouted "look! I've slept with a black man so how can I be Racist!?".....hmmmm?

Who's the most celebrated African Musican?...no, not Fela Kuti, it's obviously Freddie Mercury of Course....that's why there's a track called 'Bismillah' on here inni?.

Tracklist:

A1 Japonais– Bambino Instrui
A2 Mamman Sani– Boodo
A3 Mamman Sani– Ameran
A4 Ahmedou Lewla– Track 15
A5 Unknown Artist– Mauritania
A6 Sidiki Diabate– Amuse
B1 Maloma Et Becave– Untitled
B2 Mamman Sani– Ci Dadi
B3 Ahmedou Lewla– Track 1
B4 Japonais– Nouveau Instrui
B5 Mamman Sani– Bismillah

DOWNLOAD some instant non-racist cred HERE!

Transparent Illusion – "Still Human" (Vex Records – VEX 3) 1981

Although, the question, why anyone actually wants to be a Human begs analysis, the 'Human' factor,however, is very much in evidence with this quaintly charming off the shelf electronic one man band,amusingly monikered 'Transparent Illusion' . One Synth, one extremely cheap Drum box, and one human....Roy Young. About whom nobody knows anything about,except that he's Human, and probably still is.

Obviously Roy has been listening rather too much to his Gary Numan records, track 2 especially must have been recorded immediately after a lengthy session at home annoying the wife with Numan's "Pleasure Principle" on repeat....he sounds like he's got a wife somehow, rather than some spotty oik laying down tracks in his bedroom at mum and dad'd gaff.

All done and paid for by his good self,and solidly DIY in its sound, artwork and execution. Maybe even his wife paid for it all?

She must have regretted it when a thousand copies of "Still Human" arrived on the doorstep with no prospect of selling any of them.

Roy may have still been human back in 1981,as he evidently plays the synthesizer himself,with his own fingers (Who's a clever boy then?), with no aid from machines,but there are arguments for man and machine to evolve into one entity,unhindered by inappropriate emotions and keeping the creativity.

There would be clear advantages to being a machine,no emotional pain,hate or love,irrational or otherwise,eternal existence,providing the raw materials are available for repairs, and more topically,a lessened threat of self destructive wars. No machine, to my knowledge would ever entertain the prospect of open warfare due to the undeniable fact that it's totally Illogical and, sorry Humans, completely fucking STOOPID!

Synthesizers are hard wired to be diplomatic with each other,be it CV and gate, or MIDI, they always,get on....the only time they don't is usually due to Human Error.

Tracklist:

A1 Sections
A2 Incubus
A3 Nuclear Release
A4 Killing Time
A5 The Age Of Ridicule
A6 Malice Way
B1 Demented
B2 The Human Cage (Still Human)
B3 We
B4 I Dream I'm You
B5 Is There Hope
B6 Vortex

DOWNLOAD the delusion of being human HERE!