Bleak Bliss: December 2012

The Heads - Inner Space Broadcasts Volume 1 Part 1

I can't think of a finer way to see out 2012 than the LP put out this year by the "oh my god, i love you so much will you have my baby" label Cardinal Fuzz. The label are real psychonaut devotees and put as much love into their packaging as they do the music. This was released in an edition of 150 and sold out immediately.

I'll leave it to the people themselves to describe this gem:

"Massive fans of the Heads...we even named the label after a Heads track...so, for our first vinyl release, Cardinal Fuzz get to put out two wild numbers from the Heads archive...2 tracks lasting 35+ minutes of head pummelling, brain crushing siked out and krauted jams straight from The Heads rehearsal room.

Sike behemoths The Heads have now been together for 2 decades but while most bands that long into their career bring out the 5 string fretless bass, financial constraints have thankfully robbed The Heads of this. Some wondered if they ever learnt more than 2 chords but the truth is that The Heads always knew more was less was more and for those wanting to hear an unholy alliance of Neu, Hawkwind, (((Loop))) and Grandfunk Railroad look no further than the 2 tracks on Inner Space Broadcasts Volume 1 Part 1. So, strap yourself in."

Head Space

I'm Dreaming Of A Bleak Christmas!

...and as you press your debauched face into the capitalist meat grinder of Christmas...what could be better than to raise your glass of fake bonhomie in a toast to the warmth of a family singalong? Well, nothing. Obviously!

Jah Shaka - Commandments Of Dub

Jah Shaka is a legendary UK based reggae/dub artist, producer and operator of the finest soundsystem you could ever hear. Although active since the mid-1970s, the Zulu Warrior's finest stand came in the 1980s when, alongside Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound label, he maintained the roots and culture tradition in the face of the prevailing trend for digital dancehall, bass-less reggae (may Jah forgive them) and slack lyrics. Jah Shaka stands quite rightly at the pinnacle of UK dub and easily holds his own against the finest that Jamaica have produced.

The Commandments were a series of albums that were released on his own Jah Shaka Music label between 1982 and 1991 and rank amongst some of his most esteemed work. Crucial!

The Commandments Of Dub

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Commandments Of Dub Chapter 2

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Commandments Of Dub Part 3 - Lion's Share Of Dub

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Commandments Of Dub 4 - Dub Almighty

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Commandments Of Dub 5 - Jah Dub Creator

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Commandments Of Dub 6 - Deliverance

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Commandments Of Dub 7 - Warrior

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Commandments Of Dub 8 - Imperial Dub

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Commandments Of Dub Chapter 9 - Coronation Dub

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Commandments Of Dub 10 - Africa Drum Beats

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Heinz Hopf‎ - Heinz Hopf

LP released in 2011 on Italian label A Dear Girl Called Wendy.

It's sold out at source but you can still pick this up on discogs. Digitised rips can't compete with vinyl, so if you like this, pick one up before it disappears forever.

Heinz Hopf

Heinz Hopf‎ - II

Heinz Hopf‎ are Dan Johansson (Sewer Election etc) and Matthias Andersson (Arv & Miljö).

C20 released on Italian label Joy De Vivre in 2010.

It's very good...

Heinz Hopf II

Robe. - Night Terror

At it's core, Robe. is the work of Adam Cooley and Kyle Willey but includes many collaborators along the way.

Double C60 release on Waves Of Deacy from 2010 that was released in an edition of 70.

Subterranean drone noise blues.

Tape 1

Tape 2

Puce Mary‎ - Piss Flowers

C20 from 2010 and it's on Posh Isolation.

And...yes, I am obsessed by Posh Isolation.

Piss Flowers

LR / Puce Mary‎ - Lucia

Loke and Frederikke again. C20 on Posh Isolation from 2010.

Lucia

LR / Puce Mary - The Closed Room

Another vinyl offering from 2011 on Posh Isolation.

Puce Mary is the work of Frederikke Hoffmeier. He has just had a collaborative LP with Dan Johansson's Sewer Election project released on Second Sleep. It's well worth picking up!

The Closed Room

LR - Exile

Loke Rahbek on vinyl thanks to those lovely people at Posh Isolation.

An edition of 250 from 2011.

"Based on a poem of the same name by Hans Sahl. One piece for each line of the poem and one for the title."

Exile

Ashley Choke / LR - Angeldust / Shit Comes Out The Same

Klaus and Loke on a C20 on Posh Isolation in 2009.

Angeldust Shit

Ashley C / LR - Endless Blossom, Early Blossom

Here Klaus is joined by Loke Rahbek in solo guise as LR. Loke co-runs Posh Isolation and appears in any number of excellent outfits such as War, Sexdrome and Lust For Youth.

This C30 was released on Posh Isolation in 2009.

Endless Blossom, Early Blossom

Ashley C‎ - Drastic Cull

Ashley C‎ is actually the noise project of Klaus H. Hansen

CDr released on Klaustrosignal in 2009 in an edition of 40.

"Recordings inspired by the spritual slaughterhouse that is modern society."

Drastic Cull

Today, our collective IQ decreased significantly!

Sir Patrick Moore died today at the age of 89.

If you have never heard of him, he presented the BBC's The Sky At Night for around a half of a century. His work as an astronomer pales into insignificance when it is compared with his legacy in expanding and inspiring the human imagination. He helped put us all into perspective and always encouraged us to think.

Personally, I admired him and have done so for as long as I can remember.

Given that I have this opportunity to mark the great man's passing...

...as a civilisation, we are decreased by his abscence.

Various‎ - Anything's Better

It should really be called "Few Things Are Better".

This is a boxset containing four c40 tapes that Posh Isolation put out in 2010 to mark their 1st year of existence. An admirable statement of intent with no filler.

Contributors are listed here.

Anything's

Better

Various - Port Out, Starboard Home

This is a double C40 compilation from this year on Denmark's Posh Isolation.

The label site has sparse information available but sufficient details for you to follow the project. A key window into Northern Europe's experimental / noise contribution to civilisation. The label has been dropping quality for at least a couple of years. If you don't already have it, you need some Posh Isolation in your life!

The contributers are listed here.

Port Out, Starboard Home

Fossils - TV Magic H20

Fossils is the work of David Payne. You know that already. You know that he runs the impeccable Middle James Co label. You also know that he sells his wares on Discogs.

You might not know that he has a great Bandcamp page and that he's also a very nice person. You do now.

This is another quality (C30) tape from Beartown Records.

"Immerse yourself in a murky world of creaking vocal chords, scraping tape loops, eerie moaning and nauseating drones. Listen with wonder as rhythmic thumps and bumps dance clumsily around the whistling whines of a detuned radio. Marvel at the snap, crackle and pop of chewed up cassette decks and the clanging tap dance of a junkyard drumkit.

Just be generally floored by a composition so beautifully futile it'd make you cry, if only you could drag yourself out of your own crippling apathy."

Beartown have a new batch of wonderment in stock. Seriously, the label has a quality threshold set so high it hurts. Given that the festive season is fast approaching, don't waste your money buying crap for people you don't really like that much! Spend it on yourself. Spend it on Beartown tapes. The little baby jesus would approve!

Because You're Worth It!

TV Magic

Filthy Black Methusaleh - Lost Midlands or The Way From Scholar Green To Fegg Hayes

C40 resulting from a mail collaboration between Filthy Turd (Darren Wyngarde ... obviously) and the aforementioned Black Sue. We are steering straight into "Dog's Bollocks" territory here [trust me, that is a good thing...just in case that doesn't translate in your part of the world]. This tape is firmly lodged in my brain. I was singing track 2 for weeks, try it. Might be best if you don't do it in public tho'.

"FILTHY TURD and the ever disintegrating BLACK SUE collective collaborate on relocated, post-Pendle, incantation, A500 horror disco - FILTHY BLACK METHUSALEH. The regurgitated mumblings of a mad man alongside droning, burbling, looping, fuzzing reverse radio splurge. A timely examination of the sinister underbelly of life in the Midlands. Stripping away the veneer of decaying market halls, abandoned duel carriage ways and burnt out kebab shops, FBM unearth something sinister, uncanny and truly sacrilegious.

Three tracks on side A. The beast awakens and sings glorious duets with the plug hole, the cesspit and the drunkard respectively before casting spells, hexes and curses on anything that moves. Side B sees the radio tuned to 666 medium wave whilst swaying acolytes gather round the cauldron and hum the theme from Zombie Flesh Eaters backwards, and at half speed."

It's on Beartown Records and it's great!

Filthy

Slump‎ - Dead Or Dying Roses

Slump is the synthweird work of David Mellor (who has also appeared as part of the noise unit Black Sue) and hails from Cheshire. I doubt it's the leafy areas of Cheshire if this remarkable C26 is anything to go by. The amount of ground covered here is startling. I love this a lot and could spend a long time telling you all about it. However, the Beartown boys tell you everything and nothing that you need to know:

"SLUMP stretches its legs and awakes for yet another failing/failed outing on Beartown Records. DEAD OR DYING ROSES is a splice-fest of brittle textures, angry feedback and lurking synthesis. Filing cabinet percussion, breathless vocal improvisations, and spiraling prayer-box mantras are chopped up and scattered onto the sonic canvas like so many coarsely ground post-noise peppercorns. Delicate sinews of AM radio are knitted into a disorientating fabric of backwards blab-chatter, sloppity-boppity stereo slurp madness and ectoplasmic glass-grinding.

Not harsh, but horrid. Not furious, but facile. Not essential, but existential. Not here, but there. All you need to while away the spring evenings, rearrange your mental furniture or glimpse cubist heaven in a cassette tape – fractured diads galore!"

Oh and did I mention that this is another quality release from Beartown Records?

Dead Or Dying

Bad Orb‎ - Chat Hole

Another splendid C30 missive from the boys at Beartown Records!

Bad Orb is the work of Brighton-based Sarah Albury who also features in The Polly Shang Kuan Band and Jettatura.

"BAD ORB beams in a far out feast of fetid field recordings, mesmerically mournful mumblings and doom-laden dirges of dustbin drone... all direct from her seaside abode on the South coast. Beartown is proud to release CHAT HOLE in its all full, (un)edited (un)glory.

Fakirs moan in the echoing taverns, accordions wheeze beneath the creaking arboretum while dead or dying televisions creep quietly across the attic floor. Laments are wailed for the flammable careless masses, conversations clipped, chopped and reversed and chicken bone dream catchers rattle against corrugated iron fences from here to there... and back again. Intriguing and enchanting, CHAT HOLE is over the horizon, between the hedges, beneath the surface and above the snow-line. While stocks last... and they always last."

Quality Gear.

Chat Hole

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